Ashra – "New Age Of Earth" (Virgin – V 2080) 1977

 Now that everybody has posted "E2-E4 as a tribute to the recently dead Krautrock guitar hero Manuel Gottsching,and claimed it as the year zero of Trance....whatever the fuck Trance is? Sounds like House music to me; the genres of which I have no clue or indeed interest. The chess referenced record in question,apart from being rather boring,is just standard Berlin-School type kosmiche with the swirly bits taken out,to a hypnotic drum box beat......is it the drum box that they think started the madness that remains virtually unchanged for the preceding thirty years.This was what happened to nature after the pre-cambrian period,fast evolution then stasis.The dinosaurs remained unchanged for 10's of millions of years,just like House music variants; Gottschings ambient musings are the pre-cambrian oceans of electronics,but "E2-E4" is the dinosaur.

Most of Gottching's pre-cambrian guitar virtuosity is already available elsewhere on this blog,so as my tribute I have selected this shimmering ambient rock flotation tank muzak outing by Manuel as Ashra, dropping the Tempel part,and also dropping the band. Which is fitting as now all the original line-up of Ash Ra Tempel have now departed consciousness.

The cover looks unerringly like one of the world trade centers relocated to the outskirts of Auschwitz,beaming its truth like an enormous obelisk created by the alien god figure who began this experiment billions of years ago to discover the answer to the ultimate question. This rather disappointed 'God' has just begun to realise that it was all just a complete waste of telly-time. It was all predicted in the BBC comedy series "Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy".......of course it's 42, innit....its the best answer I've ever heard.......and this LP is just north of 42 minutes long! If that ain't proof i dunno what is...

Anyway Manuel knows the answer, or lack of one, by now,if consciousness exists post-mortem for long enough to know this....probably something really boring like eternal nothing ,ness,more nothing than the nothing we think nothing is right now...ness. And the only way this big Nothing gets to actually BE Nothing, is if creatures like Homo-erectus part four have evolved to actually see and measure the nothing-ness before they blow themselves up;

Nothingness does indeed need defining boundaries before it can be defined....but, does that make it a something?

In fact even referring to nothing as nothing makes it a something.Even thinking about it proves it exists,as quantum reactions only happen when no-one's looking.

So is the only answer mankind can ever offer be 'God',the nothing that pretends its something,but only in the minds of men....homo-erectus.

Tracklist:

1.Sunrain 7:26

2.Ocean Of Tenderness 12:36

3.Deep Distance 5:46

4.Nightdust 21:52

DOWNLOAD this new age of death HERE!

I Am The Fly – "Pattern / Function" (Self-released12", Single Sided ) 2022

Any Synth punk duo from 2022 must be encouraged don't you think?

Are they actually real flys...or are they wearing masks ? We may never know,but what we do know is that they come from Germany....Mulheim apparently,formerly from Essen...so no more jokes about eating or My illegally carpet bombing the place(Essen)father during the European war before this one (he never liked us kids calling him a war criminal)...now it seems that we were on the wrong side.It might have been our last chance to stop Putin,and his gangs of thieving murdering rapist thugs.

The six songs on this very attractive single sided Lp do all actually sound like the same tune on repeat,in 4/4 marching time,with the Boy fly bassist playing at least one note  per minim; but, why change something that works just for the sake of melody?

The Lady Fly treats us to a buzzing organ reminiscent of the buzzing organs of The Screamers,backed up by a vintage drum box  which sounds like a Robot-Billy Cobham compared to the classic Suicide drum ,machine, if that's what it was? A respectful nod in the direction of the Synth Punk founding fathers is required,keeping the legacy alive and hopefully encouraging the Yoof to pickup a crap organ,fuzz box,shite drum machine and sing about something other than breaking up with their Girlfriend. 

Dunno if the two fly's involved are indeed Mrs and Mrs Fly, hope so,as doing stuff like that is genuinely subversive behaviour.....as for maggots, there is a chronic insect shortage going down,something like 80% down on the Insect population since the first Synth-Punk group released an album.

And remember, No Insects= no trees,no Flowers, and...slightly more important....No food!

It also sounds like these Flys are 'Woke'.as these right-on flys,depending on which of their six knees to take, display the following claims rather proudly on the sleeve..

"Against racism
Against Fascism
Against Sexism
Against homophobia"

Strangely all things I have been accused of ,among many others, In the hallowed pages of this blog over the years.

As these grown up maggots are trying to sell some product to you DIY enthusiasts,i will not be making anything available for fuck all as one usually does....an action that some irate punter labelled me as....wait for it..."Pure Scum" recently.

Instead you can check out buying one on their Bandcamp page,click here or see below.....:

It's good, and you don't even have to turn it over to play side 2,mainly because it hasn't got one!

Video HERE!

Tracklist:

1 Anhedonia
2 Biomass
3 Detritus
4 Defined By
5 The Ugliest Part Of Your Body Is Your Brain
6 A Dysfunctional Pattern Of Wants

BUY ONE like flys on shit or fly with hits HERE!

Zweistein – "Trip • Flip Οut • Meditation" (Philips – 6630 002) 1970

One always detects the odours associated with a prison camp latrine when the words "Triple Album" are mentioned. This so-called,'Kraut Classic', being one of them, and unbelievably rivaling The Clash's "Sandinista" as the most irritating and pretentious of the genre. Even Holgar Czukay would have struggled to edit this 100+ minute fuck about down to anything more than five minutes of  BBC Radiophonic Workshop out-takes for a kiddies sci-fi TV outing. There's also something of the Ron Geesin about it,and probably even more irritating than that!?...if that's possible. It also treads that narrow path of failed attempts at 'Humour' in pop.That coupled with the fact that it was made by some krazee Germans on LSD ja!?, naturally means proceed with caution at the best of times.War guilt has a fuck of a lot to answer for. 

"Vee are not zat bad after all,ja Englander? Ve are KRAYZEE MUTTER FUCKERS! Not only zat, ve izt Krazee mutter fuckers viz a reverb unit and a backwards running tape recorder"

I dunno if this is on the trainspotters guide to the Nurse With Wound List again,but it sounds like it should be. Virtually any crap made in Germany from 1970 is already,so why make an exception with this one,even if it is scraping the bottom of the latrine?

