Krautrock Also-Rans: A Poll

Hard to choose for me. Depending on my mood, could be Agitation Free, Embryo, or Kraan. Wound up voting for Agitation Free.

i only know a few of these. eloy's pretty great and krokodil do a great cover of 'creator has a master plan', but i think embryo could be a first rate kraut band.

agitation free, too

Sadly haven't heard more than a track or two by any of these, and don't feel informed enough to vote. So I voted for Electric Sandwich because the have a lol-worthy name

Jeez, I'd have figured I would've heard at least one of these, but I haven't.

Ive only heard Agitation Free and German Oak which is surprising because I went through a really intense krautrock phase. I guess I'll vote German Oak.

OK, so there weren't an infinite number of good German bands in the 70s.

broselmachine's self-titled album is pretty good. the guys who put together a crack in the cosmic egg claim that yatha sidra's meditation mass is one of the greatest all time krautock albums. udo lundberg, witthuser & westrupp, walter wegmuller, sand, pater noster, anexus quam, ikarus, and, especially, mythos, between, deuter, and eroc, all deserve a listen or two

gunter schickert

choosin' DOM because their album is super cosmic spooky deep and awesome. hippies floating in negative space.

runners-up for me:
German Oak, Agitation Free, Krokodil, Schikert, Necronomicon

but there's a lot of good stuff on that list, also kamerad's. do we have a "Krautrock that isn't from Germany" thread yet?

Agitation Free, German Oak, Broselmaschine & Emtidi are on the shortlist--did Witthuser & Westrupp make Cope's top fifty? or how 'bout Kalacakra?

People seem to love the Holderlin album, but it doesn't compare with most of the other kosmische-folk on this thread.

Nearly voted for Eloy b/c they're awesome, but I went for Gila instead because "Bury my Heart at Wounded knee" even though it's a bit patchy because of its amazing proto-Popol Vuh vibe in places (it features Florian Fricke and IIRC Danny Fischelscher as well)

I haven't heard Gila; sounds like I need to.

I really like the Frumpy I've heard, but it wasn't Krautrock - is there more than one Frumpy? Or is it just 'krautrock' because it's from Germany?

Eloy also got some good stuff (though if I remember correctly, they also have some shit), but I love Emtidi's Saat - again, it's not really Krautrock, but I can at least see why it's there, as a sort of psychedelic kraut-folk.

eloy definitely has some garbage. the only one i've been able to get into is inside. there's some pretty good stuff on gila's self-titled, except the 13 minute epic, unfortunately. that can kind of drag a little. but shorter acid folk jams like "kontakt" are probably worth your time

schickert. nobody does what he does.

another vote for Shickert. Although I have heard hardly any of these.

Frumpy just sounded hard rock to me. Dont like Jane but my mates hippy brother does. Agitation Free, Gila and German Oak are the best 3 here. I cant even remember what the Bröselmaschine or Grobschnitt sounded like.

the grobschnitt i've heard is pretty dire symphonic prog. broselmachine though kind of sounds like a german incredible string band

Ahh yes I remember them now. Was ok.

"Hard to choose for me."

ya how could one ever choose between all these no-name shitheads

Agitation Free dont deserve to be also rans or no-names

Soft spot I have for Necronomicon et al, DOM is the winner for me, although Emtidi are a close second.

I'll also chime in with wither Witthuser & Westrup? ;)

Someone should do a Swiss poll... Deaf versus Brainticket is a tough call for me.

you're totally right about agitation free. malesch and 2nd are both up there with anything in cope's krautrocksampler, and better than some of it, like say the cosmic jokers

Rombald, I think W & W did make Cope's list (unless someone has provided a definitive answer upthread that I missed), so are therefore ineligible for this one.

Also, Brainticket will always win.

yeah, w & w is the last on his list in the book

d'oh - missed the "not in Cope's list" part... damn, I can't believe I gave that book away in a moment of misplaced benevolence five years ago. Benevolence sucks.

oh yah, mythos isn't mentioned. they've got some cool stuff.

yatha sidra's meditation mass is pretty good. i forgot that one.

I got W&W, thought it was OK but not great, didn't understand Copey raving about it at all.

I never noticed Grobschnitt on that list! I might have voted for them - a lot of filler/blandola in their catalog, but "Solar Music Live" at least is excellent & ludicrously overblown.

Voted for Kraan, but would have voted for Kaputter Hamster if they'd been included.

Günter Schickert

Gila is awesome, it's basically a Popol Vuh spinoff, right? I think I'll vote for them, but I do love Agitation Free's second album a LOT.

Just saw this it features Florian Fricke and IIRC Danny Fischelscher as well). Fischelscher is DEFINITELY on there.

Broselmavhine and Emtidi both have one good album, but Agitation Free has two! Since I haven't heard any others, I can't vote in good conscience.

Did Eloy move through a bunch of different styles? I see a lot of their records around for reasonably cheap, but something about the artwork rings warning bells. Particularly 'Performance'. Even though I do kinda like the artwork.

And Agitation Free should win this easy. Rucksturz is a killer track.

http://assets.mog.com/pictures/wikipedia/2807995/800px-AgitationFreebandphoto.jpg

Gila didn't bring in Fricke or Fischelscher until the "Bury My Heart" album--their first two, "Free Electric Sound" and "Nightworks" are quite different.

I see no reason why Agitation Free wouldn't walk away with this--Malesch is awesome.

Not that it would change my vote, but no Xhol Caravan or Brainticket on here.

Bury my Heart... is the only Gila album I've heard. It sounds like a lot like Popul Vuh, and I like that. I'm curious about the first two you've mentioned, but I have a feeling I wouldn't like them as much as the Vuh-worship.

