Cosmic Krautrock
Sci Fi Party
""Sci Fi Party" was another chapter in the cosmic music voyage from the collaborative forces of Germany's Schulze, Gottsching, Grofkopf, Dollase and Dierks. This is progressive space like you have never heard before and for those who are familiar with the "Galactic Supermarket" will know just what I mean. Juxtpose Gottsching's guitar expressions with the space keyboard talents of Klaus Schulze and fellow cosmonauts and you have a recipe for space travel. Ever since I found "Galactic Supermarket"…
Dreamlab
CD edition, remastered. In 1975, the second album of the Berlin based electronic group Mythos was released. Mastermind Stephan Kaske and his band present the typical sound cascades and sequences of the Berlin school. Similar to the works of several other fellow artists on the same label, the album develops a science fiction concept around the story of an extraterrestrial visitor on a journey to Earth. Dreamlab is predominantly made up of peaceful and relaxed music. The meter is often determined …
Mythos
Mythos was formed in 1969 on the initiative of Stephan Kaske (flute, keyboards, vocals, guitar), who found two comrades-in-arms in Harald Weisse (bass) and Thomas Hildebrand (drums). Various performances impressed label boss and talent scout Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser so much that the band was able to release their debut album on the Ohr label in 1972. This album was also re-recorded and remastered from the original analog tapes. Best sound!
Paradieswarts Duul
CD edition. Ohr present a reissue of Amon Düül's Paradieswärts Düül, originally released in 1971. In 1968, the Münchner Kommune, formed in 1967, had applied to Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser, the organizer of the Essen Songtage, for a gig there. When the Düüls arrived in Essen, already two bands of this name in the meantime, since three members had split off and now called themselves Amon Düül II. Paradieswärts Düül was released in 1971, it's the third album of this outfit. Transferred from the original ana…
Hölderlins Traum
The debut album from Hölderlins Traum, centered around the family core of brothers Christian and Jochen Grumbcow, with Nanny Grumbcow (Christian's wife) providing the lead vocals. Originally released on Pilz in 1972 and recorded with Dieter Dierks - the same studio wizard who transformed Bröselmaschine and Emtidi's visions into sonic reality - this album represents something truly special in the German progressive folk landscape.
What could have been a straightforward folk record became, under D…
Opal
The Munich band Embryo was founded in 1969. "Opal" was her first album. Released on the OHR label in 1970. The band led by Christian Burchard (2018) combined numerous genres into one huge crossover project. Jazz rock, folk, blues, soul, contemporary music, and world music. Even if "Opal" doesn't sound as perfect as later recordings, the album is considered to be very influential. Embryo themselves describe their style as follows: Pop music is the appropriate level of communication for Embryo, ju…
Con '84
Composer and conceptual artist Conrad Schnitzler (1937-2011) was one of the most influential figures of the electronic avant-garde in Germany. In 1967/68, the Joseph Beuys student founded the Zodiak Free Arts Lab, which became a playground for Berlin subculture. In addition to many other musical stations, bustling Schnitzler was a member of the kraut-electronic formations Tangerine Dream and Kluster. Numerous solo releases complete his extensive oeuvre. One of them is Con 84, probably his most c…
Consequenz II
Composer and conceptual artist Conrad Schnitzler (1937-2011) was one of the most influential figures of the electronic avant-garde in Germany. In 1967/68, the Joseph Beuys student founded the Zodiak Free Arts Lab, which became a playground for Berlin subculture. In addition to numerous solo releases Schnitzler was also involved in various band formations not least Tangerine Dream and Kluster. Representing another of his musical landmarks are the ‘Consequenz’ releases. 'Consequenz II’ emerged fro…
Galactic Supermarket
1974 the Cosmic Jokers were basically Klaus Schulze, Manuel Göttsching, various Ash Ra Tempel and Wallenstein members doing late night jamming. Galactic Supermarket is one of them, and is more rock-oriented than many others. It's no surprise the music bears more than a passing resemblance to Ash Ra Tempel, because of Manuel Göttsching and his guitar playing. Also Jürgen Dollase gives some nice keyboard work, particularly the piano, Farfisa electric piano, synths, and even a little Mellotron. Kla…
Total Digital
Having completed his military service as a naval radio operator, Gunther Wüsthoff was in the midst of his German and fine art studies when he encountered Rudolf Sosna and Jean-Hervé Peron. It was May 1969 and each of them had a guitar so they decided to make music together. Polydor International headhunter Uwe Nettelbeck tracked them down on February 23 1971, prompting them to form the legendary krautrock band Faust with three other Hamburg musicians a few days later. Wüsthoff stayed with the ba…
Rufen
Rufen is the second installment in a trilogy of Qluster music, following on from the Fragen (BB 076CD/LP) studio album. In four impressive live recordings, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Onnen Bock unfold aural panoramas which can only be described, in the truest sense of the word, as fantastic. Had Claude Debussy not already composed 'Prelude To The Afternoon Of A Faun,' then Qluster would have been ideally placed to do so, their transparency and polymorphism so reminiscent of his high Impressionis…
Beziehungen
Re-release of the second album by Annexus Quam, originally released in 1972. Transferred from the original master tapes and carefully remastered by HaGü Schmitz and Dieter Wegner. The timing was right: Five years earlier would have been too early, five years later would have been too late. But Annexus Quam from Kamp-Lintfort near Düsseldorf came along with the right music at the right moment. The seven-piece band formed in 1967 as Ambition Of Music; they were what was then called a "beat group".…