Chris Amon.

Released in 1974, Amon Düül II's Hijack is not frequently (if ever) regarded as one of their better albums. In fact, author Ingmar Schrober gives it a few scant sentences in Tanz der Lemmings, his biography of the band published in 1979. For the most part, this critical dismissal is accurate - fans and critics seem to agree for once - most of what's here is unfocused, very polished, meandering psych prog that goes nowhere. But Hijack is significant in the band's history, and perhaps for posterity as well, for three reasons. The first of these is that the recording of this album signalled a short-lived reunion of sorts for most of the members of the original Amon Düül - vocalist Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, guitarist/vocalist Chris Karrer, guitarist John Weinzierl, drummer Peter Leopold…

The return of the definitive Krautrock band, Amon Düül II, who proudly present their first CD & vinyl release in nearly 20 years, a bold new album of extra trippy, progressive, spacey, Düüliriousness! This special project features founding members John Weinzierl (guitar), Chris Karrer (guitar, violin) and Renate Knaup (vocals) plus longtime members Lothar Meid (bass) and Daniel Fischelscher (drums), With one of the most fanatical followings in all of rock music as well as a world renowned reputation as perhaps the most influential experimental band, this release is sure to get the music community talking.

Released in 1974, Amon Düül II's Hijack is not frequently (if ever) regarded as one of their better albums. In fact, author Ingmar Schrober gives it a few scant sentences in Tanz der Lemmings, his biography of the band published in 1979. For the most part, this critical dismissal is accurate - fans and critics seem to agree for once - most of what's here is unfocused, very polished, meandering psych prog that goes nowhere. But Hijack is significant in the band's history, and perhaps for posterity as well, for three reasons. The first of these is that the recording of this album signalled a short-lived reunion of sorts for most of the members of the original Amon Düül - vocalist Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, guitarist/vocalist Chris Karrer, guitarist John Weinzierl, drummer Peter Leopold…

Live in Tokyo is a live record from the reunited original lineup of Amon Duul, and while most of the members are in place, the band isn't able to recapture the spark that made their early-'70s albums prog-rock milestones. The lineup features three longtime members, Renate Knaup, Lothar Meid, and Chris Karrer, with Wolf Wolff on drums and new second guitarist Felice Occhionero, Michael Ruff on keyboards and Jan Kahlert doing percussion and vocals. Most of the material is from Nada Moonshine # and one of their best albums, Wolf City.

The return of the definitive Krautrock band, Amon Düül II, who proudly present their first CD & vinyl release in nearly 20 years, a bold new album of extra trippy, progressive, spacey, Düüliriousness! This special project features founding members John Weinzierl (guitar), Chris Karrer (guitar, violin) and Renate Knaup (vocals) plus longtime members Lothar Meid (bass) and Daniel Fischelscher (drums), With one of the most fanatical followings in all of rock music as well as a world renowned reputation as perhaps the most influential experimental band, this release is sure to get the music community talking.

Amon Düül ll's extraordinary 1973 album finds the influential German art rock band working surprisingly well in a short song format while still stamping the music with their unique sound. "Fly United," "Trap," and "Ladies Mimikry" show diverse styles of pop and rock running happily into each other with memorably quirky results. The instrumentation here is as quirky as ever,too – perhaps even more so than usual, with Chris Karrer's violin and sax playing now in the fore. The melodies are often shimmering. Unfortunately, the band never again sustained the excellence displayed on Viva la Trance again.

Chris Karrer is a German guitarist and composer. He also plays oud, saxophone and violin. He is known as co-founder of Amon Düül (later participating in the related and much more commercially successful project Amon Düül II) and for his collaboration with Embryo. Each song here is completely different, mostly acoustic mid-eastern instruments complimented with P.P. Keuns' outstanding magic sound-carpets as Karrer refers to them. This guy knows what sounds cool and your ears will be delighted.

Farther away from drum'n'bass and closer to big-beat techno (with a little turntablist mayhem thrown in), Amon Tobin's third album for Ninja Tune breaks out with a devastating opener, "Get Your Snack On." The track turns out to be just one of the highlights on Supermodified, a dense, plunderphonic kaleidoscope of an album with giant, noisy jazz breaks and groovy electronic synthwork. It's got quite a bit of the retro-sounding sampling of Permutation (orchestra strings, jazz combos, groovy psychedelic basslines) along with a wider variety of material, from driving funky-breaks productions ("Four Ton Mantis") and playful cut'n'paste numbers ("Precursor," "Chocolate Lovely"), to darkstep jungle ("Golfer Vrs. Boxer") and surprisingly touching minimalist melancholia ("Slowly," "Deo"). Tobin's again made great strides in his production skills, and the range and greatness of this material serves as proof positive.