Xmas 2007: Batman Smells

The latest incarnation of my ever-less-legendary Xmas compilations is now online for your downloading pleasure or otherwise. Just drag your butt over to this downloadable archive (140 MB, 40 MP3 files)

More details just in:

BATMAN SMELLS
Vol.22: Xmas 2007

- KILLWHITNEYDEAD Merry Axemas
- ASOBI SEKSU Merry Xmas I Don't Want to Fight Tonight
- HOMER & JETHRO Santa Claus, the Original Hippie
- INSANE CLOWN POSSE Santa's a Fat Bitch
- THE MERRY MACS Christmas Cha Cha
- ASPMA Rocking Disco Santa
- THE SOULFUL STRINGS The Little Drummer Boy
- V - THE PRODUCTION LIBRARY The Season to be Quirky
- JOSH ROUSE Christmas with Jesus
- ERASURE Silent Night/Erasure Christmas
- ANNA RUSSELL with JIMMY CAROLL & HIS MISERABLE FIVE Please Santa Claus
- NICO Winter Song
- BOBBY HELMS Captain Santa Claus and His Reindeer Space Patrol
- CHUCK BERRY Run Rudolph Run
- COLOSSUS Charlie Brown Cut Up
- KITT THE CAR OF THE FUTURE A Knight Rider Christmas
- MEL BLANC I Tan't Wait Til Quithmuth Day
- SAINT ETIENNE I Don't Intend To Spend Christmas Without You
- TOOTS & THE MAYTALS Christmas Feeling Ska
- SY MANN Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- COLD CHILLIN' JUICE CREW Cold Chillin' Christmas
- JOE WARD Christmas Questions
- MANIC STREET PREACHERS Christmas Ghost
- SINGING SAMMY MARSHALL Jingle Mint Twist
- BOB RICH Christmas in my Pants
- THE VIPERS Christmas I'll Be Home
- MARCEL God Rest ye Merry, Gentlemen
- AL & THE VIBRATORS Merry Merry Xmas
- YO LA TENGO Rock N'Roll Santa
- FRED LOWERY Silent Night
- BILLY WARD & THE DOMINOES Christmas in Heaven
- TONY SCHWARTZ Christmas in New York City
... plus the usual interruptions and endorsements.

FEAR US!

APA#100 covers for Ian

Ronseal time. All four Frank's #100 covers, each less than 200k.

Musik Tankstelle, kein wurst dabei.

Hi-dee-ho Apaites.

Hereby the TOAD I self-assembled in Vienna at the museumquartier. At a digital library you could compile your own selection of independent Austrian music for a tenner.
I kind wrote a Vienna report some Apa's ago (in the*officially you need to pay me back* zine). For the newcomers, a part of it is copied and pasted below:

"In Vienna I compiled a redbook cd with Austrian mp3’s of old jazz, 80’s wave, schlagers and new electronic music. I’m gonna put this one up on the APA blog soon, as a Vienna TOAD cos it’s a quicky selection that most of you will be eager to discover."

I'm betting that Ian, Irene and Winkle will have a field day with the faux-pas new wave and krauty electrofunk songs. It's like reliving the days of Falko and Numan, confessed and blessed.

right so. krautwaveschlagerelectrofunkbigbandtronicasoundscapes from Vienna, yay!

1. Blümchen Blau - Heimatlos

2. Bobby Hammer - Papa Was a Rolling Stone

3. Chuzpe - Tausend Takte Tanz

4. Chuzpe - Marilyn

5. Heinz Conrads - Guat Schau Ma Aus

6. Drahdiwaberl - Killen Killen Killen

7. Fatty George Jazzband - Come Back to Sorrento

8. Fatty George Jazzband - Zoot

9. Fatty George Jazzband - Sensation Rag

10. Gustav - One Hand Mona

11. Martin Siewert - Attraktor

12. Sluta Leta - Kära Sjukskörterska


ps, sorry for the yousendit links. I haven't figured out the handier mediafire ways yet.
I will refresh these links after the meet up. But at least you have 7 days though.
enjoyyyyy and see most of you very soon!

Blind Children at Hide & Seek

A TOAD for Frank's APA #100.

1. "Take Me Into Your Skin" - Trentemoeller (The Last Resort)
2. "Lass Mich" - Faust & Nurse With Wound (Disconnected)
3. "Once Again" - Girl Talk (Night Ripper)
4. "Theory of Machines" - Ben Frost (Theory of Machines)
5. "Cusp of Something" - Yeti (Volume, Obliteration, Transcendance)
6. "Soft Temple" - Grails (Burning Off Impurities)
7. "Symbol #2" - Aluk Todolo (Symbol 7")
8. "Missing You" - A Place to Bury Strangers (A Place to Bury Strangers)
9. "Fractured Skies" - Parts and Labor (Mapmaker)
10. "Embers" - Minsk (The Ritual Fires of Abandonment)
11. "Little Prince" - Eel (Little Prince)
12. "Ashes" - Rameses III (Matanuska)
13. "I Never Lose. Never Really." - Belong (October Language)
14. "The Hemophiliac's Dream pt.1" - 5ive (The Hemophiliac's Dream)

Some brand-new noises for you all. Nasty over-designed cover included in the package.

Download part one (91MB)
Download part two and cover (86MB)
and that missing track five (Yeti) (16MB)

Enjoy!

