Unfortunate term, but it's the most useful one.

You know the drill. Lets talk about all those wonderful musicians and bands like Neu, Popul Vuh, CAN, Kraftwerk et al.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kulturtrager,

Amon Duul is probably my favorite Krautrock band (and prog band as well). Check out Yeti and Wolf City, these are both awesome albums. I've been looking for their 1971 Tanz der Lemminge release but can't seem to find it at a decent price.

Xhol Caravan is another favorite. They mixed soul in with jazz & electronic sounds for a very strange- but exciting- breed of Krautrock.

I picked up an album by Harmonia, De Luxe in the last few months. The record is regarded by many as Krautrock's finest release. It is excellent, recommended if one likes Neu.

Jane (good luck finding these), Eloy and Faust are also favorites, especially Jane's earliest releases. Van Der Graaf Generator, ok, they're UK, and more prog than anything, but I hear Krautrock influences. Space Debris is a '90s band that mixed Krautrock, prog and space rock sounds for a special brew. Space rock- now there's a far out genre!

hey crazed, welcome to the coolest thread going ha ha.

Now, regarding Amon Duul, I do have Yeti, which I like a lot, and I also have Tanz der Lemminge, which I like even more. Don't worry bout the price. It's worth it.

Xho Caravan I don't know, but I do have Harmonia's Musik Von Harmonia, and by jingo, I love its melodies and textures.

I'm a big fan of Cluster and all the side projects. When they ride with Eno, its pure bliss.

My current goal is to buy a copy of Ash Ra Tempel's Schwingungen next time I'm near civilization!

quote:

Harmonia's Musik Von Harmonia, and by jingo, I love its melodies and textures.

I think I'll have to look into this.

Yes - Tanz der Lemminge (Dance of the Lemmings, I think) is really good.

I think my favorite KR band would be Faust. I haven't listened to the Tapes album yet, but the self titled, IV and So Far are all unstoppable.

Okay, I'll resume my search for Tanz der Lemminge.

First picked up on Xhol Caravan through a series of comps called Psychedelic Underground on the Garden of Delights label. Not really psych, all the artists featured in this series (Vol.12 out now) are prog and Krautrock. The band eventually shortened their name to Xhol. Electrip and the live album (forgot it's title) are the albums to dig into first.

I've been wanting a copy of Ash Ra Tempel's Schwingungen myself!

Any Tangerine Dream fans? I have only a song here & there on v/a comps. Whatever's the choice selection of their releases, I'd love to discover more.

I didn't care much for Brainticket's Celestial Ocean but have heard cuts from their Cottonwoodhill album. Nice combo of funk and space rock sounds. I'm still hunting for a copy.

Ah, Faust's IV, there's a killer. I need to dig into their stuff more as well.

I have a few cds of KR collections featuring the more unknown and lesser known groups. Can't recall any titles right now but all are excellent and difficult to find. Still, the Psych Underground series are in print and worth hunting for (Dusty Groove has carried them before).

Krautrock is one of my favorite genres of music. I think my favorite Kraut band would have to be Can, just because nearly all of their albums were masterpieces. To answer your question Crazed, I'm a Tangerine Dream fan, and would definetely say Zeit is their best album, closely followed by Phaedra, stay away from their newer stuff though.

Some of my favorite Kraut albums:
Faust
Faust
Faust IV

Can
Tago Mago
Future Days
Monster Movie
Ege Bamyasi

Amon Duul II
Yeti
Tan Der Lemminge
Phallus Dei

Neu!
Neu
Neu II

Popol Vuh
Hossianna Mantra

Kraftwerk
Autobahn

Ash Ra Tempel
Ash Ra Tempel
In Den Garten Pharaos
Join Inn

Klaus Schulze
Irrilicht
Moondawn

Agitation Free
Malesch
2nd

Navalis
Navalis
Summerabend

Gila
Gila

Cluster
Cluster II
Zuckerzeit

Analogy
Analogy

Sand
Golem

La Düsseldorf
La Düsseldorf

Rufus Zuphall
WeiB der Teufel

Kraan
Kraan

Brainstorm
Smile A While

That's all for now I suppose.

Agitation Free?
Gila?
Analogy?
Kraan?

I know them not. And here is why I love metacritic. Now I have new stuff to hunt down. Thanks grabblegarr.

I like 'Phaedra' a great deal also.

Thanks for the Tangerine Dream recommendations, g. What a great list you posted.

Agitation Free is another group being reissued on the Garden of Delights label. I should say lovingly reissued because they really do an excellent job with remastering and booklets.

