The story of Damo Suzuki’s induction into enduringly amazing 1970s German band Can is a pretty remarkable one — Suzuki, an itinerant Japanese busker who’d spent most of the late 1960s meandering around Europe, was performing in Munich when he caught the eye of Can bassist Holger Czukay. Can needed a singer, Suzuki needed the cash, and the rest was history. And since it’s Damo’s birthday, we thought we’d celebrate with a mixtape of some essential tunes from the astonishingly fertile musical scene that existed in Germany during the 1970s. You’re more than welcome.
Can — ”Mushroom”
While “Krautrock” (or, less offensively, “Kosmische”) was to an extent an artificial genre label applied to several scenes that didn’t necessarily share a whole lot in common, there’s no doubt that there was something in the air in 1970s Germany. No one embodied the explosion of creativity more than Can, who recorded a series of albums during the early and mid-1970s that were so without precedent and ahead of their time as to almost defy belief — 40 years later, they still sound startlingly contemporary and innovative.
Comments (5)
Grobschnitt, Krautrock Bestness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P4ndS-6Lmk&feature=related
“Kosmische” does not make any sense at all and is no “cool” abbreviation of any sort as it just means “cosmic” + grammatical indicator. It is either “Kosmische Musik” or there won’t be any reference to this specific kind of sound.
No Nektar? Still, a great list. But I have to admit, I was waiting for Nektar.
What about Agitation Free? And Eloy? And Gila? And… Kraftwerk? The first Kraftwerk album is very well worth listening to, even if you don’t like their later output..
I agree: What about Agitation Free, Eloy, Kraftwerk, and Gila? And what about Ash Ra Tempel? And Klaus Schulze? Brain Ticket? La Dusseldorf? Well, I guess you can’t have everything …
But to say that Popol Vuh slipped into “navel gazing new age” is seriously ignorant. Start here and get into their AWESOME MAJESTY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5joLrWkc8D4&feature=fvsr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AAG4M6Yz_4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG3Y4D-XeuY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E4YW3ZfEPw&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDjWtN4djvs&feature=related
And that early Cluster stuff was intensely abrasive and had ZERO to do with ambient music, which is not to say they did not go on to become a huge influence on Eno… Just not with what’s chosen here.
Also: Nektar were a British band living in Germany. But I like them too, and so did George Jefferson! Funniest thing ever: http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/weezy_get_me_some_lsd_george_jefferson_is_a_big_prog_rock_fan
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