Krautrock
 

edit: I swear I was in the other sonics section when I wrote this post. F***! Sorry.

I've never explored it, really, but I've always intended doing so. I've decided that now is probably the time - a friend is going to give me his vinyl copy of Faust's 4th LP when he gets it on cd (in return for some Fall boots), so I'll be hearing that.

I'm also going over to Liverpool on Wednesday, where Probe Records have a Krautrock section. What does anyone advise I get first? I can afford one or two cds.

Thanks for any help. Also, if you know of any books or websites that are good for these things, then that's appreciated too -I know just about nothing on this subject.

And feel free to turn this into a general Krautrock music/anecdote thread.

Cheers.

"Crack In The Cosmic Egg" is a great book on the subject if you can find it.
PM me for a nice list of bands if you like.

Get CAN; Ege Bamyasi, Monster Movie, maybe Future Days.

the german oak lp
ash ra tempel - s/t
popol vuh - In den Gärten Pharaos

that's the divine triumvirat for me, but there are so many other good things in this genre and so many other things i haven't listened to yet. These three are just perfect from the beginning to the end. Musik von Harmonia by Harmonia may be the fourth one immediately to check out.

Can's tago mago or future days
amon duul II's yeti
ash ra tempel - ash ra tempel
neu-neu!
cluster
harmonia

julian cope did a book about krautrock
http://rateyourmusic.com/list/groonrikk/krautrocksampler__top_50_albums_compiled_by_writer _julian_cope/[

Yeti is one of my favorite LPs of all time!
Nice choice.

i love that line from that album "smoke poured out of her eyes" or whatever it is.

I love it that much that i can't be sure that's right

I love Ege Bamyasi by Can. Just an awesome album. I've tried to get into Faust, but there stuff is really hard to find whether in mp3, cd, or vinyl format.

this thread should be a sticky

"Faust Wakes Nosferatu" is pretty amazing, and the vinyl is in an awesome tri-fold book package.


Faust IV and the Neu! catalogue form the basis for pretty much the entire early Stereolab musical style.

Others I love:

Witthuser and Westrupp
Agitation Free
Cosmic Jokers
Guru Guru (first three LPs are incredible)
Necronomicon (more German heavy prog then Krautrock per se, but from the same time period. "Tips Zum Selbstmord" is an absolute classic of heavy prog evilness)

The "Tone Float" album by the pre-Kraftwerk, Pre-Neu! collaboration known as Organisation is beautiful.

Popol Vuh made some incredible LPs as well, especially the soundtrack to Herzog's "Aguirre."

Ash Ra Tempel's first album is essential, as is the first album by Gila.

Thanks for the speedy responses! Popul Vuh and Cosmic Jokers are the best bandnames so far, I reckon.

I did a googlethingy:

THere's a site called Krautrock.com, and seems pretty good.

Savage Clone: a shortened version that book you mentioned appears to be online here at Krautrock.com: Crack in the Cosmic Egg

kraut is one of those genre's where it's pretty easy to get into, but kinda tricky to go on further. but if i were to recommend two basic kraut albums, it would be:

can - tago mago
anything by neu!

after that, there's a universe to explore (starting with faust...i might even replace tago mago with so far)

here are some of my favourite krautrock records

guru guru - ufo
amon duul I - paradieswarts duul
amon duul II - phallus dei
amon duul II - yeti
Harmonia - musik von harmonia
tangerine dream - zeit
tangerine dream - alpha centauri
neu - neu 75
walter wegmuller - tarot
ash ra tempel - s/t
cluster - zuckerzeit
popol vuh - in den garten pharaos
can - ege bamyasi
faust - faust so far

the term krautrock encompasses a wide variety of styles so i'd suggest looking up all this stuff on allmusic and seeing what sounds most appealing to you. but all the stuff people mentioned so far is great.

anyway, like savage clone was saying about neu and faust in relation to stereolab, i'd say the same about guru guru, ash ra tempel, cosmic jokers and amon duul II in relation to acid mothers temple.

only krautrock cds I own are Can's Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi. I highly recommend both of them.

are Kraftwerk considered krautrock?

No? They don't sound like krautrock.

with a little gong thrown in there.

Unfortunately both the Crack in the Cosmic Egg book and Julian Copes book are out of print. The guys that wrote the Crack... book run a nice little record shop in Leicester that sells mostly Kraut/Psyche/Avant stuff:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ultimathule/

early Kraftwerk is considered krautrock, but ..... you know .. sonic youth gets called noise band

some stuff i like
Can
German Oak (i think they are austrian -> our best export ha)
Cluster
Neu
Ash ra Tempel
Die tödliche Doris (maybe the weirdest Kraut band)
Guru Guru
Faust

This is the first name on this thread that I've not heard (or at least read about) before. Mo' Info?