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Krautrock: Love it or Hate it!
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Fatalist
Fatalist
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Re: Krautrock: Love it or Hate it!
Sep 02, 2004, 14:01
For a different view from the usual about how popular Krautrock was at the time, go here:
http://www.furious.com/perfect/krautrock.html
And then indulge yourself here:
http://www.phinnweb.com/krautrock/index2.html

As to what defines Krautrock, this kind of chimes in with something I've been thinking about lately ie. that there seems to be an 'acceptable canon' of bands that always get referenced (great though some of them are), while other innovative German rock acts of the time get sidelined. OK, I'm talking with an emphasis on 'rock' here (as is my wont!), but how about:

Frumpy - yes, stupid name, but they were one of the few German bands of the 70s to actually sell records at the time in their homeland. Not a recommendation in itself, but check out 'Frumpy 2', which contains the awesone 'Good Winds' - ace organ/guitar soundclash, plus Inga Rumpf is one of the most brilliant singers I've heard

Night Sun - intelligently heavy in a way that most bands of the time seemed incapable of, but also excellently sinister in places - 'Got A Bone Of My Own' is genuinely unnerving (Conny Plank production too)

Hairy Chapter - yep, another stupid name, but the way they chop up the prevailing UK blues rock thang with very quiet acoustic passages (particularly on 2nd album 'Can't Get Through') brings to mind a combo of King Crimson and the Groundhogs

2066 and then - mad heavy prog. Only one album ('Reflections'), which I've only just got hold of, but suffice to say I drunkenly fell asleep to it last night and then had a jumping-out-of-bed-like-a-big-girl nightmare

(These last three are all available on the excellent Second Battle re-release label incidentally)

And while I'm on the subject of scary proto-rock, has anybody else here heard that Icecross album, made in 1973 by some very wrong men from Iceland??? Bloody hell...
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