I Wanna Know If It's Good To You?

A TOAD for Frank's 100.

1. "Kankan Diarabe" - African Virtuoses
2. "Armee Guineenne" - Bembeya Jazz National
3. "I Wanna Know If It's Good To You?" - Funkadelic
4. "Hard Times" - Baby Huey & The Babysitters
5. "If You Want Me To Stay" - Sly & The Family Stone
6. "Final Request" - Josef K
7. "Arabian Knights" - Siouxsie & The Banshees
8. "23" - Blonde Redhead
9. "Wamp Wamp (Whut It Do)" - Clipse
10. "Atlas" - Battles
11. "People Person" - Pissed Jeans
12. "A History Of Bad Men" - Melvins
13. "Everybody Daylight" - Brightblack Morning Light
14. "Sum'bulala" - Brenda Fassie

Download Part 1 (56MB)
Download Part 2 (81MB)

Full sleeve notes in the mailing.

Frank's #100 - The Big List

The 100th mailing of Frank's Apa is approaching rapidly - if any former members should happen to see this and have an interest in making a one-off contribution to F-Apa 100, or rejoining on an ongoing basis, then please contact crumpw at vista hyphen express dot com. The deadline for contributions will be the first Friday in September.

Below I am posting a list of all members, past and present. Current members - if you can contact any of the ex-members on the list, post the names below as a comment and we can start marking off the people who have been contacted. Which I am doing by marking them in bold until I come up with a better solution.

Bill K'tepi
Kealan Horan
William Crump
Trish Byrne
Eoghan Barry
Mark Winkelmann
Dave Berry
Paul Baynes
Marc Gascoigne
Scott Watkins
David A. Simpson
Dave Howarth
Seb Bassleer
Ian Moore
Irene O'Dowd
Wood
Rory Carr
Nessa Johnston
Andrew Shillito
Anna Holloway
Thom Allott
Lorraine Glendenning
Nick Drage
Dermot Sreenan
John Waring
DJ Krossphader (IM)
Brian Haunton (DB)
Rooshin Vadgama
Jonathan Skinner
Andrew Farrell (IM)
Chris Taylor (IM)
Aline Lemos (IM)
Mark Wilsher (IM)
Paul Watts (IM)
Ady Foley
Steve Hewitt (IM)
Sara Kojaku
Adrian Barber (IM/DB)
Brian Duguid (BD)
Scott Rogers
Pete Strover (IM/DB)
Paul Mason (DB)
Maurice Thomas (IM/DB)
Ed Morgan
Tom Ewing (IM)
Steve Wilsher
Mary Savege (BD)
Diann Thome (IM)
Trish Halligan
James Wallis (MG)
Eunice Pearson
Sean Haugh (IM)
Eamonn Maher (IM)
Alex Thomson (IM)
Vicki
Te-Bo Steele
Dave Castle
Conor Kostick (IM)
KFR Inc (IM)
Steve Albini
Anne l'Henoret (IM)
Emma Ridley
Caroline Whyte (IM)
Mysterious Batlike Figure
Lisa Donnelly
Heloise McCarthy
Declan Kelly
Steve Freitag (DH)
John Breakwell
Gavin Kostick (IM)
Bob Carey
Jim Burgess (IM)
Alison Coad
Mike Jarvis (IM)
Damian Edwardson
Robin ap-Cynan (IM)
Georg Patterson
Ben Goodale
Malc Arnold
Ian Marsh (IM)
Nigel Fletcher (DH)
Ross Cowin (DH)
Paul Crowley (DB)
Zoe Price
Alex Zbyslaw (DB)
Kay Dekker (DB)
Sylvia Shepperson (DH)
Sue Bamford
Sarah Ovenall

Oh No! Not The Beast Day

(cough, cough) Christ, it's kind of dusty in here.

By way of apology for the inadequacies of my zine for Franks 99B, here is the long-heralded upload of Mark's TOAD. Two .zip files, 320kbps mp3s.

Part One

Part Two

Krautrock #21: Code III - Planet of Man (1974)

Those charming Freeman Bros had this to say about this most mysterious of records (more sound effect collage than riffing): "The sleeve of Planet Of Man showed the visual message impressed in gold and sent with the Voyager satellite on its journey into deep space. Yep, this is a real sci-fi concept album! In fact, so conceptual that there is no real division into single tracks, rather a continuous flow of musical themes. The makers of it all were Manfred Schunke and the mysterious Ed Key, surely a pseudonym?! Klaus Schulze was also involved, offering a helping hand with the artificial head stereo mix and even some drumming! Fans of Schulze's early, cosmic music will love this album for sure! The album was released in a fold-out cover on Delta Acustic, a short-lived, minor label releasing productions made with the freshly developed artificial head stereo system, offering a unique stereo effect when listening to the music via headphones. The Code 3 album is now very rare and seldom seen offered for sale."