It's got a freaky cover anyhow,so for that reason alone it's worth having in your record collection...just never play the fucker is all.

I guess this is an ill-advised attempt at describing some kind of silly acid trip nonsense,but missing the undoubted charms of Dr Timothy Leary.

Tracklist:

In 21:30
A1 Beginning
A2 Analysis Of Tune
A3 To Hear Inside
A4 A Very Simple Song

Out 18:00
B1 Misty Tour
B2 Water Sound
B3 Television
B4 Organ Dreams (A Very Simple Song)

Wrong 18:37
C1 Childrens' Golden Garden
C2 To Become A Child
C3 Children's Golden Garden

Right 17:57
D1 Everything Returns
D2 Indian Child
D3 The Theory Of Relativity

Point 18:47
E1 Atomical Fantasy (Electronic)
E2 Incarnation
E3 Childhood's Church
E4 Life Train
E5 Dream Of Love And Death
E6 Atomical Fantasy

Circle 15:09
F1 A Verdi's Soul Born Again
F2 Mind Beat
F3 Himalaya's Way
F4 Heaven Bridge
F5 Out Of Time
F6 Atomical Fade Out

DOWNLOAD drei disk von eins zwei dreistein HERE!

Seesselberg – "Synthetik 1" (Seesselberg Self-released)

 Oh Christ!.....this is on the Nurse With Wound List...Groan! It's one of those self-released German Electronic avant-garde albums,but this time without structure.This has more in common with the Early electronics of the fifties and sixties than Tangerine Dream or any of the tuneful Kosmiche Kraut musiks of the 1970's. Yeah that's right it gets on your tits....but don't show it or your 'I'm weird I am' cred will lose half a star. 

We're always being judged these days,whether its as a Host on Air B'n'B,or a struggling craftsman on Etsy, (like moi!),or, be it by your Weird mates, who obsess over the ultimate in binaural trainspotting, The fucking Nurse With Wound List. If you don't dig this then you're out of the klub.

This could have easily been the soundtrack to "The Andromeda Strain 2" when Sylvester Stallone, as Rambo, napalms the shit out of that mother fucking virus from outer space, annihilating at the same time half of China and Russia...the new, but old, communism. Goddam Atheists!

This album is of that ilk where the creatures higher up the evolutionary ladder,humans, try to sound like a couple of chimps let lose on a bunch of synthesizers,and is recorded,packaged and sold back to the higher apes who think they are intellectually superior to most everyone.....even chimps. Humans are rather arrogant creatures,who think that they have been chosen by an even higher being to receive eternal life!? The lower apes would never waste their time on such a concept.The answer to life is have a good time....allll the time (Viv Savage, Spinal Tap). So does this mean that the highest form of music is actually Hair Metal, and not random oscillator manipulation that considers itself from a loftier perch on the art chart than Motley Crue? Surely not?

Chimps show little or no interest in either medium.

Does that make me a chimp, or did anyone spot my thinly disguised overtures to Nurse With Wounds fans? Please let me join your Klub!

Did that sound suitably desperate?

Tracklist:

A1 Ouvertüre - "Jeder Ist Heutzutage Glücklich" - If Someone Survives, We Will Have A Return - Match. (Konditionsmusik - 1972) 3:41
A2 Eintrachtkreis-Paranoia (Die 200jahrfeier Findet Nicht Statt - Kondominatsmusik - 1973) 1:02
A3 Verhütungsfreudenwalzer (Kontinenzmusik Für Eine Akademie 1973) 1:27
A4 Speedy Achmed (Verhaltensanweisung 1973) 3:46
A5 Studentenzucker - "Tue Gern, Was Du Tun Mußt!" (Konfektionsmusik 1973) 0:36
A6 "Die Menschen Sind Glücklich, Sie Kriegen, Was Sie Begehren, Und Begehren Nichts, Was Sie Nicht Kriegen Können - Laubsägebastler, Briefmarkensammler Und Brieftaubenzüchter Bilden Das Rückgrat Der Menschheit" (Kondolenzmusik 1973) 10:42
B1 Phönix - 1972 (Filmmusik Zum Film "Phönix" von W.-J. Seesselberg) 10:14
B2 "Was Dir Heute Freude Macht, Das Verschieb Nicht Über Nacht!" (Kondensmusik Aus Einem Konzert Im Gallery-House London - 1973) 4:16
B3 Auszug Aus Einem Konzert In Der Düsseldorfer Kunsthalle 1971

DOWNLOAD synthetikally HERE!

Wolfgang Riechmann – "Wunderbar" (Sky Records – sky 017) 1978

After encountering Harald Grosskopf's rather good "Synthesist" album,I noticed there was another German in full makeup with expertly groomed lacquered blue hair....also in the "Euro-Rock" section of Revolver Records.....This is not the image one had came to expect from Germans in pop. Terrible, long fly-away hair, afghan coats and unkempt handlebar mustaches were just a few of the minor indiscretions against fashion that I had noticed,particularly among members of CAN .This chap, Reichmann could have been in Duran Duran.

Expecting some disco Kosmiche mash-up, I wasn't put off by the BBC Testcard music of the opening and title track.....strictly not Wunderbar at all.

However,as I had just spent the best part of four quid for it I persevered, and ultimately found it riechly rewarding.Full of analogue wunders and sweeping seascapes to satisfy any disillusioned punk rockers into the realms of relaxation .

Dunno about the Blue Lipstick though....each to his own i guess?

There's always gotta be a downside to every story,and Wolfies' is no exception,as he got fatally stabbed by a  random nutjob shortly after this record was released. Destiny dictated that he would never make a follow-up,and due to his medical condition.....he was dead....he never did start that difficult second solo album;so there's no opportunity for my Third Riechmann LP joke...shame....Unless they have synth's in heaven,or in hell for that matter. 

Both places being purely fictional, I doubt it,but at least a lot of early twentieth century Germans got out of certain eternal torture and melted away into oblivion.

Tracklist:

1.Wunderbar 5:40
2.Abendlicht 4:21
3.Weltweit 7:00
4.Silberland 7:41
5.Himmelblau 8:38
6.Traumzeit 1:11

DOWNLOAD the first riech mann HERE!

