30: Harmonia - Musik Von Harmonia

I think this might be the first record on Brain that's been covered. Not that it's in any way significant but, to me, Brain represents the Motorik end of the kraut spectrum rather than the cosmic and way out Ohr type stuff. This was one of the great Revolver records tape sets, and I can remember the guy waving this record round in the shop, saying how great it was. At the time I thought the cover was stupid but now it seems utterly radical - a ridiculously bold statement and totally within the Neu/Cluster framework.

Honestly a record featuring Cluster and Neu was never going to bad but pondering the future and having the space to muse on context over the past week has made me realise that this is one of the best records on the list. And it's a record of its time and of its context and my appreciation of it has been shaped by my context. Firstly, its the sound of a growing metropolis - the clanks of whirrs of commuting, and the electronically processed sounds of the city. I've listened to this on my morning commute, across one subway, one train and one bus - each track resonating with each mode of transport. I listened to it on the T-Train, from South San Francisco, up to the Baseball and Tourists of Embarcadero and then down into the depths of the city underneath Market Street. Then on the way into SF MOMA, wondering what my future holds and being totally enlightened by Buckminster Fuller's dazzling vision of a positive future. Technologically the late 70s had the same promise of the now - that anything will be achievable, and the record drips of the future both in terms of its sound and its overall vision. It's both of its time and completely outside of its time.

Watussi kicks things off and is all scrapes and synth whoops, to be swiftly followed by Sehr Kosmisch which acts as the title suggests. Then Sonnenschein goes back to the Watussi mold, combining synths, drones and drum machines to create its whole. Dino is the most Neu! like of the tracks, and with a more analog drum sound could probably have passed itself off as Neu!. Then the huge drone of Ohrwurm and the plinky plonk of Ahoi!. Cluster/Neu combines for Veterano before some avant tinkling on Hausmusik.

There's a sense of humour throughout, like Roedielius and Moebius are having a laugh at the future and maybe it's all a massive piss take but the music is so glorious that I can't help but think that this vision aligns with my own, a stunning technological utopian view. Or maybe it's the seratonin messing with my head.

29: Guru Guru - UFO

Never bought this at the time - they were one of the bands on the list that I never really felt that anyone liked them. They are an odd edition to the list, and odd in terms of Krautrock in that they don't really have any kraut tendencies. There's not Motorik beat, no crazy fuzz, no electronic experimentation. Musically they're close to Amon Duul 2 but they don't quite match they relentlessness.

So what we actually end up with is 5 tracks of fairly mid tempo heavy stoner rock and where a lot of krautrock groups tended present some kind of vision of what the future looked like, Guru Guru seemed to present what a Californian garage band rehearsal sounds like. It's okay but it's not unique enough to really hold your attention. The first three tracks are all normal fuzz and cymbals - there's a little bit of vocals on the first track, but nothing substantial - certainly nothing comprehensible.

The longest (and title) track is "out there", but in the worst possible way, all vague shredding and feedback - it's not super krautrock at 10 minutes long but it does feel longer. The last track goes back to the first three.

I guess this record reflects Cope's love of stoner rock but I think that there was nothing here that really grabbed me, and I do quite like heavy rock but the sound of men on downer drugs playing downer music does nothing for me. In short, it did not float my boat.

28: Sergius Golowin - Lord Kirshna Von Goloka

This was the second record on the Cosmic Couriers Ohr offshoot. Cope claims that Golowin was a Swiss MP, but his wikipedia page suggest that he worked for the government in some capacity but then contradicts itself a bit later. He was "in" with the Timothy Leary crowd and thus by extension the Kaiser crew. Here he teams up with some of Ash Ra Tempel and Wallenstein to make the frankly bonkers Lord Krishna von Goloka.

This LP is three tracks, two long, one short - the basic idea being cosmic meanderings with interjections (in German) by Golowin. He goes on a bit. It might well be interesting poetry but I can't understand it nor can I find any translations anywhere.

There's not much to say about it - it's an okay record. The two long tracks are too long and too meandering to be of any real interest and pretty much follow the cosmic jokers approach. The short track, however, is fantastic and a real reason to check this record out (or maybe not). Light guitar strumming with wibbly synth noises in the background - he even sounds less bonkers on this than the other tracks.

So is it worth buying this record for this track alone - well no. Not because the tracks pants, but I would much rather have the Cosmic Jokers cash in comp that this track is on - at least it's a bit more varied and less preachy. So there we go Sergius - somewhat boring but with a good heart.

