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Hans-Joachim RoedeliusHans-Joachim Roedelius is long established on the German new-music scene as a pioneer of electronic and ambient musics. He grew up in what was to become East Berlin, as the son of teachers and church musicians, and thus learnt the finer arts of the church organ. Not until he was in his mid-30's, in 1967, did he decide to leave that background and become involved in the flourishing Berlin underground. He became involved in the groups Noises and Plus/Minus (notorious for their renditions of Stockhausen works), helped establish the Zodiak Club (with Conrad Schnitzler) and worked in numerous other projects. In 1969 the free-electronic group Kluster was formed (with Schnitzler and Moebius) later becoming Cluster. This is a long and complex history you can read about elsewhere in this book! All the time, however, besides working with Cluster, Harmonia, Brian Eno, and on various session projects, Roedelius was also regularly experimenting on his own with organs and various devices, in his small home studio. Some of his favourites of these early experiments were later released as the SELBSTPORTRAIT series of LP's, and showed a fascination in both ambient and romantic classical musics, and notably nods to Satie and Debussy. The first solo Roedelius release however, was not so much a Roedelius album, but more of a Roedelius & Plank album, a weirdly concocted hybrid of Cluster styles, industrial and cosmic Krautrock, and much more. A radical and innovative album, but unfortunately it was a style he wouldn't develop further. The French release JARDIN AU FOU set the trend for other 70's releases, being moody and light, with an odd quirkiness, taken on to medieval realms with LUSTWANDEL. Though much of what Roedelius released during the 80's was light and easy going, often verging on light classical and jazz musics, he hadn't let up on experimenting. This darker side to his talent was first proven with the really weird DER OHRENSPIEGEL, and the more recent THEATRE WORKS (a historical anthology of unreleased soundtrack recordings) and the strangest of all these SINFONIA CONTEMPORA NO. 1, which explores sound creation and sampling unlike anything else I've heard. This move to more experimental musics again, also lead to the reformation of Cluster. At 60, Roedelius has become amongst the most wide ranging and prolific talents on the new-music scene. No matter what your taste in new-music is, Roedelius has done it, with musics ranging from lightweight jazz and classical, via electronic ambient, and psychedelic rock, onto pure avant-garde weirdness. DURCH DIE WÜSTE (5/76+1/78) JARDIN AU FOU (4+7/78) SELBSTPORTRAIT (1973-77) SELBSTPORTRAIT VOL. II (1973-79) SELBSTPORTRAIT VOL. III (1973-79) AUF LEISEN SOHLEN LUSTWANDEL (1978) WENN DER SÜDWIND WEHT (1980) OFFENE TÜREN (1980) FLIEG VOGEL FLIEGE (5/82) WASSER IM WIND (1981-82) GESCHENK DES AUGENBLICKS "GIFT OF THE MOMENT" (1983) WIE DAS WISPERN DES WINDES... "LIKE THE WHISPERING OF THE WIND" (1983-85) MOMENTI FELICI WEITES LAND BASTIONEN DER LIEBE "FORTRESS OF LOVE" Michael Rother Originating with the band Spirit Of Sound, Michael Rother spent a short time with Kraftwerk before establishing with fellow Kraftwerk member Klaus Dinger, the dynamic duo Neu! Michael also worked in the band Harmonia, with Cluster musicians. As a soloist, Michael's output has never quite lived up to what most people expected. A talented guitarist and explorative musician, yet even his debut FLAMMENDE HERZEN sounded like a diluted Neu! Though notable for Jaki Liebezeit's precision drumming, and exceptional quality production, it was the start of a trend that ended up with later albums becoming very mellow. Amusingly, one could say some ended up sounding like Hank Marvin interpreting Neu! The recent CD reissues all include remixes and new tracks as bonus material and attempt to promote Michael Rother as the father of techno! Michael Rother (guitars, electric piano, bass, synthesizer, organ, electronic percussion), + Jaki Liebezeit (drums) FLAMMENDE HERZEN (6-9/76) STERNENTALER (9-11/77) KATZENMUSIK (3-7/79) FERNWÄRME LUST SÜSSHERZ UND TIEFENSCHÄRFE (11/84-2/85) TRAUMREISEN Roundhouse An obscure lightweight brass-rock band, notably inspired by Chicago, though generally closer to the Emergency sound. Only of marginal interest. Jean-Pierre Wuttke (tenor/alto saxes), Bernd Heil (guitar, bass, vocals), Ralph Bloch (drums), Gustav Csik (organ, tenor sax), Laszlo Juhasz (trumpet, bass), Kurt Weil (trombone, vibes) 'SCUSE ME Listen People / Like How You Say It DOWN TO EARTH (1/73) Royal Servants Four members of this band (Detlev Nottrodt, James Thurow, Ronnie Libal and Günter Klinger) went on to form the legendary Eulenspygel (with three other musicians). As Royal Servants, who featured a vocalist who sang in English, they reputedly played a mixture of psych-pop and longer more progressive tracks. James Thurow (guitars), Detlev Nottrodt (vocals, guitars), Manfred Maier (vocals), Ronald Libal (bass), Reinhard Hetzinger (organ), Günter Klinger (drums) Burning Region / Help Me Please Still I Belong / The Blues Comin' My Way WE Rufus Zuphall Debuting at the "Pop & Jazz Festival" in Bilzen in Autumn 1969, Rufus Zuphall (from the Northern German town of Aachen, next to the Dutch border) had a lot of influences at play in their music: Teutonic folk, Dutch psychedelia, a notable nod to Jethro Tull with much flute and dynamics, and a great deal of innovation of their own. Their self-produced debut WEISS DER TEUFEL is considered one of the underground classics of the Krautrock era, a mostly instrumental, live and vibrant excursion full of raw energy and riddled with surprises. PHALLOBST saw Rufus Zuphall succumbing to Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser's whim to turn Pilz into a folk label, and features an excellent version of the folk standard "Portland Town", alongside some rivetingly complex progressive numbers. AVALON AND ON is a posthumous release comprising of PHALLOBST, an LP of archive recordings (including demos for an aborted third LP), two LP's documenting their concert in Aachen (17 June 1972) from their farewell tour, and a single by Günter Krause. Klaus Gülden (flutes, percussion), Günter Krause (guitars, vocals), Helmut Lieblang (bass), Udo Dahmen (drums, tablas), + Erich Engels (percussion) WEISS DER TEUFEL (1969) PHALLOBST (7-8/71) AVALON AND ON (1970-72) 4LP+7" Little Wing of Refugees LW 1037-41 (1994) Sadja These were an obscure Impromptu project of Christian Burchard and Roman Bunka (both of Embryo), working with ethnic musicologist Keith Wells, experimenting with fusing Asian musics into other genres. Only documented by a cassette and a couple of live recordings, Sadja were the initial push that moved the Embryo style onto pastures new, into ethnic music more than rock. Kenneth Wells (sarod), Roman Bunka (saz, oud), Christian Burchard (marimba) SADJA featured on: UMSONST UND DRAUSSEN VLOTHO 1977 Sahara Previously known as Subject Esq., it seems they changed name to Sahara to get out of a redundant contract with CBS. Personnel wise, the only difference in Sahara was a new keyboardist (Hennes Hering from Out Of Focus), and a full-time lead guitarist. With a proliferation of multi-instrumentalists, a mass of keyboards and various wind instruments, it was no surprise that the album SUNRISE should be quite different. In fact, it's an odd album! Two of the tracks on side 1 do develop the Subject Esq. sound on a more progressive and classical rock spiced front (they sandwich a duff country number, that's best forgotten). But it's the instrumental 27 minute "Sunrise" suite that's the most extraordinary, a winding excursion that ranges from Camel to The Cosmic Jokers, from Pink Floyd to Pulsar, from... you get the idea?! It's a cosmic fan's nirvana. Over a year and a half on, a few minor personnel changes, including Holger Brandt from Missing Link, and a much more distinctive sound developed. As witnessed on FOR ALL THE CLOWNS, really it was back to Subject Esq., with an overdose of progressive influences, notably Focus, Caravan and Yes, and a potpourri of other styles. The results were a very complex and sophisticated progressive, and an album that is still very fresh and surprising. It's a shame that after this Sahara disbanded. Hennes Hering (keyboards), Michael Hofmann (woodwinds, Moog, Mellotron, vocals), Alex Pittwohn (harmonica, tenor sax, vocals), Harry Rosenkind (drums, percussion), Stefan Wissnet (bass, vocals), Nick Woodland (guitars) SUNRISE (1973) FOR ALL THE CLOWNS (8/75) Sameti A collection of Munich musicians fronted by ex-Amon Düül II vocalist/percussionist Christian "Shrat" Thiele. The original band produced a music with trippy Amon Düül II and Hawkwind stylings, and is especially notable for the stunning improvised side-long work "Anotherwaytoseeimprovisation". Shrat's vocals, only heard rarely in Amon Düül II, come across as most strange, adding a unique touch to a highly derivative blend of Krautrock styles. The later incarnation of the band were more of a supergroup, with other Amon Düül II and Gila musicians, but musically they offered a rather bland mainstream rock. Their album is of historical interest only. Klaus Götzner (drums), Walter Bratengeier (guitar), Eckart Voggenreiter (bass), Shrat (vocals, congas), + Bob Eliscu (oboe, flute), Jürgen Benz (sax) SAMETI (4/72) HUNGRY FOR LOVE (6-7/74) Sand Originating from lower Saxony, the musicians of Sand were like many Berlin bands, being people drawn there by the unique possibilities Berlin had to offer. An early incarnation, as a five piece band, were known as P.O.T. (Part Of Time) who toured extensively, and settled for a while in Cologne, but never released anything. So, as a trio (without the bassist or drummer) Sand were formed in 1972 when they moved base to Berlin. Inspired by the spirit of the scene in Berlin, they went out of their way to be as original as they could. Sand only made the one album: GOLEM, which has remained a little-known obscurity, due to being issued as one of the special projects organised for the Kunstkopf demonstration series on Delta-Acustic. Notable for being produced by Klaus Schulze, and also the unique creation of combining