I couldn't make my mind up about any representative tracks, so I chucked up a rip of the entire, impossible-to-find album, acquired courtesy of the might 8 Days in April [no URL; he keeps it hidden these days]:
01. Formations/The Genesis
02. Dawn of an Era
03. Countdown/Phoenix Rising
(mp3, 79.8 mb)

Krautrock #20: Cluster - Cluster II

This is all of side one of the album and the last track is the first piece of Cluster music I heard back in ’78 or so crammed at the end of one side of a Brain Records sampler (£2.99 though over the years that damn record must have cost me hundreds of squiddlies). Things have developed from the ’71 album but we’re still a long way from the pastoral sounds of the mid-late ‘70’s.
Plas sounds like the music is a 3-D entity, a plastic form that is hovering in the air being moulded by the laboratory technicians tweaking the tone generators. Yes it’s all gone a bit Jon Pertwee around here. Im Süden changes things by having a loop of an insistent guitar phrase that nags at you while more machines hum in the background. Bizarrely enough another machine is making cicada type noises, is this the island of Dr. Moreau?
Fur Dïe Katz I won’t say anything more about other than its lovely and at 3 minutes makes my idea of a perfect pop song.
Plas
Im Süden
Fur Dïe Katz
Mega 320 powerissimo
djh

Krautrock #19: Cluster - Cluster '71

15:33 Yup that’s the track name. If I said that Cluster (and the earlier Kluster to be found later in the list) pre-dated Industrial Music buy a goodly number of years- I hope I’m not putting people off. You might also mention mad Mr. L. Russolo and his “intonarumori “ noise making machines. Although the guitars can occasionally be heard in the mix it’s the fog of electronic noise a disorientating swirl that really grabs you. It’s not in anyway threatening like alpha-male posturing of far too much industrial music.
This is the more Kosmiche musik side of the Krautrock Coin (the other is more prog meets R ‘n’ B) and is where I got on the bus and where I’m happiest most of the time. Makes sense if my point of entry was Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Klaus Schulze.
15:33
feel the everlovin' power of the mighty 320
djh

Krautrock #18: Can - Unlimited Edition

Why put an odds and sods compilation, even if it is a re-issued expanded odds and sods compilation in a must have top 100? Well we’re talking about Can here. Legendarily right from the outset having their own recording studio meant that they could tape everything (though I’m sure I read that much tape was re-used, i.e. recorded over). In any event it’s left hundreds of hours of music that includes much that is first rate if not exactly what was needed for whatever project was currently on the boil.
In a sense I’m cheating here as I first came across Can in 1981 with a Virgin compilation called Incandescence. Gomorrha, Empress.. and Mother Upduff all feature there. It was a wonderful comp of latter day material albeit including early material re-worked. Coming as it did many years before the re-issue boom it was a complete eye opener. I guess though that I was one of only 6 people who bought it.
Gomorrha, from December ’73 making it from either the same sessions as Future Days or immediately afterwards, it continues that wonderful drifting / floating feeling I mentioned in the previous post. Is that a touch of Hawaiian guitar? The piano lends it a more Satie-esque nocturnal fee. Gorgeous.
E.F.S. no 7 Well we had to have at least one example of the groups famous Ethnological Forgery Series on here. It’s an idea copped by those Sun City Girls, see even their stealing isn’t original, never mind we love them anyhow. I chose this short example as I love the sound of a keyboard imitating a saz or similar.
The Empress and the Ukraine King It’s a song! It’s early Can with this and the next track featuring Malcolm Mooney on vocals (and why does his English have such a strong German accent, given he was an ex-US serviceman based in West Germany?) Slightly more sprightly and featuring Jaki Liebezeit on an unknown reed instrument.
What should I say about Mother Upduff? Can in Can telling Urban Legend stories shocker. Long time readers of my zine splurges could easily have guessed that this crazy tale was going to turn up. I’m still not sure how the octopus killed the old lady. Enjoy! It’s been pointed out elsewhere that absurdist humour, frequently Zappa inspired, is a mainstay of so-called Krautrock... well here’s The Can, as they were probably known at the time, sticking their big toe in the water.
Cutaway is another track added at the last minute, far and away the longest on this collection at nearly 19 minutes. Again I thought that to include it was a bit of a piss-take but I enjoyed the tune so much when I was trying to select what to put up. Off-kilter rhythms and a melodica making an appearance, everything sounds de-tuned maybe they're playing in some eastern scale I what not of. Oh and Cutaway because the track is made of fragments originating from some very different improvisions, bits of studio chat etc. You even get the sound of someone fooling around inside a piano and if that doesn’t make your gravy lumpy I don’t know what will. It’s another piece from ’69, so we get a nice balance with the late sixties, early seventies and mid seventies. Can may have used the same blueprint through these years but the sound they achieved has grown markedly in the different periods. Of course there’s nothing from the later period on this comp which is a damn shame (see Can Anthology for that), but if we get through this project I’m thinking of a cunning plan to sort out all manner of lost classics that didn’t make the 100 cut
Transcendental Express - Reasons for inclusion is that perhaps only Can would dare to have a banjo substituting for a balalaika, makes it all sound very Morricone in a weird fashion. I think it was a fairly regular thing to let Michael Karoli stretch himself a bit on different instruments, he was after all a hell of a player who (thankfully) didn’t get the chance to solo, Can being Can. Anyway this ’75 track is here as a reminder that the ethnic influences grew more pronounced in later years. Obviously something they’d always been interested in, it put 'ahem' a bit of extra spice in the stew to keep things fresh.
One last point about all the Can tracks, just after I’d finished these notes I came across a web piece by Simon Reynolds that notes that Can’s working method is exactly that employed by Miles Davis and Teo Macero. It’s included in a history of Krautrock page that also includes a bit of Lester Bangs. No in depth insight but a good read. Find it here:

