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.