Bonus #2: Niagara - The Classic German Rock Scene

So now I'm cheating a little bit but this is such a bargain that it would be a shame not to. So Niagara was a Klaus Weiss thing who's made a few libraries too. Three albums: Niagara, SUB and Afire - this record collects the first two and there's a CD you can get of them all.

The first is the infamous breasts gatefold sleeve. Two tracks, Six musicians, All percussion. Sounds either great or terrible but ends up dithering between brilliant and tiresome. Not the kind of twenty minute track to hold your attention unawavered but something you can drop in and out of as time goes on. Both tracks are pretty similar but never really get boring, despite the limited range of the instrumentation.

The real doozy though is the second disc - where the tracks are shorter and they add in bass, synths and guitars. The first tracks sounds like it came straight from a library record, all funky drums and deep guitar riffs, but unlike a library track it goes on and on and on. The record continues on in this vein - really right funky music with the right kind of embellishments. At times it sounds a bit like the Big Beat or Mustafa Ozkent but with the Kraut foundations. Bones starts with a huge drum crescendo then breaks down into a frantic afro rock style breakdown. Overall it's a bit more funky than the kraut records on the list but I think it's a bit better for it.

The Afire record continues on in this vein - not quite as complete as the first two but still pretty funky. All of these records seem to stay at the expensive end of things and so it's nice that the double album listed above exists and enables you to get the first two relatively cheaply. The full set is on iTunes also.

So that was the year of revisiting krautrock. My first year in California will be spent listening to, what else, British Rap - I can't wait!

Bonus #1: Emtidi - Saat

Emtidi are a strange one. Two records - the first one is pretty much straight up folk. The second one is an incredibly bizarrely stunning psych folk kind of affair. Like all the great kraut records it completely outside of any canon or conception. Retains a bit wash of trad folk with a whole heap of kosmiche mixed in for luck.

Six tracks - The first track on each side is a bit different. Walkin' In The Park is beautifully sung and twists and turns around. And traditional bonkers lyrics - The grass is apparently to cold for their ass. It all goes trippy at the end too. Then it's off into synth city with a bonus hippy dippy plea to be one with something. It's so stunningly beautiful that it seems just weird to work.

On the other side Love Time Rain is slightly up tempo and a bit more urgent. Then back to the hippy dippy - the male and female vocals play off of each other and swirl around. Then it all ends on a whimper which follows some crazy German singing.

It's a hard record to describe but there's something magical about the way it all works together and how the vocals and guitars and synths blend together. It carries that Kraut tradition of seemingly impossible that such a beautiful record could have been made and that it exists. A total one off, it doesn't seem that Emtidi recorded again, nor did the members do anything again. This is probably one of my tip top favourite Kraut records.

Done

So that was krautrocksampler - some of the records I knew, some I didn't but it's a really solid list and there's some great music in there. It's been a strange year and will seemingly continue to be strange for some time I think but it's been tons of fun. So what have I learnt:

1. Listening to a record is great

So spending a week really getting to know a record is great. Even if it's something you know then giving it the space to breathe is fantastic. Even better is just sitting down to listen to something. With no distractions and no other tasks, I've really felt that I've been re-energised about music through the project. Also the different contexts really seemed to capture the essence of the list. The murky start to the year with Amon Duul and Can, the futurism of Cluster and Neu whilst riding the trains around the Bay Area. I have strong memories of walking back from the pub on holiday listening to the Cosmic Jokers as the light faded and the rain came in. Though I sometimes forgot to post, it was never a chore to listen to the records.

2. Can aren't that great, Cluster are incredible

I love can but sitting down to those records reminded me why I really don't listen to them that much - apart from the first disk of Tago Mago I think I could safely live without hearing Can again. There's something very cold and calculated about them which just didn't work with me. Cluster, on the other hand, are amazing and so incredibly bold that they occasionally reduced me to tears.

3. The Ambient axis is awesome

Zeit was the real revelation for me - I always liked it, always rated it way more than the other TD records but spending a week with it just brought home how utterly perfect it is. Also the latent presence of Klaus Schulze wrought large over the last parts of the project - incredible stuff. The more ambient side of the records appealed to me a lot over the year, perhaps because they needed the time and space to explore fully.

4. I need Tarot

I must must must buy a good copy of Tarot at some point in the future. Not an original but a CD copy with the accompanying cards.

5. Gille

Gille is the best thing about the Cosmic Jokers. Now that I've covered the CJ axis in full I may go back to those compilation records and give them a re-listen. Just to check


And also - my top 5 records on the list (no particular order)

1. Tangerine Dream - Zeit
2. Cluster - Cluster 2
3. Faust - Faust Tapes
4. Walter Wegmuller - Tarot
5. Witthuser & Westrupp - Trips and Traume

And to follow: Two bonus records, which weren't on the list but are vaguely krautrock and whilst not really omissions, are awesome records.

50: Witthuser & Westrupp - Trips & Traume

Last one! Always was put off this one - the cover isn't great, W&W were never covered in the text so I didn't really know anything about them to be honest. It was always tucked away at the back of things and never seemed that essential. Well, I'm an idiot because it's an incredible record and really tops off the whole project and closes this weird year.