Harald Grosskopf – "Synthesist" (Sky Records – Sky 043) 1980

 

Much in demand drummer of Wallenstein, Harald Grosskopf.......without using google translate,I'd like that to translate that as Fat Head?......indeed, Harald Fathead drummed for nearly everyone who did't matter during the Krautrock era ,and for some who used to matter,and,inexplicably, for similar ex-drumming 'synthesists' such as Klaus Schulz.

As with most 'drummer boys, they are all haunted by this need to prove themselves as overlooked musical genius's.Not having one of their songs accepted onto the band's playlist is a major cause of departing Drummers everywhere.They really are just guys who hang around with musicians...with the odd,or very odd exception.

The only other drummer who got painted silver story i know of, was when Tony, Geezer,and Ozzy, painted a drunkenly comatose Bill Ward,drummer of Black Sabbath, Silver;An alcohol and cocaine fueled stunt that ended in hospitalisation for the poor lad.Narrowly escaping death it seems. Boys will be boys as they say?

As for Harald, he had no such excuse for painting himself silver. I can't think of any Krautrock hell-raisers who would have done it to him,especially not in Wallenstein,so i can only guess that the silly sod did it to himself"!?

Were there any Krautrocking wild men? Would be interested if any of you lot know of any......and i don't mean any German's who deliberately failed their maths exams,like Krazy Klaus, or crossed a road without looking and listening.

Notorious German sensibleness is a hard thing to pin down.I guess its to do with all that American financed post war reconstruction, that led to the economic miracle.Whereas the British had to make do with living in bombed out shiteholes like Birmingham on rations,after the country was bankrupted by saving the planet from tyranny and having to pay back the massive loans to the USA....our allies?...who then preceded to give the repayments back to Germany!..but at least the British empire was destroyed,and that was the US's main objective.After all,a famous american order to their Air farce was NOT to bomb any Ford motor company property,as they were churning out trucks for the Third Reich at the time. Plenty American companies made it harder to defeat the Nazi's by continuing to do business with them.The best one was IBM's early mechanical office tools that helped them kill more Jews. (I assume thet Sandy Hook guy will take objection to this in the comments?)

So after being fucked over and left to fester in squalor by the Americans naturally the disaffected youth of Britain would go slightly over the top when it came to revelry.The result of a real repression that was only matched by The German Democratic Republic, who Germanically remained sensible due to being followed everywhere they congregated by the Stasi...i suppose that experience gave the world Rammstein,whether that's should be celebrated is another matter entirely.It did after all inspire the Columbine massacre......a very clever under handed form of revenge on an old enemy I suggest?

When Kraut rock was first becoming fashionable, I spied Harald's silver fizzog in the "Euro-Rock" section of Revolver Records,in the even more exotic,but grey, surroundings of Leicester Marketplace.

The distant cries of "Tater's 10p a pahnd"(pound/lb's)...come 'n' feel these tater's darlin,Onleh 8p a pahnd for you love!"...piercing through the thick odorous haze of rotting banana's made this album a must purchase,then back home on the bus.

It turned out to be better than that CAN album I got the week before (Soon Over Babaluma ,£3.99), full of all the thick Berlin school analogue sumptuousness of bubbling sequencers,melting mellotrons,and sweeping string synthesizers any young person could wish for,but with a commercial edge;and its still good today kids.

Never heard of him again,so I long suspected that he had again painted himself silver and this time succumbed to the call of the Boatman...or the Baumann ?

Tracklist:

1.So Weit, So Gut 5:24
2.B. Aldrian 4:51
3.Emphasis 4:55
4.Synthesist 7:34
5.1847 - Earth 6:43
6.Trauma 6:37
7.Transcendental Overdrive 5:03
8.Tai Ki 4:09

DOWNLOAD howling harald's attempt at being taken seriously HERE!

Rolf Trostel – "Inselmusik" (Rolf Trostel Records– RP 1098) 1981

Like most German musicians in the 1968 to1982 era, Rolf looks like he has someone else's hair. He would also like us to know which synthesisers he's using;boldly printed on the rear of the cover below the Track listing.He's got a PPG wave,which may or may not be the same PPG Wave that Midge Ure used to play the 'Bell Sequence on the Band Aid "Feed The World single.One of the many crimes against art and culture perpetrated by this short scottish monster..

However, having said that, if the charity single for the starving had been made by Rolf Trostel the Ethiopians would have probably gave all the money back and organised a concert for us poor bastards in the west to save us from life threatening rubbish like Kajagoogoo and their equivalentia.(just made that word up by the way).

I'm told that Rolf was, and probably still is, a Peter Baumann solo fan,and that this self-released LP sounds exactly like the least hippie looking one from Tangerine Dream.

On this evidence I may check out some Baumann....or maybe not.

Therefore, this qualifies as Berlin School,so if you dig this school type,you may wanna check out Rolf and his one man army keeping Baumann Berlin School alive.....well,as in  alive forty years ago.Good for chill-out rooms at some 'orrible dance auditorium in Ibiza, or  a moratorium actually in Berlin itself.

This album could feature in the intermission of my fantasy gig at a renovated Hitler's Bunker in an alternative reality.Supporting Joy Division and PiL mark one,...wait a minute, wasn't that the line-up for the Futurama Festival, September 1979 in Leeds UK?...obviously minus Rolf Trostel of course.We were so spoilt back then.

Nowadays you'd have to fight off Coldplay and Radiohead,desperate to get the opening night in the Bunker on there swollen CV's....only to find that The Arctic Monkeys had beaten them to the punch. These certainly are shit times brother!

DOWNLOAD rolf's schooldaze in berlin HERE!

Hardy Kukuk – "Atemnot" (Hardy Kukuk Self-released – 22758) 1981

Take the 'U's out of Hardy's family name, and you're left with 'KKK'......i'm sure that's just a coincidence, but this kind of searching for your own meaning in a seething cauldron of nonsense, finding faces on mars,and the refusal to accept that celebrities die of enything except murder,are a strictly human trait that will end in our own destruction.So if you have a conspiratorial mindset I recommend that you avoid such things for your own,and everyone else's, good.You have been warned.

Hardy,was also the electronic conspirator for Klaus Bloch of A La Ping Pong non-fame,and in return Klaus appears with guitar and space-echo on Hardy's solitary self-released album from 1981.

