Inga Humpe - Planet Oz (1990)

I first encountered the Humpe sisters, Annette and Inga, via the excellent Dustin Wong/Takako Minekawa mix over at Portals (by the way, if you haven't checked out their collaborations out on thrill jockey, do yourself a favor and do so). Apparently, "Yama-Ha" is a pretty well-known track, and what's not to like about two German ladies singing Japanese product names over some pretty inventive pop production?

This album doesn't really fall into the same vein of synth pop - think European club music of the time and you've got a good frame of reference. When that house beat isn't pounding (and even when it is), there's some lovely double-tracked harmonies and plenty of  production ear-candy. I wish the rest of the album sounded like "Cowboy Song," but what you end up getting is pretty good too. 

enjoy 

Seesselberg - Synthetik 1 (Self-released, 1973)

Hello again!

That's a little misleading, I've been here, grabbing choice albums from you denizens of the 'sphere (shoutout to my wall of fame on the right). And I feel a little guilty about that. So let's see if I can keep this up (my post just below would suggest I've not very good at keeping up, but we'll see) and give back the love. I've got a back-load of music a hard drive wide (mixed metaphors anyone?!?!) and I'm ready to jump back in...

That grid of knobs should tell you something about this one (if you haven't heard it yet, I have a feeling this one's made its rounds). I heard about it from this fun little article about obscure "krautrock" gems. But I would place this more in the musique concrète, electroacoustic, fun with oscillators category (keep your eye out for more of this kind of sophisticated tomfoolery on this blog). Like the dark side of Manhattan Research Inc. enjoy yourself! viel Spaß!

enjoy

Thanks to the blog I pilfered this from, which should win an award for the craziest/cheesiest-in-a-good-way banner: http://el-sumergible-neuronal.blogspot.com.es/

Tri Atma w/ Klaus Netzle - Yearning and Harmony (1983, Fortuna)

Jiro over at Panther Club turned me on to this group, his description is a great place to start to learn about Tri Atma. What's important to know is that Clara Mondshine (aka Walter Bachauer) and Claude Larson (aka Klaus Netzle) are involved. If you're familiar with their output, you'll know a little better what to expect.

Nothing like Germans getting a little silly. On first listen, I was thinking of Oregon and Between, and then the electronics enter, channeling the best of Pyrolator and Netzle's solo work as Larson (which I should really put up soon). 

Some really enjoyable music, crossing Eastern/folk/kosmiche/new age styles, blurring the lines between "depth and surface."

(There's an alternate posting of this song on youtube with nude beach bums throughout! Saucy!) 

For fans of: 

- Claude Larson

- Clara Mondshine

- Pyrolator

- Between, but then silliness

Enjoy

Youtubin': Reebop with Phantom Band

This footage is incredible, apparently uploaded by the guitarist himself, Dominik Von Senger.

Double Fantasy - Universal Ave. (Innovative Communication, 1986)

(and because I couldn't resist...)

According to the record's back cover and discogs, Double Fantasy was made up of these two fellows, Charly McLion and Dreamstar (I think the back cover has the latter listed as dREAMSTARRR, or something silly like that - and yeah, I feel like Dreamstar is the one w/ sunglasses on. Blondie looks more like a McLion). 

Beyond all that silliness, this is a pretty tight record. I would describe it as faux kosmische, like some dudes really indebted to Gottsching and Rother but with cheesier production value. So, great.

Here's a nice write-up on the Innovative Comm. label by Jiro doing his radio show over at Panther Club. Can't get enough of that site or Ying Yangs.

My favorite flavor:

 

Enjoy (ripped from the vinyl as two tracks)

Ashra - Walkin' the Desert (Navigator, 1989)

(This latter image was found on an impressive blog all about Manuel Gottsching)

So, I've been listening to kosmische rock heavily again... but Gottsching and his Ash Ra/Ashra/self titled stuff was never the first thing I'd put on. OK, so I had E2-E4, liked it, then got Inventions somewhere along the way... Dreams and Desire impressed me. But for some reason his work never jumped out at me, until I dug a little deeper and found this record and Blackouts, which will probably be up here sooner or later.

It starts auspiciously enough with "Two Keyboards", but wait until you get to the last three numbers. "Four Guitars" was featured on Jason Urick's excellent mix that Phil pointed out to me, and what a slice of ten minutes it is. The vocal sounds on "Twelve Samples" haunt, and "Dessert" ties things up nicely with a MIDI groove and lilting arpeggios. Bon appetit!

The first shall be last and the last shall be first:

Enjoy

Michael Rother - "Katzenmusik" (Sky, 1979)

For me, this is a flawless album.

I originally got this from a great blog that has been discontinued, it seems. I think all the links are still live though. Here's the original link.

Stay tuned for a kosmische-themed mix in the next week or so.

Perfection sounds like this:

Here

Pyrolator - Pyrolator's Wunderland (Ata Tak, 1984)

From what I've heard so far, a uniquely silly (in the best possible sense) album from this German synth whiz, still active and formerly of Der Plan. Expect lots of off-putting tropical bird and monkey noises, other humorous sound effects, and super crisp synth arpeggios. This is way cleaner than "Ausland", production-wise (make of that what you will)... For fans of Ray Lynch, J-M Jarre, Suzanne Ciani...

Here's the highlight track for me, to get you started:

Dive in!

Hans - Joachim Roedelius - Wenn Der Sudwind Weht (1981)

Warm synths taking the chill off the NY winter. Less the exploration and sudden shocks of early 70's Cluster and more the smoothness of lines, meandering solo melodies, the aural accompaniment to the feet and their watcher above. Calm, simple, spare. 

HERE