So seven tracks, 40 minutes. The first track translates as Let's go on the journey - and is quite Donovan like at times. Quite folky, quite trad but with a slight kraut psych twist. It has a beautiful refrain and is really pretty good. The next track is very Donovan, seemingly taking the start of Season of the Witch and extending it out over 10 minutes. It's great, all the elements blending well together, going bonkers for a bit and then calming down and a bit of vocals.

Orienta is a guitar and maybe mandolin jam? One of those great tracks that just builds and builds. All the vocals are in German and really lift the record up and over into quality. Illusion I is a guitar thing with swirly organs all over the place.

Karlchen is the stand out track and fast became one of my favourite kraut tracks. Strumming guitar, cymbals and some recorder but so so much space to let the track breathe. Over this incredibly soft backdrop I presume it's Renee Zucker mumbling on in German. It's arrestingly stunning - her reading is perfect and you know it's probably hippy nonsense but who cares. It's just beautiful. Half way through it goes into a waltz with some brass and then back to the reading. So delicate and so pretty.

Then an English Waltz with some creaky violing before the finale of "Nimm Doch Einen Joint, Mein Freund" which almost spoils the whole thing being a song about smoking. Some people say that Hash makes Lash. Hmmm - it's okay. But overall this is a coherent record and it just works together so well. All my music is gone and is either finding a new home with my folks or is (not quite) winging it's way over the ocean to it's new place. I listened to this record everywhere and often and I never got tired, it has a lot to give.

So that's krautrocksampler.

49: Walter Wegmuller - Tarot

Tarot is the record on the list that I had been looking forward to the most - I can recall at least three occasions where I have had the CD version in my grasp only to get cold feet and pull out. I have similar memories of having the vinyl version of the Book of Om (Wah Wah one) in my shopping cart and then deciding that it's just too much of a punt. At the onset of this project, I was visiting a wiser friend, discussing Tarot and within minutes he had a copy of the said same CD in my hands and never had I wanted something more. But good things come to those who wait and this is a good thing. A very good thing. In my optimistic state of mind I think this might oust Zeit as my favourite record on the list - it's both utterly bonkers and utterly magical. Also it has that utterly quintessential krautrock sound of people acting without pretension and going the distance.

So Tarot. Double vinyl, came in a box with a set of Tarot cards, one for each track. Walter Wegmuller's only album, he looks a little bit like Rasputin on the original cover - there's three versions according to Discogs - the original boxed one, an Italian one (above) and a cheapo looking French pressing. The box is expensive, the other ones slightly less so but still pretty much out of reach. There's an old Spalax reissue in a box which comes with a repro of the tarot cards.

The first track introduces the band and lays bare the critical conundrum: What did WW actually do on this record? I love introducing the band tracks and this is a winner - presumably this is WW speaking, in the great Germanic/English mix: "We want you to come with us on the voyage through the time: Tarot". As is traditional each introduction is followed by a short riff - Keyboards yep, Guitar 1 yep, Guitar 2 yep, Drums yep, Bass yep. Then person one who seemingly does nothing: Walter Westrupp? Followed by mumbling. Then Klaus Schulze does his woopy synth noises. Then Walter Wegmuller introduces himself with a cough? Then some swirly vocals with tons of echo.

Anyway the music is great - mixing some fairly up tempo Cosmic Jokers style sounds with Walter's occasional intonations all in German. Some are Zeit-like ambient drones, some are funky, all the tracks are incredible. Der Herrscher we've heard before on one of the Cosmic Jokers 'albums'  and it sounds fantastic in the proper context. And is followed by a beautiful recorder piece, which would not be amiss on any acid folk album. Then they're off veering from out there electronic drones and noises to more standard rock and psych type sounds. The incredible thing about it is that as a double album it a) doesn't feel too long and b) stays fairly coherent - there's a nice flow to the whole thing and it hangs together as a whole. Which, considering the CJ involvement is pretty incredible.

So Tarot. It's everything I wished it would be, and so much more - a real eye opener for me. I now must track one down. One more record to go and I'm almost sad that this isn't number 50 as it would have been a perfect ending to the project. Hopefully Witthuser and Westrupp can match the incredibleness of this, but I doubt it.

Tarot might just be one of the most eye opening records I've ever heard.

48: Klaus Schulze - Blackdance

Klaus, now on Brain, seemingly recording with proper synths for the first time. The art reminds me a little of the Saturday Night Suit 45 but it's clearly way more serious. Klaus is a busy man - Discogs lists 68 releases for him and given the high standards on this record and irrlicht, he may warrant a little more investigation.

So Blackdance - standard Kraut fare mark 2 - i.e. two long tracks and one very short one. The first one comes off all Dario Argento. Tons of synths and some little bits of harpsichord before raising the tempo with drums and some more synths. Presumably when the lady of the film is being attacked my a man with a black glove. Again. The drums and tempo take away from the Zeit sweet spot but it keeps balance and remains a fairly solid affair.

Some Velvet Phasing is short and excellent - synth phasing for about eight minutes. A little too simple but straight from the book of Zeit. Voices of Syn is the real triumph. Klaus wheels on a mate to do some Church type hymn mutterings before going into big church organ and noodly synth and some ticky ticky drumming. The church organ ties it back to Zeit but the drums moves it forwards. It's really really good.

So that was Klaus - the revelation of Zeit and the continued theme through this is fascinating. Next week though is Tarot week, the week I've been looking forward to all year. Bring back the Cosmic Jokers!