Gomorrha
E.F.S. #7
The Empress & The Ukraine King
Mother Upduff
Cutaway
Transcendental Express
ripped @ 320 you know you love it
djh

Krautrock #17: Can - Future Days

I was going to be a total meany here and only offer the title track; it takes up half of what would have been side one of the lp. For me it’s one of the groups finest moments. In contrast the end of the side Spray and Moonshake feel like codas. The monster track which almost didn’t make the cut is the twenty minute Bel Air which is more a suite of numbers, though it flows together in that unique Can style. Although the drumming is still propelling things along with some urgency, echoed by Karoli’s high guitar notes it still feels as if its grounded in some pastoral stasis. Maybe even floating in a lagoon. It approaches beauty for me in a way that surprises every time I listen. Anyway as long as you lot promise to buy the album I’m sure we can get away with a little more research material.
Two years on from Tago Mago and the sound has changed. I think this was the groups first use of a sixteen track studio (previously wonder-kid Czukay had had made do with only two tracks). The sound is consequently fuller without being slick. It could be down to a sheen of string synth type keyboards from Irmin Schmit, anyway it adds atmosphere without being intrusive
I’d say that this was a fully integrated album, the quintet are working as a cohesive unit and Damo has started singing actual English phrases, even if they still don’t mean anything.
Future Days was Suzuki’s last outing which hasn’t stopped him from trading on his reputation for the last 34 years, not bad for a vocalist (and more successfully than the only other similar singer that comes to mind Arthur Brown). If you like this album (and you’d better) then I’d point you to the mighty Vernal Equinox, two albums down the line on Landed - as being something of a lost masterpiece.
Future Days
Bel Air
ripped at 320 feel the force
djh

Krautrock #16: Can - Tago Mago

Well what do you say about one of the most cited albums of all time? I guess Tago Mago rates up there with Trout Mask Replica as being the most famous work of a group and also one of the most difficult. Certainly I recall MW saying what a mind fuck he found Aumgn compared with the rest of the album. It’s certainly the “darker” side of Can and for that reason I nearly chose the track; however there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s Halleluhwah that most often gets cited and seeing as it’s also the longest track…
Then again I chose the one / two punch of Paperhouse and Mushroom that start the album off. On vinyl or cd there is a deliberately clunky 0 second edit between the two tracks, to my mind it foreshadows the edits you get today on digital players when you select no gap between tracks when one continuous piece of music has been arbitrarily split. Always makes me think of a dj lining up the a and b side of a single but the drums don’t quite match up. For me these relatively compact tracks are a sort of distilled essence of the band at this time and to me show that it was the rhythm section of Jaki Liebezeit’s drumming and Damo Suzuki’s vocals that are at the centre of things driving the improv / freak out along. That’s right I’m putting Damo in the rhythm section here. Give it a spin and think about it. There’s more to vocals than rhyming moon / June and fire / desire! The set is more or less live in the studio and I’m guessing Holger Czukay spent more time editing for length and getting the interesting bits than actually polishing up the sound.
There’s a somewhat enthusiastic review on AMG here
Paperhouse
Mushroom
Halleluhwah
Ripped at 320 feel the force!
djh

Krautrock #15: Brave New World - Impressions on Reading Aldous Huxley

As one digs deeper beyond your usual Can/Faust/Neu/TD starting points, there's a whole new layer of little musical gems to be found and this is one of the best, from a short-lived Hamburg group. Mix of crunchy rock jamming with serious prog overtones -- mostly those duelling flutes... always very prog, a flute -- but also some more medieval touches and a genuinely groovy Stylophone-through-fuzzbox interlude. We've had a few side-long tracks recently so I eschewed posting "The End" from side two, but if you like all three of these imagine them all being played at once.

Sample tracks (one download):
02. Alpha Beta Gamma Delta
03. Lenina
04. Soma
(mp3, 31.6 mb)


As always, more background at Crack in the Cosmic Egg and Gnosis has a good piece on this particular record.

Krautrock #14: Between - And the Waters Opened

Always mentioned in the same breath as the Third Ear Band, Between were a less dark but equally intriguing mix of sometimes magical arrangements and traditional instruments flung together in new combinations. This is their second and most acclaimed record; later discs got very bland, but here the tense pull between (arf) the four elements works quiet wonders. Robert Eliscu's oboe, often the lead, makes for an unusual tonal palette; he also gave great value on some early/mid Popol Vuh discs.

Sample tracks (one download):
01. And the Waters Opened
03. Syn
04. Devotion
(mp3, 28.4 mb)


Crack in the Cosmic Egg has a little more on the band, and also on the increasingly austere and aescetic further works of sole surviving band member Peter Michael Hamel (no relation to Peter Hammill, of course).

Krautrock No. 13: Ash Ra Tempel - Join Inn

Bit of a tricky decision, here, especially given that I've had this album for two or three years now and never particularly liked it. The influence of the untrammeled ambient magnificence of Agitation Frei's "Looping IV" pushes me towards the "cosmic drifting Schulze synthesizer-dominated" b-side of the lp, even though Schulze's Timewind is another platter that never did much for me over the years. More drifting than kosmiche says this jury.