I've heard one album by Embryo called Surfin'. It's quite good. Cool cover with a flying van. Some tracks are very funky with lots of sample-friendly drum breaks and vibraphone. I gather their other albums have more of an ethnic feel, which makes more sense when considering the NNCK collaboration.

Agitation Free will probably will this easily, but the Kollectiv album "SWF Sessions" is pretty fantastic in an early Kraftwerk kind of way. From what I remember, it's similar to the "Kraftwerk 4" live album with Neu!

the guys who put together a crack in the cosmic egg claim that yatha sidra's meditation mass is one of the greatest all time krautock albums

... which is a ridiculous claim. Occasional flashes of brilliance from various bands on here but nothing startling. Haven't heard Günter Schickert though. Agitation Free best band on here, though I don't like their 2nd album much.

Did Eloy move through a bunch of different styles? I see a lot of their records around for reasonably cheap, but something about the artwork rings warning bells. Particularly 'Performance'. Even though I do kinda like the artwork.

First couple of albums (Eloy, Inside, maybe Floating too) are pretty good krauty-hard-prog, after that they turned into an inept Floyd rip-off with REALLY bad vocals. Although there were some awesomely stupid spoken word sections by drummer Jurgen Rosenthal ("shpiwitsch...darken zer skyyyy") plus a load of rototom rolls all over the place. God I loved this band when I was about 14, but really they were terrible. They went more synthy into the 80s, a period notable only for them scoring possibly the worst film ever (Codename : Wildgeese).

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

saying there's nothing startling on that list is a lot more ridiculous than this: MEDITATION MASS is actually one of the most magical albums ever made, a single cosmic suite, with ethnic and jazzy touches, pure cosmic Krautrock which really trips-out. I've often quoted it as my favourite all-time album, due to its uniqueness, that it has never dated, and is so charged. Few albums hold that same quality.

eloy have a track that made it to the Elaste - Slow Motion Disco comp

horizons

I went German Oak for the simple reason that it's the only thing on this list I actually own. Must do further research...

Nice pic up there. Were they waiting for someone to come back from the Cafe with the ice creams?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

people of ILX in right-about-something shockah

i am surprised dom did so well and german oak so poorly.

Gila deserved more votes

Sperrmüll
Satin Whale

You forgot Dzyan. So do most people.

maybe they were on the RYM list the OP mentioned. i don't know which on that'd be, but...

which ONE

(i like dzyan)

I might just have voted for Dzyan!

A friend just slipped me the first Bröselmaschine album, and it's kind of hitting the spot. Kind of a mix of the quietest parts of "Stairway to Heaven" and Fairport Convention. I could probably have this on a loop in the background all day and never mind it playing once (afraid it might all crash to the ground in pieces if I paid it close attention, though).

Didn't vote, but the only one I've heard of is Eloy. They would become rather OK from the mid 70s onwards.

ok this is amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9sscVftmDU

Going through a heavy Hölderlin's Traum phase atm

Anyone know much about Deuter? At what stage do his albums go bad? Maybe they're all good?

I don't know, I've got his 1st 2, but I don't think his 1st is very representative of his later work (I like the 2nd better anyway)

I have the first two too! Can't remember which is which though - is the second one the one with the birdsong and stuff on it?

Good grief, there's some hideous artwork on the latter albums.

First ("D") is more Krautrocky, I suppose, 2nd ("Aum") more acoustic/ ethnic. Later I think he went all New Age, but that's sort of hip now isn't?

Talking of which, and Also-Rans, there's always Between/Peter Michael Hamel.

I like what Hamel I've heard a lot - cool trance-inducing stuff. But very hard to find. Someone needs to be cool and reissue it.

Anyone know much about Deuter? At what stage do his albums go bad? Maybe they're all good?

"D" is pretty cool and definitely Krautrock, he gets more and more new age as time goes on. But if you don't mind that he's pretty good through the seventies. Even the 1981 release, Silence Is The Answer, is pretty cool. But it's not super plastic, clean 80s-style new age stuff, just peaceful jams from a Bhagwan-lovin' beard farmer.

i only have Ecstasy from 1979 and in my head it nestles in amongst the Ashra stuff from the same period

I don't know why I keep Embryo albums. On paper, I should like them as much as the other krautrock stuff I love, but the only albums of theirs I ever liked were the ones that are now impossible to find: the jazzier ones with Charlie Mariano. I always return to the others hoping they will click but they never do. Opal is supposed to be the classic, right? Every time I try to listen to it, within ten minutes I forget that it's playing.

"Opal" is the most "rock" one, I suppose. Wouldn't call it a classic, personally.

Yeah, that sounds right. The others I've heard touch on that sort of "ethno-world-fusion" stuff I also can't really deal with in these contexts. I wish someone would reissue the ones with Charlie Mariano, because, as I said, I remember enjoying those. I wonder how the No Neck Blues Band collaboration sounds.

Night Sun not really Krautrock, but a fucking great heavy rock album. I'm not super big into that genre as a whole but damn if Conny Plank's production doesn't elevate it to a whole nother level.

I bought the first two Agitation Free albums last year and they deserved to win this poll, great stuff.

I never noticed Grobschnitt on that list! I might have voted for them - a lot of filler/blandola in their catalog, but "Solar Music Live" at least is excellent & ludicrously overblown.

Too scared to listen to their other stuff but "Solar Music Live" is indeed pretty cool, very very very Floydian. Eroc is a great drummer too... and his first solo album is pretty good into the bargain.

I don't love the first two Agitation Free records, but I agree that they belong (somewhere towards the bottom) on the "real Krautrock" list rather than at the top of the also-rans. They're sort of a hybrid of a lot of the jam-oriented German bands without a particularly strong identity.

Otherwise I've only heard Eloy from this list, and they're pretty ridiculous symphonic prog.

That Dom album is pretty good.