Tangerine Dream had been going for over a decade by the time Hardy put this note for note perfect rendition of every TD song ever recorded;but he managed to do it in the space of five tracks....then merged back into the wallpaper,which we all wished that Tangerine Dream would have done after "Phaedra"....

Nah, i didn't mean that, TD were great, at least up until "Tangram",which coincidentally was about the time Kukuk unleashed this respectful pastiche to fill that particular vacuum.

The synths are gorgeous,fulfilling all those analogue clichés that get bandied about, hither and yon, by silly sods like me...such as,warm,phat,....er warm.....and er.....phat!? Surfing the knob twiddling Sine wave in such satisfying ways.

These people made these records in the full knowledge that once the 1000 copies had been sold or given away that it would be forgotten,and the planet would move on...but no.....crate diggers find it,hail it as a new discovery of great magnitude,and it gets re-released.Then there's the inevitable come back,again for just one album,which will indeed be,justifiably this time, very  forgotten.You just can't recreate a time and place.The motivations are different,and the desperation factor creeps in along with the chains of experience(Mind forged manacles as William Blake so aptly put it) .The fearlessness,or innocence of youth cannot be salvaged like an old synthesizer. Once you're fucked you stay Fucked.

Tracklist:

A1 Takt Der Zeit 9:31
A2 Erdträumer 11:22
B1 Frühling '81 11:19
B2 So Mal 2:00
B3 .. .... So 3:41

DOWNLOAD electronic songs of innocence and experience HERE!

A La Ping Pong – "Phase II - Go Go Pongs" (A La Ping Pong Self-released– 66.22784) 1981

A La Ping Pong did second album shocker!? (Get the first one here).

German sits on chair and noodles along, ambiently, with his guitar to a backing that now includes humans...yes, he has friends. He still sounds like that infamous law firm Oldfield,Fripp,and Oldfield ,but at least he had the good sense to pack all this self-released album malarkey in for a couple of decades.

Yes indeed, like the rest of the 'rediscovered' music wave at the turn of the millennium, even Klaus Bloch (Herr Ping Pong himself) was exhumed from a comfortable retirement to show us why olden days music is soooo much better that the derivative shit of today's WHY? generation.

To coin a phrase,Yesterdays derivative shit is far far better than today's derivative shit; I think you'll find that statement  stands up to scrutiny in laboratory conditions.

I've always liked a black and white album sleeve,and also strongly believe that every member of a band should be firmly seated,especially the bloody guitarist.Maybe Klaus couldn't stand up at all? I dunno, the only pictures I've seen of him has him seated.Normally surrounded by technology.

Please excuse me,but to increase the hit-rate for this article I have to add the tiresome noun "KRAUTROCK" to the recipe......it's very popular among those who would like to seem obscure but really aren't;but i must admit, A La Ping Pong is certainly obscure,but its qualifications to actually be called "KRAUTROCK" are somewhat tenuous apart from the fact that Klaus is certainly a German.Not that that changes anything.There are American groups who get called "KRAUTROCK"....dunno what's going on there,but at least i got to insert the keyword three times.

Google will be going mad for these pages.

Tracklist:

A1 Go 7:02
A2 Go Go Pongs 9:09
A3 Farbenspiel 4:09
B1 Hamburg - Ankara 6:02
B2 Hvalpsund Impressionen 6:29
B3 Klänge Wie Sand Am Meer 3:52222
B4 Strandgut 6:13

DOWNLOAD more from the ping pong book of kung fu HERE!

A La Ping Pong – "Extrem Musik A La Ping Pong Phase I" (A La Ping Pong Self-Released – RP 1078) 1980

I could have sworn I was listening to Fripp and Eno,turns out it was another long lost "Krautrock" DIY meisterwerk by some hippy untermensch called Klaus Bloch, who manages to sound like Mike Oldfield, Robert Fripp, Mike Oldfield, Manuel Gottsching and Mike Oldfield jamming to some Eno rejected tape loops.

There's inverted comma's around the Krautrock accusation I foolishly made, for that unfortunate moniker doesn't apply to the Cluster side of all things Kosmische.The rock stuff belongs firmly with horrible nonsense like Amon Dull 2(sic), Ash Ra Tempel and Guru Guru ...read my ground-breaking in depth slagging of Krautrock , "Mommy What's a Krautrock?"HERE! ....ah, so now I don't have to repeat myself,so let us begin.

One aspect of the Anglo-rock scene that hippies in West Germany really wished they sounded like,apart from Soft Machine was Space Rock,namely Pink Floyd.It meant that you didn't have to learn to play your instrument,and with the help of a tape-echo you could bang out a self-financed LP of ambient space rock quicker than you could say Max Planck.The trouble with that was, that by 1980,the Floyd had moved on to doing dystopian musicals instead.So i guess there was still a market of disaffected 30 year olds still hankering' for "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" part...er..well ask Max Planck.

Good musick for your flotation tank,or for meditating to an Alan Watts lecture for some much needed back-up.I'm always a sucker for a black and white album cover.

BOLLOCKS!....I can feel a DIY Kosmiche episode coming on.Must take my medication!.....fuck it,I love paying backhanded compliments to Germans,and mentioning the war;so be prepared for some weird German loners with boners and synthesizers,inserting their jack-plugs into analogue echo machines.

Tracklist:

A1.a Fanfaren
A1.b Waidmannsheil? 9:02
A2 Nordlaut I 8:45
A3 Edelweiß Für.... 2:57
B1 Nordlaut III 3:51
B2 Morgenstern-Abendstern 14:38
B3 Zartbitter 2:24

DOWNLOAD ping pong fooey HERE

Poison – "Awakening Of The Dead" (Self-released Demo) – BFM 003 1986

By Demo,or Demon,number III, Poison have finally worked out how to operate a mixer,and we can hear all the instruments. Now I can reveal that the Bass Player ,called...don't laugh....Incubus Demon......(muffled giggle)....has lifted the one size fits all Bass riffage from Saxon,whose every song used a one note E-string drone for virtually every tune they did.....just like Lemmy,and probably the four stringed Satan who was in Venom too.....i'm guessing here as I'm not too familiar with Venom's seminal works.