Ash Ra Tempel - "Jenseits"

The Jimmy Cake in Dub

Here's a pair of dubby miniatures I stumbled across in my Jimmy Cake remix files...

Jim Cake Dub

Hey, have you seen the Red Planet mp3s posted a few days ago on the other Frank's blog ?

The Jimmy Cake Meet the Gagaku Rockers Uptown

This ain't Krautrock...

...it's something I've been toying with for the past year, on and off...

...a remix fusing two Jimmy Cake tracks (the Opposite of Addiction and This Used to be the Future) with one from the Japanese Imperial Household Performers in the Gagaku style, named Etenraku.

The Jimmy Cake Meet the Gagaku Rockers Uptown

Thanks to Scott for providing the Etenraku part!

Enjoy,
Rory.

Krautrock #12: Ash Ra Tempel - Schwingungen

A year later and Schulze is gone, but now there are vocals, courtesy of a totally wird gent known as John L. A distinctly acquired taste, he sounds in parts on side one's "Darkness & Light" like he's paving the way for the ultimate acid freak vocals on Brainticket's Cottonwoodhill. As is becoming traditional, the comedown on the other side is far more sedate, with "Suche & Liebe" sounding distinctly like "Echeos"-era Pink Floyd, all floaty synths and stretched out Gilmour guitar. But before that, this thunders out...

2. Darkness: Flowers Must Die

EDIT TO INCLUDE LINK TO THE RIGHT BLOODY FILE: Download here (mp3, 11.1 mb)
(Well, it is called Div Share for a reason.)

Manuel Göttsching's website remains useful, but again our friends at Progweed have some things to say, as does the somewhat intense fellow whose fansite is extraordinarily exhaustive.

Krautrock #11: Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel

Ah, Manuel Göttsching. Yes, all the groovy fuckers know him for his early 80s solo trance epic, E2-E4, much beloved of ealy 90s Italian house producers and that Carl Craig chap. Back at the start, though, he was another longhair with his power trio, originally called the Steeple Chase Bluesband (mm, catchy) and also featuring a gent called Klaus Schulze on, erm, drums. Klaus, late of the first line-up of Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese and Conrad Schnitzler, and soon to pioneer classic German trip-out synth stuff. Here, though, the freak flag flies high on two side-long workouts housed in another wacky cover, this time a central fold-out thing. The flip's "Traummaschine" is trancey and pacey but this rocks like a good 'un.

1. Amboss

Download here (mp3, 18.3 mb)

Manuel Göttsching's website focuses more on current work solo and as part of the shortened Ashra, but again our friends at Progweed have some things to say.

Krautrock #10: Annexus Quam - Osmose

This is the stuff. From its insane cover (the flaps fold up to form a pyramid) to its seriously hairy mix of hippy mysticism and twisted jazz-rock meditation music, its probably the most deserving secret gem in the whole list. If you can bear the references, this is Ash Ra Tempel plays the Third Ear Band. Gloriously trippy, and well worth a listen.

1. Osmose I
2. Osmose II
3. Osmose III

Download here (mp3s, 24.6 mb)

More on Annexus Quam can be found in the online version of the Freeman Bros essential Crack in the Cosmic Egg.

Krautrock #9: Amon Duul II - Tanz der Lemminge

This one, unlike its two solid gold predecessors, excites a lot of debate. Two sidelong collages of songs and fragments, a drone experiment and three briefer meanders around old themes. Lord Cope attests it was a disaster and hops straight on to its folkier succesor, Carnival in Babylon. Others, including those wacky Freeman Bros, linger longer over its melange of tunes and noises, and the entrancing (but not very representative) sidelong ritual drone of "The Marilyn Monroe Memorial Church". I'm in two minds. After this they pulled together to apply some rigour for Wolf City and the rocking Live in London but progressively got more song-based, and most of the frenzy went, which wouldn't be the first time a wild band ended up making ordinary songs, but still... See what you think.

1. SYNTELMAN'S MARCH OF THE ROARING SEVENTIES
(In the Glassgarden/Pull Down Your Mask/Prayer to the Silence/Telephonecomplex)

Download here (mp3, 15 mb)

More general reading on ADII can be found in the online version of the Freeman Bros essential Crack in the Cosmic Egg.

Krautrock #8: Amon Duul II - Yeti

I am confident that even if you've never heard this record, you'll be familiar with its fabulous cover image of brutish roadie/bongo player Shrat as Death personified, swinging his scythe. But even that cover does not prepare you for the raging psych rock that prowls within. Yes, it tails off into a trio of meandering improvisations, but straight out the cage it's a beast. First track here is like the title track of Phallus Dei fading back in, only ten times as pissed off. And its little friend, well, from its crunchy riff to its emminenly sampleable drum break (aka "the Kraut break", crate diggers apparently call it) it's a cracker. The vocals, ah... I find they are like a pungent cheese - your tastebuds rebel the first few times, but you can't get the thought of them out of your head and eventually they start calling to you. This is definitely in the top five of the all-time favourite Kraut records.

1. Soap Shop Rock
3. Archangel's Thunderbird

Download here (mp3s, 16 mb)

Our chums at Progweed have more reading on this monster.

