more qbico for all!

most of you kraut-heads should be familiar with Conrad Schnitzler, what with his part in the first Tangerine Dream album and his involvement with Kluster (who became the seminal kraut electonic band Cluster after Schnitzler left the group) and Eruption. this is an archived recording that sat in the vaults for 30 years before it was issued by the great qbico.

this recording is a tough one to sit through, sort of like any early synth recordings, a veritable wankfest of synthesized bleeps and blurps. but don't let that fool you, this is way better than many other synthesizer albums of the period, having more of a range of sounds and feelings than most bands that did this sound, and for 1972 it's pretty impressive. still, sitting through 40+ minutes of just synth is tough for anyone but the true kraut enthusiast and avid schnitzler fans.

i like this record, it's intense and at times it can fool you into thinking there are sirens going off. it sounds like a crazy soundtrack to some 70's futuristic movie, but i can understand that this is definitely not for everyone.

Conrad Schnitzler - Con '72
http://www.mediafire.com/?igjtdyoym5g

AMON DUUL II ALERT!

ok kraut fans, here's another dose of tripped out hysteria from those whacky germans AMON DUUL II. this is my second favorite of their albums "Wolf City." why not post my favorite, "Yeti?" simple. you can find that on a million other blogs, but i have yet to see this one anywhere. this is their third album, and they had finely tuned themselves. gone are the long sprawling jams (which is actually a downside) but they replaced that with a folkier edge and a more experimental breadth. they were truly hitting their stride as a band, and i really think that this one and Yeti can be interchanged in my top spot. an incredible album all around, and definitely one for fans of the Kraut sound, prog rock, and pink floyd (they definitely tread into the early 70's floyd territory here.)

great album.

Amon Duul II: Wolf City

http://www.mediafire.com/?jmtjdjzdemw

germany strikes back

to add another axis power to this blog, here's a video of amon duul II. don't know em? go get their earth shattering, genre defining album "Yeti" if you can, there's an awesome cd reissue floating around, though i think it's out of print. the vinyl is a bit hard to come by. this band helped in creating a sound that most would call progressive rock, but those "in the know" would refer to as "krautrock" or "komische music." an offshoot of the much drone-ier and seminal german band amon duul, amon duul II just wanted to rock out instead of drone out. and rock they did. 12-string guitar, violin, knob twidling, and an insanely great drummer. they also got themselves a mention on the uber pretentious (but awesome) resource of unknown music: the nurse with wound list (check it out, tons of bands you have never heard of and much of it is incredible, more on that another time). check the groovy psychedelic video shit. this came from german television, they would run music videos after hours. oh, the post-communist bloc must have been a strange place.