Poison's guitar sound is ruthless as always,the vocals are customarily indecipherable ,but they still retain that special live in the replica Gas Chamber at Auschwitz ambiance. If you ever visit that Nazi Disneyland for ghouls and fools (Don't),test out the acoustics of the Gas Chamber with the impertinent question "Is this the original Gas Chamber or is it a post war replica?"...and count the evil looks cast in your direction......names will be taken.

Metal ,in general, is a difficult thing to admit liking. Saying "I'm into Metal" is tantamount to admitting you're a Virgin,or have no Friends,or were bullied at school. On an anthropological note, I did note that the Bully's were usually Soul fans, and the Bullied were invariably followers of the infinite varieties of Heavy metal. Mirroring the Mods and Rockers' running battles of the 1960's. Punks, of course, were a mixture of the two camps,so generally got left alone,unless Skinheads were in the vicinity....this is why 'Oi' came into existence.

I did get discovered with a Devo album by a gang of Soul-Boys one time,which didn't end well,for me or the Devo LP. Not understanding the appeal of Soul music myself, i guess i lean towards the Metal end of the Pop spectrum,but this doesn't mean I'm a Virgin or totally friendless....although I'm working on that one....because i'm reformed Punk Rocker I suppose? Nowadays I can't stand Punks either.

"Never join a club that would have you as a Member" is my family motto courtesy of Karl Marx's smarter brother....Groucho. 

Tracklist:

...this world (A)

A1 Satan Commands 4:38
A2 Wake The Dead (+Intro) 7:48
A3 Yog-Sothoth 7:34
A4 Antichrist (D.t.C.) - Live '85  3:03

...beyond (B)

B1 Alive (Undead) 6:41
B2 Legions Of Hell (New Version) 8:08
B3 Black Death - Live '85 3:40

DOWNLOAD some german poison live at auschwitz HERE!

Poison – "Bestial Death (Demo II)" (BFM Tapes – BFM 002) 1985

Oh my God......sorry all you pale blue-veined metallic youths...I mean Oh My God of Evil,the great Satan and all his fantastic demon mates...I fall to my knees in thanks that you are but a very early prototype for a system of control...and a majority of the modern Planet still, STILL(?) falls for it.

Despite hardly ever being mentioned in that toilet fiction best seller by authors unknown, "The Bible", your influence still makes the god fearing  among us fear the concept of 'evil'...even the very intelligent among us are sucked into this ludicrous experiment of mass hysteria.That is far more frightening than any fictional devil,mainly because its fucking real!

The main tripping point for Death Metal,or just plain satanism is ,that if Satan exists then so does God,or Jehova, or Alan.....please don't kill me, I meant Allah!. Therefore,you are condemning yourself to eternal torture because you didn't waste your life grovelling for forgiveness for sins that ,apparently, Jesus Christ had already absolved us all for when he ,allegedly, provided the perverted image of himself nailed to a cross to remind us all.Although there are no photographs to prove it, so we'll just have to take the word of a bunch of madmen, who seem to have an exclusive hotline to the main office of the Almighty God above,and so can inform us of which confused nonsense this evasive deity wants us to know.

So, Death Metal bands are either comfortable in the knowledge that neither God, Nor, Satan, almost certainly do NOT exist ,and are just having a bit of fun, or they are totally stupid,worshiping the wrong side. I've heard that Satan, doesn't pull the punches when it comes to torture and eternity...even though it says fuck all about it in the Bible.However, one must say it's great fun annoying, and better still, frightening the shit out of dumbass believers by pretending to worship Satan,Lucifer, Beelzebub ,or whatever other stupid fucking name they give this ghost.

Now back to the slightly more logical world of terribly bad recordings of Death Metal band Poison, from Germany.

If it could be possible, Poison's second Demo, has an even higher rating on the Shit-Fi scale than the first. This one seems to have been recorded in a shoebox,with the drums outside in the car park,but the vocalist is the same room as you, spraying large clumps of sputum in your ear.The lyrics of which are unlikely to be sophisticated ruminations on the human condition.....well...either that or about death,evil and the Devil.It's truly bizarre stuff,and naturally its also very silly, but there's nothing else that sounds quite like it.

Tracklist:

1 Intro : The Vision 0:54
2 Satan Commands 4:21
3 Witchfynde 3:25
4 Wake The Dead 8:03
5 Antichrist (Death To Christ) 3:09
6 Alive (Undead) (7:55)
6a Intro 1:08
6b Song 6:47

DOWNLOAD a bestial ear bumming HERE!

Poison – "Sons Of Evil" (Self-Released Demo) 1984

 

Death Metal can either sound and feel like you're having your head kicked in, like Slayer's immaculately produced ear batterings; or, like having your inner ears dewaxed by a hammer drill whilst being surrounded by multitudes of arcing electrodes,which is where we find ourselves today. Depending on the group,some of these electrodes will be attached by crocodile clips to your balls,or whatever are now the sensitive parts of whichever gender you self-identify with nowadays.

This demo,is actually an unedited live rehearsal by German Death Metallers Poison, recorded in what sounds like a vast empty gas chamber,or an abandoned public toilet built on an ancient burial ground.

The guitar frequently does a rather accurate impression of one of the more harsher Merzbow albums,with a sound not too far removed from a tethered moped on full throttle in the hold of an oil tanker. The bass is inaudible,and the drums have that adorable DIY biscuit tin and bucket quality,overpowered by one side of a C-90's worth of the last words of somebody being garroted .

Its all quite ridiculous of course,but it sounds fantastic.

Tracklist:

A1 The Omen (Intro) 1:39
A2 Inferno Breaks Out 2:29
A3 Black Death 3:47
A4 Demon 6:16
A5 Reaper 3:08
A6 Possessed 2:06
A7 Angel Of Satan (+ March To Hades) 5:41
A8 Satan's Damnation (Intro) 1:24
A9 Legions Of Hell 3:38
B1 Leather + Metal 4:00
B2 Hell Of The Living Dead 4:55
B3 Slaughter 2:18
B4 Gonna Make You Die 5:21

DOWNLOAD from this german hell HERE!

Ask Dr. Stoopid - "Mommy, What's a Krautrock?"

 I'm trying to keep myself amused during my Co-vid confinement,and also combat a spell of apathy about blogging.....so......having watched three and a half seasons of "Ren and Stimpy"(the greatest TV show ever made!?),my mind is sufficiently out-there/damaged to ask Dr. Stoopid what Krautrock really is shall we?

