Krautrock Side-Projects

they encored with 'Rawhide'.

it's got me curious about Klaus Dinger's 'Neondian' aka La Dusseldorf 4 -- does anyone have that? Is it an improvement over the third? I haven't heard any >90's Dinger I've ever been tempted to play again.

looking through the forcedexposure blurbs, I'm getting the lineage a bit more worked out -- Engels der Herrn / la? Neu! etc. were the Klaus trainwrecks, but 1-A Dusseldorf was the Thomas Dinger band. I kind of had them all lumped in together. Has anyone checked out the 1-A Dusseldorf discs?

also, i've got la! Neu?'s "Dusseldorf" from 96 and i wouldn't say that it's a trainwreck at all. sounds kinda like any other neu/dusseldorf record. a bit more spacious, less rocking, but just the same.

though I'll keep an eye out for 'dusseldorf'.

xpost haven't heard SPACEBOX. captain trips was really spraying the krautrock canvas with those reissues for a while.

anyone heard the Conny Plank, Moebius & Mayo Thompson record from 83 (reissued on drag city)? weirdo stiff keyboard funk and mayo talking random crap on top. an insteresting listen, but not one of my faves.

thoughts on Plank-related projects like Creative Rock and Lava? i've picked these up in the past few months back but haven't spent much time with either. also To Be and the first few Eulenspygel albums. worth bothering?

yeah I don't really dig the Plank/Moebius/Mayo record that much either.

is lava the tears are going home thing? cause that wasn't too hot.

yeah, teh Lava iz Tears. i'll plan on being underwhelmed. though i had the same (low) expectations of La Pentola di Papin, based on the skimpy and dismissive verbage i've encountered, and was kinda blown away by what turned out to be some punchy, super-melodic Canterbury worship, Italo style.

i did check out that first Eulenspygel, 2. pretty sweet psychfusion, a la Embryo or Kraan. way less ropey than a lot of Stapleton's other List picks. as with Floh de Cologne, i feel like there's some satirical and political content getting lost in the translation. i totally want a t-shirt with that cover shot, so i can wear it to PETA rallies. haven't listened to Ausschuss yet. no one has much nice to say about it.

that thomas dinger record has got me seriously tempted to start checking out those 1-A dusseldorf records, though.

Anyone heard this?

my friend Martin rates it extremely highly, though. maybe I'll check it out again tonight.

Well, I've got Moebius/Plank's Rastakraut Pasta and Material on one CD and I like Material better. Unfortunately the song "Two Old Timers" still dwarfs the rest of RP, which is such a shame.

-- Bimble (bimble), Saturday, 22 May 2004 15:00 (3 years ago) Link

I must have been insane to say such a thing. I pulled out Rastakraut Pasta tonight and it was a delight. Not stoner rock so much as stoner...um...space.

Material on the other hand...this song "Osmo-Fantor" really freaks me out because it reminds me of exactly the way the bass goes in Genesis' "Back in NYC" with Peter Gabriel does anyone know that song here? And by extension, the Jeff Buckley cover of same.

How about Holger Czukay's awesome Les Vampyrettes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_7DnNBdALg

Wolfgang Dauner's Et Cetera = best band ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVl654-UAGY

Yes! I was going to mention that Holger played bass on "Rastakraut Pasta" and I forgot. Thanks.

That Wolfgang Dauner, though, that is some deep, heavy, hippie shit. I dig it. Especially since it's 3 AM.

I am starting to get into Thomas Dinger's "Fur Mich" and it really is very good. Now I too am curious about the 1-A Dusseldorf albums. La! Neu? is such a weird project all the way around but there are definitely some keepers. The third track on "Dusseldorf" (the 40-minute one) is brilliant for like the first 15 minutes, just a straight up big jim

Finally got a copy of the Alex Wiska compilation with all of the first album (recorded at Can studio around 1973 with Jaki and Holger on drums and bass) plus some some selections from later albums. The guy's voice isn't exactly immediately appealing and the songs aren't all brill but there's plenty to like nonetheless. If you've heard the opening track Ekmek you know the rhythm section reprises (or rehearses) the most hectic bit of Bel Air (with Alex doing a sort of ersatz Turkish Battle Of Evermore thing).

Of the later stuff there's the cosmic beach jam How Half Is The Moon, and Istanbulda which is in the kraut funk post-Can vein of Damo Suzuki's Network or Dunkelziffer, I guess. Both featuring Liebezeit with Michael Karoli also wah-ing up the latter. I'm into it!

Is there anything about the recording of this in Rob Young's book? I can see it's a little bit naff in places but still surprised it's not talked about more.

I am starting to get into Thomas Dinger's "Fur Mich" and it really is very good.

I haven't really got past the track Für Dich but that's some beautiful euphoric motorik goodness IIRC.

Further notes on the Wiska thing; other songs also see J & H rifling through variations on a repertoire of rhythms familiar from Can tracks. Patella Black = Pinch, Tales Of Purple Sally does something great with what we otherwise know as Bring Me Coffee Or Tea, while Derule is rhythmically a sexier Whole Lotta Love, and How Half Is The Moon has Jaki bouncing alongside a rapid beat from what sounds like an implacable Korg Minipops.

Naturally I first gravitated to those Can backed tracks but there's also stuff like Elements which is this beautiful drumless, mostly instrumental modal jazz trip that sounds a lot like Pink Floyd's Fearless and occupies a similar horizontal headspace to say Kraftwerk's Ananas Symphonie.

I don't agree that Czukay & Liebezeit are going through a 'repertoire of rhythms' or reprising or rehearsing anything on the Alex tracks, both have a style of playing so that what they play, partly because it's so distinctive, sounds a bit like other stuff they play.

I think you might be misunderstanding what I'm saying, reading it as a criticism or taking it a bit too literally.

Especially with the first track it seems undeniable that that's a variety of thing they were playing around that time that we know as part of Bel Air. Either this recording came first or Bel Air did so of course it's either a rehearsal or reprise of that recording.

Likewise those other tracks are in other modes they had that we know better from the Can albums.

At times they are so similar that I did wonder if they were literally repurposing tapes but given they recorded to two track that seems very unlikely.

I don't think it particularly sounds like what they play on "Bel Air" though! Anyway, it's a style they'd played before this album, live, it's one of things they did.

Anyway, I think the most notable aspect of the playing on the Alex stuff is that it's much closer to how they played live - much more improvisational and unfettered, especially Czukay.

So you recognises there's a stylistic resemblance but want to nitpick for no reason I can discern. Yes it was a mode / groove they had around that time and played live. That doesn't contradict the observation unless you really think there is no relation between the two tracks. xp

I don't think there's that much tbh.