cosmic synthesizer, folk and rock musics, sans drums or any conventional instrumental structures, GOLEM is a mystical album rich with the creative spirit of the era. A little hint of Pink Floyd here and there, and obvious Schulze influence, are the only references I could quote as pointers. A really trippy album, with swirling string-synthesizers, cosmic electronics, beyond the nether regions of cosmic Witthüser+Westrupp. Magic! Ludwig Papenberg (guitars, organ, drums, choir), Hannes Vester (vocals, VCS3), Ulrich Papenberg (bass, percussion, choir), + Christian von der Schulenburg (electric piano) GOLEM (3-4/74) Satin Whale A late addition to the first wave of Krautrock, Satin Whale were influenced by many of the bands that had preceded them: Jane, Sahara, Os Mundi, et al., blending powerful rock ballads with dramatic instrumentals that featured classical and jazz elements, and a notable comparison with Camel in the use of keyboards and flute. Their debut on Brain featured lengthy tracks with surging instrumentals and quite an individual song style. Moving to Nova, subsequent albums followed this tradition in their own unique style, although LOST MANKIND is the only other studio album that comes close to DESERT PLACES, be it all the more highly produced. The double live WHALECOME is also notable, as it showcased much of their best material, and presented later songs with much more spontaneity and invention, not least though it also presents a lengthy and stunning rock arrangement of "Hava Nagila". Excepting the film soundtrack album DIE FAUST IN DER TASCHE, the later albums are more mainstream song oriented rock. Thomas Brück (bass, vocals), Horst Schättgen (drums, vocals), Dieter Roesberg (guitars, flutes, alto sax, lead vocals), Gerald Dellmann (organ, piano, vibes) DESERT PLACES LOST MANKIND (1/75) AS A KEEPSAKE (10-12/76) WHALECOME (3+8+18/11/77) A WHALE OF A TIME (6-7/78) DIE FAUST IN DER TASCHE (9/78) DON'T STOP THE SHOW (8-11/80) Schicke-Führs-Fröhling Originating from the Oldenburg group Spektakel, and brainchild of classical keyboardist Gerhard Führs, SFF offered a unique twist on the instrumental musics of King Crimson, ELP, Refugee, et al., combining elements of all into an elaborately crafted and complex rock, full of dynamics and a veritable overdose of keyboards. Their debut SYMPHONIC PICTURES was at the very leading edge of art-rock and, along with its slightly less bombastic successor SUNBURST, is now acclaimed as a classic of 70's classical rock. The side-long Mellotron driven "Pictures" could exceed 30 minutes at concerts, being a spectacular suite of interlinked themes in the manner of Clearlight's equally great opus "Clearlight Symphony". As Schicke became involved in other projects (Hoelderlin for instance) the other musicians continued as the duo of Führs Fröhling. The third SFF album offered a lighter synthesized rock style, and though it had its moments, TICKET TO EVERYWHERE had only a trace of the glory of their earlier albums. Eduard Schicke (drums, percussion, Moog, metallophon), Gerhard Führs (piano, Moog, clavinet, Mellotron, string ensemble), Heinz Fröhling (bass, guitar, Mellotron) SYMPHONIC PICTURES SUNBURST (8/77) featured on: BRAIN FESTIVAL ESSEN II TICKET TO EVERYWHERE Günter Schickert A pioneer of the echo-guitar, a multi-instrumental talent and innovator of his own unique echo-rock, Günter has been long active on the Berlin scene, from the 60's in free-jazz, then fronting many bands, and also playing in concert with Klaus Schulze. He's one of the most prolific, yet least known of Krautrock musicians. His debut LP, the groundbreaking SAMTVOGEL (originally self-produced and promptly reissued on Brain) treated the guitar as a mass multi-channel sequencer, with layer upon layer of surging cycling melodies and rhythms, spiralling on in a most complex and carefully crafted manner. A kind of cosmic Krautrock with a dark otherworldly feel. ÜBERFÄLLIG (aptly titled, meaning "Overdue") appeared several years later, this time featuring the aid of a drummer, and a more forceful rock oriented music with a rhythmic structure recalling Can, but with lots of dancing entangled guitar sequences in ever-changing waves of dazzling complexity. Around this time Günter was also involved in the more Ash Ra Tempel-like trio GAM, as well as composing music for theatre productions, some of which he had accompanied live on stage. A third solo, KINDER DER WILDNIS has only been documented as a cassette release, and features a much wider range of styles in shorter tracks with quite a few songs, a more eclectic and distinctly Teutonic blend than his earlier albums. Günter has been involved in further theatre productions as well as the bands No Zen Orchestra and Ziguri Ego Zoo. He remains one of the few currently active and innovative musicians from the 70's. SOMNAMBUL documents over a decade of recent solo work, and shows the wealth of new ideas he continues to come up with. SAMTVOGEL (6-9/74) ÜBERFÄLLIG Toncollage Zu Dem Film: In Den Zeichen Vom Sabine KINDER DER WILDNIS (1983) Date: 2015-12-18; view: 1292
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