Dr. Stoopid says:

"Basically, Krautrock was a low grade version of 'Prog Rock', but for people who couldn't play musical instruments.....and specifically for anyone who lived in West Germany who couldn't play a musical instrument;even more specifically,anyone who lived in West Germany who couldn't play a musical instrument between 1969 and 1975.

The main Krautrockers,who actually 'Rocked',and these fellows were in a minority, were Ash Ra Tempel,Amon Düül II.....but NOT Amon Düül I,who were psychedelic hippy primitivists......and Guru Guru. These chaps were the rock element of it all,preferring Jimi Hendrix-style freak outs to wanting to be Pink Floyd at the UFO in 1967. Of course, no real musical talent is needed to play an impression of Jimi Hendrix,who was an innovator on the six strings rather than a fantastic technician.

The large majority of German hippies wanted to be Pink Floyd,who weren't too hot on the musician front themselves. The Syd Barratt Live era from 1966 to 68 was a huge inspiration on the 'Freak Out' front,where the boundaries of Rock traditionalism were completely broken down into free-form freak rock. Then the next era of Pink Floyd,post Syd, was even more influential on the nascent Kraut Rockers.They used syths,and floaty effects.The Space Rock era Floyd.

Being Outsiders, the Krautrockers were, by default, given free reign artistically,because they thought nobody beyond our mates are gonna be interested in this shit? Surely? Never mind buy the records?

How wrong were they?

They didn't count on the endless ingenuity of 'The Record Collector' to create a market to inflate the prices,creedence and obcurity of any second rate genre to boost their kudos in this musical version of Trainspotting.In this world, Obscurity and rarity ruled over musical excellence or innovation. The same thing happened to Soul music in the cess-pits of north western England in the seventies with 'Northern Soul'.....which was really the 'Crap Soul' that nobody bought.These things were rare for a reason,and for the vast majority of Krautrock it was the same.

Naturally there was some genuinely great and innovative music to be dug up, like Neu!,Can,Cluster and,maybe, Faust,but, com'on,most were poor facsimiles of Anglo-prog.There was even a Krautrock band who wasn't even German; the Canterbury style bunch of Brits called Nektar,who incidentally could actually play their instruments.

The best stuff to come out of the Krautrock era was the electronic stuff,which should really be referred to, not as rock,but Das Kosmiche Musik, or, space rock with out the rock bit.Again this didn't require any great musical expertise,but ownership of a vast bank of modular synthesisers, and a couple of Terry Riley LP's.We're talking Popol Vuh, Cluster,and Tangerine Dream here fella's.....and it is only Fella's who listen to this stuff.The ladies are less inclined to listen to anything that may enhance their stature in the tribe,and go for mostly stuff they actually like.

It's debatable whether Tangerine Dream should actually be associated with the rest of Krautrock/Kosmiche musik,as they seemed to exist apart from all that,and would have made the charts in the UK no matter what. As for Kraftwerk,they binned off Krautrock altogether to nobley try and invent some futuristic Pop that also charted in the UK. CAN also existed in that hinterland of accessibility that overlapped Roxy Music territory minus the songs.

For me, there was only one Kraut act that sounded like nothing else that went before,and that was ,of course, Neu!.This was one of those 'What The Fuck Was That' moments that are all too rare in the rock'n'roll era.

Doesn't that drummer play the same pattern on all of the tracks?...er...Yes. Where were the fills,the paradiddles,the 7/5 time signatures? This was NOT Prog!

Probably the greatest influence Krautrock had was not the music, it was the inclusivity of the musicianship.Wait a minute I can play Bass like Holgar Czukay,play drums like Klaus Dinger,and guitar like that bloke from Guru Guru, said the impressionable youth of 1973,having just pilfered the 'European Rock' section of the local record store.

The Euro Rock section was still there in 1978 when i first bought into the Krautrock legend,after endlessly hearing my Post-Punk hero's name-dropping CAN and Neu.Sadly "Tago-Mago" wasn't there, so I got the terrible "Soon Over Babaluma",which was, let's face it...Shit.Although,there will certainly be comments alluding to the opposite. Luckily I fell upon an original pressing of "Neu 1",on Brain Records, in a subterranean hippy record store in Leicester called "The Very Bazaar",from which i spent most of my dole money in in the early eighties. The Euro-Rock section was in Revolver in Leicester market place,which was renouned for its genre spanning sections;the other notorious section in Revolver was the "New Wave" section,where you could find anything from The Drones to The Door and The Window residing there.

When David Bowie was looking for Idea's, as he was inclined to do,often mistaking 'looking' for 'Stealing',he was pointed in the direction of The Motorik section(as in the Neu/Motorik Beat) of the Krautrock genre by fellow 'Ideas' harvester,and fellow non-musician,Brian Eno,or 'Eno', as his mother calls him (Eno,yer dinner's ready!).So...er... Eno,with sidekicks Bowie and Pop (iggy),would hang-out with Harmonia,Cluster,Conny Plank,and the Dingers casually usurping their style for a series of rather unremarkable albums to enhance Bowies legend,including the terminally awful "The Idiot" by Iggy Pop...who wants us to know he,or David's read some Dostoevsky.Luckily,as no-one had heard of Neu or Harmonia in the Anglo-Saxon arena,or even in Germany for that matter;this watered down Motorik influenced Kosmiche Pop was attributed to the Great David,who to his credit would often drop these groups names subtly,to the deaf ears of the Anglo-American public.

Most of it is,like every other genre,over-rated and dross, valued for its obscurity over content. Leave a copy of the admittedly rather good,"Golem" by Sand on your coffee table,and you'll score many obscurity points with the envious eyes that your geek friend Eamonn would cast upon it...That's the Eamonn who changed his name to Aemonn Düül in tribute to his favourite Band.Then of course, there was his quieter namesake, Aemonn Düül Too,who was Aemonn Düül One's shadow world. If these people don't exist there is a need to invent them.

So to close this contentious article on German musik at the start of the seventies,its a Geek tradition to have a Top Five list innit?

1. Neu - "Neu!"

2. CAN - "Ege Bamyasi"

3. Cluster - "Zukerzeit"

4. Harmonia - "Musik Von Harmonia"

5. Guru Guru - "UFO"

All pretty obvious selections,but Obscurity in itself is not a guide izzit?

