Dracula (1979)

Aera originated from Nürnberg, with roots going back to the late 1960. Although related to Ihre Kinder, Aera were always more of that great tradition of Bavarian/South German jazz-rock. One could compare them to other such bands as: Embryo, Missus Beastly, Munju, Moira, etc. Whilst fronted by Muck Groh they recorded two albums that were as much Krautrock as jazz-rock, with multi-tracked guitar riffing and near on ever-present wind solos, plus violin and ex Wind drummer Lucky Schmidt on their second. After that they got jazzier, due to big changes in personnel, with wheelchair-bound saxophonist Klaus Kreuzeder taking over as leader. Further albums diversified, with Roman Bunka from Embryo joining for a while, before they returned to the patent Aera Kraut-fusion style.

Igra Staklenih Perli, the ultimate ex-Yugoslavian space/psychedelic rock band, was formed in 1976 in Belgrade, Serbia, having been named after the famous novel by Hermann Hesse - "Das Glasperlenspiel" (The Glass Beads Game). Igra Staklenih Perli labelled their music style as "stream of consciousness music". Their both studio albums, the first eponymous "Igra Staklenih Perli" from 1979 and the second "Vrt Svetlosti" from 1980, are pretty similar in sound and resemble the style from early Pink Floyd and Hawkwind psychedelia, to German krautrock (notably Can and Tangerine Dream), to Hillage-era Gong among many. Interesting music effort especially considering the fact it was the new wave boom period when they tried to pursue a quite different music philosophy.