Kraut

Although ‘The Sun or the Moon’ band (not to be confused with the UK punk band of the same similar name) have their feet planted well within an idiom that could be likened to that of a space-rock. Their sound is without a doubt far more wide-ranging than such a generalised title as ‘Space Rock affords, that is if their album ‘Cosmic’ is anything to go by…

The dark German collective back with completely catchy kraut-improvisations. All tracks deliver memacing heavy, fuzzy psychedelic moments that merit a serious listening. After their amazing and most popular effort, "Nibelungenlied" stresses the free-sonic-destruction dimension of their music. The sound is always dominated by screaming / electric bluesy guitar parts, sound experiments and macabre keyboards effects. "The heroic deeds of Siegfried" is a dark and minimalist, melancholic composition with a dubtle "medieval" flavour. The savage percussions announces a delicate, simplistic guitar sequence in a moody tone. "Nibelungenlied I" is an agressive, dynamic guitar orientated composition, featuring really hypnotic, rocking sequences; all in improvisation with a repetitive bass line and some vicious guitar solos. "Gunter & Brunhild", "Hagen von Tronje" & "Siegfried's death" are bluesy-kraut jam with wha wha effects and strangely doom, sinister atmospheres. Heavy, complex, weird & cool! A "poisoning" masterpiece. This album only has to be avoided by those who can't support an extremely poor, infect sound production.

The dark German collective back with completely catchy kraut-improvisations. All tracks deliver menacing heavy, fuzzy psychedelic moments that merit a serious listening. After their amazing and most popular effort, "Nibelungenlied" stresses the free-sonic-destruction dimension of their music. The sound is always dominated by screaming / electric bluesy guitar parts, sound experiments and macabre keyboards effects. "The heroic deeds of Siegfried" is a dark and minimalist, melancholic composition with a subtle "medieval" flavour. The savage percussion announces a delicate, simplistic guitar sequence in a moody tone. "Nibelungenlied I" is an agressive, dynamic guitar orientated composition, featuring really hypnotic, rocking sequences; all in improvisation with a repetitive bass line and some vicious guitar solos…

Formed in 1972, this ethnic/kraut jazz quintet (Jochen Leuschner, Reinhard Karwatky, Gerd Bock-Ehrmann, Deiter Kramer, and Ludwig Braun) released their self titled album the same year in a relative discretion. This album made an exploration in long / space rock improvisations relied on jazz grooves and weird electro -acoustic sounds. The "ethnic", mystical elements are obvious notably due to the acoustic percussions rhythm sections. Compositions are mainly instrumental and improvised, brightly showing the technical capacities of the musicians. After several departures the band will be organised under a trio form, recording in 1973 the seminal "Time Machine". This album features astonishing manifestations of freaky fusion jazz exercises mixed with weird experimentations and mysticism. This album was recorded at Dieter Dierk's mythical studio…

After the obvious Kraut fusion acts such as Embryo, Xhol Caravan, Kraan and Passport, there were quite a few lesser known bands that came and went all throughout the 70s but when the progressive rock scene as a whole started to wane around 1975, these sorts of bands continued to form, release an album or two and then fade into obscurity. While Germany gets the lion's share of the attention for the Krautrock scene, both Switzerland and Austria were in on the game too. The Ginger Ale Band formed in Salzburg, Austria in 1977 spent a couple years celebrating the sugary carbonated soda drink and then changed its name to the more mysterious sounding Ginga Rale Band in 1979. The band released two albums and then disbanded in 1984.
The real gems of this band is on this excellent debut Wir Bedauern… (German for "We Regret") which is one of the highlights of Kraut Fusion…

Deepest View (Archive Volume 3) (2011). Following closely in the footsteps of their first two archival releases, Space Debris return with a third volume of live recordings and bits and pieces. Starting off in an unusually subdued mood, with moody acoustic piano, the 10-minute opening cut Mary-Joe-Anna nonetheless gets going eventually into another heavy jam from the band. The shorter Reprise of the Sun features some nice electric piano. Off course, throughout is the sterling organ work that is something of a signature sound for Space Debris, provided on some tracks by current keyboardist Winnie Rimbach-Sator and on others by former keyboardist Tom Kunkel. But let’s not forget the tight rhythm section of Peter Brettel (bass) and Christian Jäger (drums) and the endlessly creative guitar playing of Tommy Gorny…

After the obvious Kraut fusion acts such as Embryo, Xhol Caravan, Kraan and Passport, there were quite a few lesser known bands that came and went all throughout the 70s but when the progressive rock scene as a whole started to wane around 1975, these sorts of bands continued to form, release an album or two and then fade into obscurity. While Germany gets the lion's share of the attention for the Krautrock scene, both Switzerland and Austria were in on the game too. The Ginger Ale Band formed in Salzburg, Austria in 1977 spent a couple years celebrating the sugary carbonated soda drink and then changed its name to the more mysterious sounding Ginga Rale Band in 1979. The band released two albums and then disbanded in 1984.
The real gems of this band is on this excellent debut Wir Bedauern… (German for "We Regret") which is one of the highlights of Kraut Fusion…

Out of the mysterious mind of Andrea Centazzo came Elektriktus. Originally released on the PDU label in 1976, the LP Electronic Mind Waves offers a collection of eight synth-fueled songs that sound very close to what kraut/cosmische heads were doing at the time, think of Conrad Schnitzler, Deuter or Cosmic Jokers, and also other European experimentalists like Richard Pinhas' Heldon, Spacecraft, Didier Bocquet, Seesselberg, F.G. Experimental Laboratory, Roberto Cacciapaglia or Hydrus. Along with Cacciapaglia and Hydrus, Elektriktus shows the most adventurous experimental sounds under a kraut/cosmische music influence to ever come out of Italy…

The magic and majesty of Holger Czukay’s late career works for Claremont 56 is being celebrated on a new compilation.