I assume you've all got these albums? Si I'll provide a download of Sand's "Golem" album......which you've probably all got as well,but its more obscure than my Top Five,and is therefore more 'Krautrock as a result.

Epilogue:

Ok, Yeah Jaki Liebzeit was an incredible drummer,and NO, Einsturzende Neubauten was not a Krautrock band,even if they did steal banging metal junk and using engines from Faust.That's immitation not innovation.And no Ash Ra (Tempel) didn't invent Trance."

Sand  ‎– "Golem" (1974)

Tracklist:

1.Helicopter 13:40
2.The Old Loggerhead 8:20
3.May Rain 4:30
4.On The Corner 4:30
5.Sarah (10:40)

DOWNLOAD some sand HERE!

I Am The Fly - "I Am The Fly" (Self-Released 7" Single) 2020

 

While we're on the subject of Synth-Punk, anyone fancy some Modern Synth-Punk from Essen, Germany?

Made by girl/boy duo 'I Am The Fly:

Here are the Flys....available for childrens parties, weddings, bar mitzvahs,and FGM gatherings at your local Mosque.

MUSCA domestica male (vocals, bass)

MUSCA domestica female (organ, drum machine).

A Philip K. Dickensian band member format in use there,which is always welcome as I am a Dick-head (in all senses of the word),and by sheer chance I love Synth-Punk too.....and Wire(!)...so ,already, what is there not to like about this self-financed DIY vinyl?

I have a tenuous family connection with Essen,as my late father visited there at twelve thousand feet on a couple of occassions in 1941/2 (read about him and 'it' HERE!). 

I notice that it's the 79th anniversary of the first Essen Raid on the tenth of October.....so to celebrate(?) or commiserate, and maybe a small apology,we bring you the sound of modern-day Essen....note the lack of exploding ordnance in the background to prove it.

The tracks themselves are splendidly bass guitar driven two note symphonies reminiscent ,musically if not vocally, of The Screamers organ-led onslaughts as if fronted by a GM Fly instead of Tomata du Plenty;and a drum box replacing the real drums. Maybe the bassist likes New Model Army too, as the bass playing does suggest a ghostly influence from those crusty punk preachers somewhat;especially the plagarized,but modified, line from "The Spirit Of The Falklands"...'the natives(inmates) are restless tonight sir'. (there seems to be a theme of Brits bombing the fuck out of everybody going on here!....we're sorry!)

The singing android tells us 'there is no therapy for being a human',except maybe if you help out by buying and listening to this noble single.The other options are far too horrific to list here.

P.S.S.T...I think i mentioned the 'War' once, but I may have got away with it?

Tracklist:

1 Axolotl 2:20
2 Wonko The Sane 2:20
3 Heresy 2:20

Get a copy HERE!

Fred Van Hove / Wolfgang Dauner ‎– "Requiem For Che Guevara " (MPS Records ‎– 15205 ST) 1969

Where's the tribute to Lee Harvey Oswald for starting the whole conspiracy caper,that's what I wanna know? Although in cool terrorist Ché's case, it was more a conspiracy of T-Shirt manufacturers than the secret rulers of the planet. Some say that T-Shirt manufacturers ARE the secret rulers of the planet, but I have my doubts. However ripe with suspicion is the ironic act of naked evil that would see a Crass t-shirt adorning the crass hologram that is David Beckham, or K-Pop boybands resplendant in Ramones memorabilia, one suspects that the secret rulers of the known world are none other than ourselves.....shocking,but all the evidence points towards that sad conclusion. I'd like nothing more than some shadey oligarchy of plutocrats to be meeting in a secret bunker beneath the Pyramids deciding how to make it seem they're not there when they are.That's a full-time job!

Naturally, the most often used noun for our ghostly leaders is "They",it's never 'Us' is it; the more paranoid section of society would never be able to cope with the post-post-truth fact that we might be doing this to ourselves?

This takes me back to the conclusion of the psychedelic thriller TV series "The Prisoner",when number 6 finally gets to unmask Number 1,only to find that its none other than himself. This caused nationwide outrage in the UK.They wanted it to be some kind of 'Hitler' figure,but it turned out to be our hero,Number Six himself....hero's always turn out this way in the real world,bastards! What made them...."The public".....so angry was this brief moment of reality staring them....."The public"....in the face. The only person or persons keeping you all in this permanent state of slavery, in this prison without walls, is,......you guessed it, or maybe not?......YOURSELVES!

A similar encounter with reality is German Free Jazz, so here's Brotzmann's piano abuser,Fred Van Hove, and Wolfgang Dauner sharing an album in tribute to famous assasinees of the mid twentieth century.This is as close to freedom as you're gonna get this side of a Peter Brotzmann LP.

Tracklist:

1. –Wolfgang Dauner - Psalmus Spei For Choir And Jazz Group 13:07
2. –Fred Van Hove - Requiem For Che Guevara, Martin Luther King,John Fitzgerald And Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X

DOWNLOAD to pay tribute to the icons of assasination HERE!

The Peter Brötzmann Sextet / Quartet ‎– "Nipples" (Calig ‎– CAL 30 604) 1969

See, I told you that Brötzmann did an album called "Nipples",but that's the only thing that's changed. Pete does his usual short but manic bursts of moving his fingers on a Saxophone and blowing hard enough to bust a gusset. There is, I assume, a degree of imteraction between the players in this type of non-music,but as far as I can see they could be in different rooms with no means of monitoring the other members of either 'The Sextet' or the 'Quartet'......but that's not the point is it? Personally I like the idea of four or six seperate entities doing their thing independently but ending up on the same record.....not that this was the concept of course. This is about freedom of self-expression and the rejection of rules, the straight jacket of 'notes' rather than the liberty to roam with the tone. Its subversive in it's rejection of what is normal, the taboo's of abstract art. This is basically a room clearer that divides the human population selectively along the lines of followers and free spirits, trump supporters and hope. The small percentage (2/3%) who understand this music...and it IS music ....already see the futility in voting for the fools who would run for Office, including even the clueless Kanye West, bi-polar or not.So what is the point?..... The point is, this wild ecstatic noise delivers hope that the Human race isn't doomed to be eaten by itself. Maybe the co-vid Virus is a natural cleanser,freeing 'us' from the prison created by the immoral majority, the 98% who are frightened of being handed the key......what key? What career? What life? Freedom comes from within....if you have a 'within' of course. Suck on these 'Nipples' for nourishment, or don't, it really is up to you.