Krautrock #7: Amon Duul II - Phallus Dei

A messy delight from 1969, this record is the Kraut record, for me, not least because it was the first I ever bought, from a cheapie pile back at the height of punk when I was already looking for something further out there. All my punk mates hated it, could barely comprehend its demented but bracing stew of riffing and shrieking. For me, things were never the same again, and hard on its heels came Faust and the Residents. Even now the mangled Deutsche vocals, both male and female, take some getting used to -- and on that note do brace yoruselves for Renate Knaup's racket "Archangel's Thunderbird" on the next one -- but I love the fact that these guys take all their ramshackle elements, fling them together and somehow rock.

1. Kanaan
3. Luzifer's Ghilom

Download here (mp3s, 11.7 mb)

Progweed has more details of an album where "Guitar and organ freakouts become coated with choir like backing vocals courtesy of Renate Knaup, before resuming their unrelenting fury. This album simply rules."

Krautrock No. 90: Tomorrow's Gift - Tomorrow's Gift

Well, I hate to break up the flow, but I also hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, and some kindly stranger who prefers to remain anonymous has uploaded (complete) one of the missing dozen for your listening pleasure:

Tomorrow's Gift - Tomorrow's Gift

It's a .rar file which means you'll need WinRAR or UnRarX or similar to uncompress it. I imagine Dave Howarth can explain it all if you need assistance. And the uncompressed files are .wma which is not so hot for iTunes users, so if anyone comes across an mp3 version, let me know. In the meantime, there's always Quicktime.

Krautrock #6: Amon Duul - Collapsing (Singvogel Ruckwarts & Co.)

So here's the second chunk of prime 1969 Deutsche freakery. Strangely, I prefer this one's more straightforward psych guitar hacking and bongo trippery, but even here it's plain these have been swept up from the floor of the session, and there were still three more records of detritus to follow.

1. Booster

4. Singvögel Ruckwärts

Download here (mp3s, 6.2 mb)

Apologies, meanwhile, for the crackly vinyl, but I guess this one is kinda old.

Krautrock #5: Amon Duul - Psychedelic Underground

Should really post this with the next in line, as pretty much everything the original Amon Düül released was recorded in one long monster jam session in early 1969, around the time the more musical members of the family sodded off to become the Hawkwind-from-Hell #2 AD version who soon made Phallus Dei and many more fab freakouts. But anyways, these are selections from Psychedelic Underground. The album's most notable for the sidelong opening jam, which is mostly what you get when seventy or so unwashaed layabouts bang pots and pans in yr garden. But later they do add a tad more rigour -- or at least whoever mashed up the tapes in the studio later does so. Julian Cope said in his Unsung review of the record that it sounded like the cast of Gilligan's Island freaking on the Velvet Underground and I sort of see what he meant.


2. Kaskados Minnelied

6. Bitterlings Verwandlung


Download here (mp3s, 7.3 mb)

Krautrock #4: Alcatraz - Vampire State Building

Fresh from the postal system just yesterday after I'd re-established contact with the famous Brothers Freeman
Two tracks here. Secondly the title track, 'cause I'm that obvious (and it's the longest track) but firstly Simple Headphone Mind because as we all know it's been used by NWW.

http://rapidshare.com/files/16744265/01_Simple_Headphone_Mind.mp3.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/16747783/04_Vampire_State_Building.mp3.html

Let's keep this rolling, unless it's just four obsessives eh?
djh

Krautrock Three - Agitation Free - Last

So a test post after some strife alleviated by E & M Here's my first upload.
Looping IV was originally the b-side of AG's er, last album and was recommended to me personally in the slightly sweaty flesh by the Brothers Freeman (whom I must visit sometime soon, lovely people really).
It starts pretty tripped out and full of echo...

http://rapidshare.com/files/15869045/03_Looping_IV.wma.html

For those who knoweth not the delights of Windows Media Audio lossless, here a link to a 320 mp3 rip

http://rapidshare.com/files/15965069/03_Looping_IV.mp3.html

Here's what Marco's friends @ Prog Archives say:
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It only features 3 pieces, but what pieces!The first one, “Soundpool”, features a long psychedelico-cosmic introduction followed by the beautiful lyrical guitar solo from Malesh’s last piece “Rücksturz”.The second piece is a major piece from the “2nd” album, “Laïla II”. The introduction is simply mind blowing; it brings the listener straight into another galaxy…The “cosmic” adjective takes its full dimension here. Then the piece evolves with stunning space rock developments lead by fantastic guitar. An absolute masterpiece! The third piece, the long one -unreleased-, is a cyclical repetitive suite; the same theme is repeated with variations and progression, in a way somehow reminiscent of TD mid period’s albums such as “Phaedra”, but in a more captivating way. It evokes a shamanic psychedelic trance.Sound is quite hazy but curiously, it fits well the music. It doesn’t sound like a live album as public’s presence is never heard. This album is a major german prog album and a gem of space psychedelico-cosmic genre.
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I was all set to say that the TD comparison is bollocks before I realised I was listening to the more boogie/psych riffing tracks on side A. This one is a moody cosmic chill-out classic. How they got away with this live I don't know. It's all de-tuned, mellow and about 100,000 years through the Magellan's Cloud.
[crap photo here:http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/image_of_day_060110.html ]
This is a fair review from the same site:

