Posts Tagged ‘SPV’

Album of the day: Agitation Free – Malesch

Posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Agitation Free - Malesch

Praise from San Francisco’s Aquarius Records for Agitation Free’s Malesch: for those unfamiliar with Agitation Free, here’s the deal… They got their start as a hippie commune band, with ties to Guru Guru, Tangerine Dream, and Amon Duul. Their debut, Malesch (Arabic for “it doesn’t matter, take it easy”), is a true cosmic Krautrock classic, blending the spacey psych of Pink Floyd and fellow krautrockers Ash Ra Tempel and Popul Vuh with a flair for Eastern “exoticism”. Plus, in the intertwining guitars, you’ll find some hints of the American West Coast psych sound (yes, even a little Grateful Dead — but don’t let that scare you off).

The album was recorded in 1972 not long after the band was sent on a tour of the Middle East by the Goethe Institute, and incorporates field recordings (decades before the likes of Godspeed You Black Emperor!) from their trip: the bustle of Cairo streets, desert winds, calls to prayer, friendly airline pilots… These tapes are a key element of this record’s appeal (along with their sheer talent for jamming and their synth and electronic experimentation). Oh, and some great Hammond organ sounds too. Basically, this is a fantastic album of mostly instrumental psych / drone / ethnic rock, that’s generally mellow but powerful too. Whether to the Great Pyramids of Egypt (where the album cover was shot) or to inner space, Malesch portrays a true trip indeed. So recommended.

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Album of the day: Agitation Free – 2nd

Posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Lovingly pinched from allmusic.com: Agitation Free’s 2nd stands as one of Germany’s finest instrumental rock albums of the 1970s and a classic for fans of progressive rock and Krautrock. Despite the fact that the group had problems keeping its cohesion at the time, these troubles never affect the music.
2nd presented ...read more