Tracklist:

1. Nipples (17:54)
2. Tell A Green Man (15:32)

DOWNLOAD a breast full of improvised cream HERE!

Brötzmann/ Van Hove / Bennnink ‎– "Balls" (FMP ‎– FMP 0020) 1970

Never mind the Balls, here's Brötzmann, Van Hove  and  Bennink.
"Yes Cinders, you will go to the BALLS!",said the gone-bad binary fairy to the poor downtrodden,possibly sex trafficked Kosovan skivvy held in slavery by two ugly pre-op and post-op sisters. Alas, as soon as Cinders found out Peter Brotzmann and Hans Bennink were involved, she declined the opportunity, preferring a fulfilling life of slavery and sexual abuse instead. For one, the sheer sonic ball- kicking that these three musical renegades dish out from inside small art venues would have been enough to shatter Cinderella's glass slippers where she stood,lacerating her dainty bunions and corns,which would normally require hospital attention if she wasn't someone the Police would like to interview.So a dirty handkerchief would have to suffice.As for Prince Charming,he was last seen running with a rope looking for a suitable tree to end his misery.
"BALLS"....one of the greatest album titles ever to brand its simple profundity onto my failing retina's, features Bill Clinton's favored saxophonist, Peter Brötzmann,on...yes...Saxophone;ably backed up by the human dumpster,Hans Bennink, emptying its cargo of trashed tin cans and various clattering metal objects into your living room. Regular Brötzmann collaborator, Fred Van Hove, plays the Chimps Tea-party piano as if he was blind and deaf from birth;which, incidentally, is the only way to approach such an overused instrument.
This stuff is what Punk Rock wished it had been.The kind of Anti-Music,unmotivated by money or success,uninterested in audience approval;an uncompromising lurch towards the opposite,then turn left.Especially admirable is the blatant fact that Brotzmann plays the same sax parts on every single one of his hundreds of records,its just the silences that are different.
Your average citizen in this modern cesspit would say that this LP was just a load of "BALLS"; almost correct, those brainwashed fools just need to alter the context of their dumb insults slightly,for it really refers to the 'Balls' that are needed to make an anti-music like this. Post-jazz,pre-jizz improvisation with....yup...'BALLS'
Brötzmann did an album called 'Nipples' as well.(Cumming Soon).


Tracklist:

1. Balls
2. Garten - Für Angelika / "Fritze" Geges / Schmiddy'
3. Filet Americain
4. De Daag Waarop Sipke Eindelijk Zijn Nagels Knipte, En Verder Alle Andere A Moten Voor Hem Openstonden I.C.P. 17
5. Untitled 1 (bonus)

6. Untitled 2 (bonus)

DOWNLOAD the balls especially if it's not your bag HERE!

Wolfgang Dauner's Et Cetera Feat. Jon Hiseman, Larry Coryell ‎– "Knirsch" (MPS Records ‎– 21 21432-2) 1972

One thing I likey not within the 'Jazz' idiom is 'Jazz Guitar' (Derek Bailey exempted), which Larry Coryell extols the virtues of excessively in his guest spot on this Wolfgang Dauner Rock-fusion album. Nowhere near as 'Out-there' as "Output", this could potentially reel in countless Colloseum fans just by the presence of Jon Hiseman, never mind the attempt to recreate 'The Kettle' from 'The Valentyne Suite' as album opener.This could be as far-out as 'Rock' fans could dare to get to achieve the next rung up the ladder of Intellectuality yet still enjoy the simple Joys of Thin Lizzy and Status Quo.
This and Colloseum would be ,thee, 'Jazz' records in a dysfunctional rockers' record collection,which although he doesn't like them much, he will whip out whenever he want to display his 'interesting' side.
Krautrock Fusion with a bit of bite, "Knirsch"..... ("Crunch" in English)


Tracklist:

A1 The Really Great Escape 4:20
A2 Sun 5:00
A3 Yan 12:50
B1 Tuning Spread 11:05
B2 Yin 9:50

DOWNLOAD the false teeth of progressive Jazz Rock HERE!

Wolfgang Dauner ‎– "Output" (ECM Records ‎– ECM 1006) 1970

As well as being great to be left hanging around in your batchelor pad,even if your are a forty year old batchelor whom no sane woman would want to be in the same room as,never mind be intimate with; "Jazz" can go so wrong that it's right. As Howard Moon explained so succinctly in 'The Mighty Boosh':
"Yeah you fear jazz!
You fear the lack of rules, the lack of boundaries. Oooh! It’s a fence! No, it’s soft! Ahh, what’s happening? The shapes! The chaos! Has to be simple little nursery rhymes for you, huh? Simple little “dee dee dee de dee-dee.” Soon as the melody gets abstract you mess your trousers and run to your mommy."
In fact, the boudaries are so stretched here that the word Jazz becomes just a meaningless blurry blotch on the outer spiral arm of just one of a billion billion galaxies,or, in fact, just over there for those of us us who nearly understand this raw juju....everyone and no-one!?
As the cover 'art' suggests, just plug yerself into the PA and let the ideas flow channeled from the ether in the vast untapped vat of Dark Knowledge that makes up for 95% of the Dark energy in the known universe.Even Quantum computers can't calculate the exact volume and location of this dark force that is splitting the universe asunder.
The corpulent torso with dense crabs ladder adorned by groovey neck-a-chief, reveals the location of the Earth end of this rip in the space-time continuum as being cold war era West Germany;briefly world leaders for music this 'out', until "Future Days" in 1973 normalised it all.
The 'Output' seems to be an intriguing alloy of Prog,Jazz, and spontaneous improv direct from the source that is tearing reality apart.Kraut-Fusion has been volunteered as a category for those of us who feel comfortable on solid ground.


Tracklist:

A1 Mudations 5:45
A2 Output 7:42
A3 Bruch 4:15
B1 Nothing To Declare 10:40
B2 Abraxas 4:24
B3 Brazing The High Sky Full 4:25

DOWNLOAD to input the output HERE!