AGITATION FREE — LastReview by Cesar Inca (César Inca Mendoza Loyola) SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Prog Specialist
This is my fave Agitation Free album from their first era. Actually, this is a selection of recordings that the band had already planned for release, but the release only took place many months after the band’s demise, due to some French label’s initiative. This circumstance helped the album to become a cult classic of krautrock. Anyway, IMHO, the three tracks in “Last” comprise the most proficient performances accomplished by the five musicians; they also contain the most confident labour of texture and jamming ever conceived by the band during this first era. While being more stylish and refined than “Second” and much more cohesive than their debut recording “Malesch”, “Last” continues to capture the band’s unique energy perfectly. The band’s inherent sonic power of the band is still there, irradiating its peculiar light across their increasingly polished sonic landscapes. Jörg Schwenke is back in the band, while drummer/percussionist Burghard Rausch was gradually leaving AF: in one of the tracks he is replaced by Dietmar Burmeister. It seems that the band’s internal turmoil didn’t affect the level of consistency of their new material. Once again, the Ash Ra Tempel influence is quite noticeable (more evident, in fact), specially when it comes to the fluid transition from the cosmic layers to the more jam-oriented sections. Track 1 starts with a very laid-back hypnotic sonic landscape that feels distant, as if drifting through space (it kind of reminds me of early Pink Floyd); eventually, a not too long jam reprising a slight variation of the main motif of ‘Rucksturz’ (“Malesch” closing number) fills the room and gives the track a more definite shape. Then comes the very long ‘Laila II’, which retakes one of the basic subdued themes of “Laila” and explores it further, even taking it to different places as the jam goes onward. Some of the best guitar interplaying ever in AF’s history is comprised in both this track and the next one, the long-side “Looping”: the way that the latter incorporates dreamy passages and rocking moments in a fluid intercalation comes as no surprise to those already familiar with the band’s capability to create their unique ethereal walls of sound, bathed in majesty. My overall rating for this album is the maximum one in Prog Archives terms – this is, after all, a unique masterpiece of krautrock.
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If, I say If my head was full of spliff I might never come down after this...
Cosmic Peace y'all.
djh

Kraut #2: Agitation Free "2nd"

And a couple from their, surprisingly titled second disc:


1. First Communication

7. Haunted Island


Download here (mp3s, 21.5 mb)


"Second is another classic album from Agitation Free, one of the leading lights of the Krautrock movement in Germany. As opposed to Malesch, Second shows some slight change in direction for the band. It becomes readily apparent on the first track that the band's sound is slightly jazzier and the melodies are a little tighter and stonger. The guitar duels between Ulbrich and Diez are utterly gorgeous, and the melodies absolutely shimmer throughout the album. The only misstep is probably Hoenig's "Dialogue & Random", an experimental piece that is just random electronic blips for a couple minutes.


The two-part "Laila" piece is definitely a highlight, featuring a jazzy, almost funky bass groove from Michel Gunter to underpin the exquisite guitar explorations. "In the Silence of the Morning" uses another addictive bass motif to accentuate its hypnotic structure. "Haunted Island" is initially a little cheesy, being that it features some spoken work poetry (with heavy voice alteration), but eventually develops into another excellent track, with their trademark subtle guitar solos and gorgeous keyboard textures. Overall I'd say this album loses some of the mystical feel that Malesch had, due to the abscence of the Arabic percussive textures and melodies, although motifs of that kind do crop up at points. On the whole it seems to take a slightly more conventional path, and the incorporation of jazzy and near-Canterbury like passages is definitely effective.." From Progweed.net


More info on their official page.

Krautrock #1: Agitation Free "Malesh"

The two opening tracks from their 1972 debut to get us started:


1. You Play For Us Today

2. Sahara City


Download here (mp3s, 19.6 mb)


"Agitation Free's debut album is one of the absolute classic albums to come out of Germany in the 1970s. Agitation Free approached the groundbreaking experimental tendencies of the German scene from a different persepective than most of the other groups. Firstly, the delicate touch of melody was certainly not lost on the band, and they often bypass the strictly standoff-ish approach of many of the other German bands, infusing their albums with a gorgeous melodic drive. Malesch takes a slightly unique approach then the more jazzy follow-up, Second would, though both albums are in the same basic vein. The album extensively incorporates ethnic and world music influences, due to the fact that much of the album was apparently composed on a trip to Egypt around the same time. Much of the album features sound samples and recordings from the trip, which are used to divide the tracks.


Most of the Arabic and ethnic influence is percussive, as exotic rhythms underpin Agitation Free's melodic and powerful guitar interplay. "You Play for Us Today" and "Sahara City" both build into exciting, driving guitar led crescendos. "Ala Tul" features an extraordinary Michael Hoening keyboard motif that glides over the intense and magical percussive backdrop. "Pulse" tends to get bogged down a little in avant soundscapes, but does provide some breathing room and eventually morphs into a heavily hypnotic piece. "Khan E Khalili" and "Malesch" both build on the already established style of the album, and are full of powerful guitar interplay and a completely magical atmosphere. The soaring closer "Ruckstruz" is totally majestic, a powerful melody that closes out this classic album in fitting form. My overall opinion is obviously that this is one of the very finest German albums bar none. Agitation Free manages to be extremely melodic, yet retains that experimental focus and pushes their music waaaaaaayy out there. The incorporation of Arabic influences beneath the incredible guitar dueling makes this a unique entry in the Krautrock scene. I doubt that those already not predisposed towards the Krautrock/space-rock movement will find themselves converted by this album, but newbies would do well to start here." From Progweed.net