I'd forgotten about Kraan. I found Let It Out on vinyl a year ago and loved it death. The shop clerk recommended their 1975 albums, Andy Nogger and Kraan Live. Both still on my want lists.

I forgot to mention Parson Sound, whose Self Titled albums is one of my favorites. Absolutely amazing.

Some more kraut albums worth checking out.

Cosmic Jokers Cosmic Jokers
Guru Guru Der Elektrolurch
Dom Edge of Time
Dzyan Electric Science
Yatha Sihdra Meditation Mass
Embryo Steig Aus
Passport Looking Thru
Eloy Ocean
Jane - Between Heaven and Hell
Edgar Froese Aqua
Brainticket Celestial Ocean

These are great recommendations for me. I've only recently started scratching the surface of this genre after hearing that Drum's Not Dead was highly influenced by it (I love that album, by the way.) So far my experience with Can and Neu! has been very positive.

I thought I knew Krautrock!

I'm learning heaps. Thanks guys.

Did any of you ever read Julian Cope's Krautrock Sampler: One Head's Guide to the Great Kosmische Music - 1968 Onwards? I remember seeing it in a record store about ten years ago. Unfortunately I didn't buy it, and now it is going for ridiculous sums of money.

Yeh, the Cope book!!!

Aaargh!! Never read it. When it came out, I said, yeh, one day I'll get around to it.....and now; what, it's like 185 bucks or something on Amazon??

Aquarius Records reviews and sells KR:
Krautrock.com

Nice little reference site:
The Crack In The Cosmic Egg

As mentioned, some links don't work but still nice:
KR Links Page

Thanks a lot for the links crazed.

Goddamn! I can't believe I missed this thread until now. I would say my favorite groups are CAN and Amon Düül(II). I use that last notation to make the point that not there were two different but equally great versions of the group: Amon Düül and Amon Düül II . Amon Düül II were excellent: Phallus Dei and Yeti are stone cold classics in my opinion and the next three records, Tanz Der Lemminge, Carnival in Babylon, and Wolf City are stellar as well. Amon Düül had four awesome records as well, completely worth finding whatever the cost: Psychedelic Underground, Collapsing, Para Dieswärts Düül, and Disaster.

As for CAN, I think I already mentioned this elsewhere on the board but pretty much everything from Delay 1968 and Monster Movie through Soon Over Babaluma and Unlimited Edition are perfection.

Don't get me started on Harmonia, Kraftwerk, Popol Vuh, Cluster (or Kluster as they were known when Conrad Schnitzler was involved), Neu!, Magma! (not technically Kraut since they were French but great nonetheless), Ash Ra Tempel and Ash Ra, Embryo, Brainticket, Guru Guru, and early Tangerine Dream!!

quote:

Did any of you ever read Julian Cope's Krautrock Sampler: One Head's Guide to the Great Kosmische Music - 1968 Onwards? I remember seeing it in a record store about ten years ago. Unfortunately I didn't buy it, and now it is going for ridiculous sums of money.

Never actually read the book, but most of it can be found on the net in different places. Check this:http://rateyourmusic.com/list/groonrikk/krautrock_sampler__top_50_albums_compiled_by_writer_julian_cope/

I also forgot to mention my love of Faust and Parson Sound but I'll assume you'd just guess that anyway.

Didn't some of the people in Parson Sound go on to become Trad Gras Och Stenar too? If so we can add that one to the ongoing list. I also forgot Flower Travelin' Band but they were Japanese so again it goes back to the thing with Magma that they aren't really Kraut...

Damn JB, you posted 3 times in like 2 seconds. Anyway, yes Parson Sound did go on to become Trad Gras Och Stenar, and before that they released an album under the name Harvester.
As for the Julian Cope list, it's a pretty good starting point for Kraut, he should have probably listed more bands than he did though, rather than including every album of every band in there.
As for me, my top ten would probably be:

1) Faust- Faust
2) Popul Vuh- Hosianna Mantra
3) Amon Duul II- Yeti
4) Parson Sound- Parson Sound
5) Sand- Golem
6) Can- Tago Mago
7) Dzyan- Electric Silence
8) Tangerine Dream- Zeit
9) Neu!- Neu!
10)Cluster- Cluster II

quote:

Originally posted by jonathanbrisby:
Never actually read the book, but most of it can be found on the net in different places. Check this:http://rateyourmusic.com/list/groonrikk/krautrock_sampler__top_50_albums_compiled_by_writer_julian_cope/

Hey thanks for the website. Pretty interesting list. I noticed that Cope likes the first two Kraftwerk albums. I've always heard that Kraftwerk have washed their hands of those early records. Any idea why?