27: Faust - Faust IV

So I think this is the first Faust recorded outside of Wumme and I'm sure it's the Krautrock credence that this makes it an inferior record. The true essence of Faust was born and died at Wumme - stupid old Virigin, bringing them over to the UK which, of course, led directly to their downfall. I think I felt this at the time and I think I still feel this now - this is Faust's masterpiece.

It's a brother to So Far in that it consists of actual songs (The shortest track here is around the 3 minute mark) and it's inherently un-Faust in that there's very little cut ups. But anyway - the opener "Krautrock" pretty much defines the genre it turns out. All spinning guitars and fuzz. Then Faust do reggae and the Sad Skinhead. But it's not really reggae but it's Faust through and through. Overlapping vocals, bonkers lyrics and not much to do with Skinheads.

Jennifer is one of my favourites - a beautiful guitar melody, on repeat of course, steady drumming and the lines "Jennifer your red hair burning, Yellow jokes come out your mind". It's really beautiful and the space that they allow themselves pushes the song further forwards. Then it's back into more structured soundscaping type affairs - my CD version has mixed up the tracks and so it all the titles are mixed up after this. Giggy Smile is stupid, and is repetition in the vain of Chet Va Buddah from the Faust Tapes. Then more French, over choppy violins and nice drumming. Some buzzy nonsense. Then another song proper - it's a bit of a pain to be where I am.

So it's not bonkers, it's fairly centered on the here and now and there's no cut ups. But it's a great record and has the flashes of invention seen in the other records but now it's tempered with a strange skill with regard to your actual songwriting. It's consistent and it's great - I find it completely that a group that were clearly finding a really interesting direction to follow were dropped after this record. But I'm glad that this record exists.

26: Faust - The Faust Tapes

So now it comes to this. Cope claims that the Faust Tapes was the social phenomena of 1973 and I can sort of believe it. It's a bonkers record that's fairly accessible and was sold for a super knock down price. I don't have an original with the lovely Bridget Riley sleeve - Mine was purchased in the great Krautrock goldrush from Revolver records after the guy behind the counter said he had one "round the back" So I end up with the RR reissue which (so Mr. Revolver claims) is a better pressing as the 25p virgin one was done on the cheap. Similar, though, is that it's 2 sides of unlabelled music - the CD reissue finally revealing the track titles (though most of them are "Untitled") and a page of lyrics.

And to some extent this was a sound of my late teenage years - one of those records that I know back to front and still find something to excite when I listen. It's the cut-up Faust, presumably this was just stuff that was on the cutting room floor way back when that's been collated into one record.

26 tracks in total, mainly vocal-less and a mix of sounds - loads of electronics, always playful. The first side is dominated by their most memorable moment, now revealed as J'ai Mal Aux Dents (I have toothache according to Google but renamed Shempal Buddah) - the title repeating over some nonsense words and some thumping guitar noises. There's a great Ectogram cover which is worth seeking out (and goes into the 20 minute zone). It's impossible describe as it lurches from one style of music to another - but like the previous records all the excerpts are perfect, short and to the point.

It's a fantastic record, but for me - the trailing three songs (Stretch Out Time, Der Baum and Chere Chambre) are almost what the whole record has been leading up to. All three have lyrics - Stretch Out Time is sung in heavily accented English. Der Baum continues the classic Faust trick of them all singing a different bit of the song - not really in a circular fashion but seemingly picking a line at random - Feeling like a tree today and it's a nice feeling yeah. It's absolutely stunning and the stop start nature of the song is really arresting.

The last track is just beautiful - Jean-Herve mumbling in French over some finger picked guitar. Half way through it switches to German as someone reads out a shopping list. The translations can be found on the web (e.g. http://faust-pages.com/records/concerts2.html) and it's not dissapointing. Unlike, for example Melody Nelson where the actual lyrics are all about Sunderland and how Melody's hair is red and it's her natural colour, this seems to be actually quite nice.

And it's all over. There can't be many records like this, mainly because there's not many bands  who could pull it of - a perfect collection of crap from the floor of Wumme. As alluded to in previous posts GZM alluded to it and did a pretty good job (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE65obru82Q) but, much as I love them, even they couldn't keep this up (and keep it interesting) over a full length record. It seems unlikely but Faust are a true one-off - a marriage of musical talent and managerial nous.