More info on their official page

Krautrock 101

well, 100 anyway...I rather like Marc's suggestion of working our way through the Freeman brothers' list, banging up a track or two from each. Perhaps folks could add a few comments regarding the ones they're familiar with, and at some point I'll compile it all into a giant Frank's Apa guide to kraut and run it as a zine/pull-out-and-throw-away supplement. Anyway, here's that list in full, courtesy of Mr. Scott Watkins of the parish (shockingly Marc Gascoigne has all of these bar the bolded entries - can anyone step up to fill the remaining gaps?):

1. Agitation Free - Malesch
2. Agitation Free - 2nd
3. Agitation Free - Last
4. Alcatraz - Vampire State Building
5. Amon Duul - Psychedelic Underground
6. Amon Duul - Collapsing: Singvogel Ruckwarts & Co
7. Amon Duul II - Phallus Dei
8. Amon Duul II - Yeti
9. Amon Duul II - Dance Of The Lemmings
10. Annexus Quam - Osmose
11. Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel
12. Ash Ra Tempel - Schwingungen
13. Ash Ra Tempel - Join Inn
14. Between - And The Waters Opened
15. Brave New World - Impressions On Reading Aldous Huxley
16. Can - Tago Mago
17. Can - Future Days
18. Can - Unlimited Edition
19. Cluster - Cluster [aka Cluster 71]
20. Cluster - Cluster II
21. Code III - Planet Of Man
22. Cosmic Jokers - Cosmic Jokers
23. Cosmic Jokers - Planeten Sit-In
24. Cornucopia - Full Horn
25. Dennis - Hyperthalamus
26. Deuter - D
27. Dom - Edge Of Time
28. Dzyan - Electric Silence
29. Eiliff - Eiliff
30. Eiliff - Girlrls!
31. Embryo - Embro's Rache
32. Embryo - Steig Aus
33. Emtidi - Saat
34. Et Cetera - Et Cetera
35. Eulenspygel - Ausschuss
36. Faust - Faust
37. Faust - So Far
38. Faust - The Faust Tapes
39. Floh De Cologne - Geyer-Symphonie
40. Frumpy - Frumpy 2
41. Galactic Supermarket - Galactic Supermarket
42. Gila - Gila "Free Electric Sound"
43. Sergius Golowin - Lord Krishna Von Goloka
44. Gomorrha - I Turned To See Whose Voice It Was
45. Grobschnitt - Grobschnitt
46. Guru Guru - UFO
47. Guru Guru - Hinten
48. Guru Guru - Kanguru
49. Ibliss - Supernova
50. Kluster - Klopfzeichen
51. Kluster - Zwei Osterei
52. Kollektiv - Kollektiv
53. Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk
54. Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk 2
55. Message - From Books & Dreams
56. Mythos - Mythos
57. Mythos - Dreamlab
58. Neu! - Neu!
59. Nine Days Wonder - Nine Days Wonder
60. Nosferatu - Nosferatu
61. Organisation - Tone Float
62. Out Of Focus - Out Of Focus
63. Out Of Focus - Four Letter Monday Afternoon
64. Popol Vuh - Affenstunde
65. Popol Vuh - In Den Garten Pharaos
66. Popol Vuh - Aguirre
67. Popol Vuh - Letzte Tage - Letzte Nacht
68. Achim Reichel & Machines - Die Grune Reise
69. Achim Reichel & Machines - Echo
70. Achim Reichel & Machines - AR. 3
71. Achim Reichel & Machines - AR. IV
72. Achim Reichel - Erholung
73. Release Music Orchestra - Life
74. Rufus Zuphall - Weiss Der Teufel
75. Sand - Golem
76. Gunter Schickert - Samtvogel
77. Conrad Schnitzler - Rot
78. Conrad Schnitzler - Blau
79. Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht
80. Klaus Schulze - Cyborg
81. Klaus Schulze - Timewind
82. Klaus Schulze - Mirage
83. Tangerine Dream - Electronic Meditation
84. Tangerine Dream - Alpha Centauri
85. Tangerine Dream - Zeit
86. Tangerine Dream - Atem
87. Technical Space Composers Crew [aka Holger Czukay] - Canaxis V
88. Thirsty Moon - Thirsty Moon
89. Thirsty Moon - You'll Never Come Back
90. Tomorrow's Gift - Tomorrow's Gift
91. Tomorrow's Gift - Goodbye Future (have .wma, .mp3s welcome)
92. Virus - Revelation
93. Vita Nova - Vita Nova
94. Wallenstein - Blitzkreig
95. Walter Wegmuller - Tarot
96. Wired - Wired "Free Improvisation"
97. Witthuser + Westrupp - Trips + Traume
98. Xhol Caravan - Electrip
99. Xhol Caravan - Motherfuckers GmbH & Co KG
100. Yatha Sidhra - A Meditation Mass
101. Brainticket - Cottonwoodhill

So, who's going to kick us off with some Agitation Free?

Hey Kate Bush! You Want Some Of This? I Can't Hear You