stereonerds

Stereonerds: Klangfeld - Komische Musik

Can - Mother Sky
Neu! - Spitzenqualität
Tangerine Dream - Sunrise In The Third System
Tangerine Dream - Ultima Thule Pt.1
Neu! - Für Immer
Ash Ra Tempel - Deep Distance
Michael Hoenig - Sun & Moon
Michael Rother - Feurland
Cluster - Sowieso
Can - Oh Yeah
Kraftwerk - Space Lab
David Bowie - V2 Schneider
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Ash Ra Tempel - Sun Rain
Klaus Schulze - Dune

* selections by Klangfeld, 7-9pm wed 4/6/08 on Fleet FM

 

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If you’ve ever wanted to know the roots of electronic music then check this out. I mean, that’s not to say this show is all about electronic music or even the beginning of it all but in the late 60s & early 70s Germany, along with Jamaica was taking the lead in freaking out sound, pushing the existing instruments & arriving just in time to exploit the world’s earliest synth keyboards.

Fueled by cosmic passion & excellent drugs Komische Musik, Krautrock, German prog rock, had arrived.

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Neu!

For me Kraut is the mind & body analogue to the body & soul formula that Jamaican dub reggae was opening up at the same time in the Caribbean. Kicking off in the late 60s with the avante jazz sensibilities of Can & some hefty cosmic improvisations from Tangerine Dream, Kraut came to be typified by the motorik lockstep beat & overdriven power hooks on very un-guitary guitar, typical of where Neu! were at, Für Immer being my favorite kraut stormer. It really gets me right “there”.

But in West Berlin a sound called the Berlin School (of Electronics) was taking hold. Basically epic, cosmic synth music, very often tracks lasting a full side of a 33rpm lp. Tangerine Dream took this sound from the start to the limit of it’s possibilities sometime in the 80s, when it all just sounded like endless renditions of the Miami Vice theme. Mostly known for their fairly mainstream albums & soundtracks after signing with Virgin in 1974 they had several earlier releases of abstract, astral soundscapes, brilliant & indulgent pieces based around the Mellotron, Organ, Moog & VCS3 synth/keyboards.

Equal credit for this earliest of synth sounds go to the masters Ash Ra Tempel (Manuel Gottsching), Michael Hoenig, Kraftwerk, Cluster & Klaus Schulze, with Schulze having over 100 album releases to this day. Here is Dune from 1979, an overwhelming series of crescendos, multi orgasmic & tragic in emotion.

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Klaus Schulze live, 1973

Manuel Gottsching was a visionary fellow. Having established his mark with the cosmic rock of Ash Ra Tempel & The Cosmic Jokers (with Schulze) Gottsching laid down some absolutely divine synth music, such as the adorable Deep Distance in this mix. Proto-techno-ambient-house-trance, whatever aspect you choose to isolate within these pioneering syne-waves, this was future-music. For the proto-house tip check out Sun Rain on this mix & 1984’s E2-E4 for the evidence. He’s, like most of the Kraut giants, thankfully still recording today in an unbroken career.

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Manuel Gottsching

Komische Musik became known as Krautrock in the early 70s by the UK music press & had it’s absolute champion in John Peel. Bowie’s Berlin period was arguably his most interesting, being a period his money-men hated because of his sudden twist towards experimental Kraut, this material being later used in 1981 as the soundtrack to the Berlin junky flick, Christiane F. Bowie apparently wanted Michael Rother of Neu! to be guitarist on the Heroes lp, but somehow both Rother & Bowie got the idea neither were interested. Bowie’s management seemed to have been the wedge in this arrangement. Rats!

The legacy of Kraut was extremely strong during postpunk era. Where punk tended to look back & take it’s cue from Chuck Berry’s pioneering rock of the mid 50s, postpunk could more accurately be described as fusions of academic music, prog, kraut & Jamaican dub, with it’s mind firmly on the future. Public Image Ltd, Magazine, Wire & Joy Division being obvious examples of these influences. This comparison is of course far too limiting for a revolutionary period such as the postpunk era was but it is clearly a different raison d’etre from the conservative “keep it real,oi, oi!” ideals of punk. Thus Kraut has become an archetype in modern music.

The rest is history.

Here’s 1.71 short hours of my favorite Kraut, with an obvious lean away from cosmic rock towards something more electronic & sublime but it was really a very diverse movement.

For a better rundown see this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krautrock

Actually, I once had a session with a guy who drummed in Neu! for a bit, around the same time that I also had a session with Hawkwind.

Have fun with the podcast!

~ Klangfeld

Tagged radio shows, ambient, krautrock, prog, psychedellic, synth | | 06.09.2008 at 11:24 pm