Popol Vuh "Hosianna-Mantra"

Popol Vuh at their best are one of my favorite krautrock bands. Their track "Aguirre III" is my favorite song of all time, pure bliss! I have been listening to their Hosianna Mantra album since getting home from CorePower and am blown away by how beautiful it is! It is available for preview from this blog and you can listen to the title track on this Youtube video:

Please enjoy!

kosmiche at any age

Harmonia is one of my favorite Kraut projects, it is a supergroup of sorts being a meeting between Cluster and Michael Rother of Neu! They got back together and played a bit a few years back from what I hear on this clip I hope a full live album is released sooner rather than later, great stuff!

And for those that haven't heard the old stuff, here's a blog that has the first album.

Paramechanical World

Another day, another Kraut track. This one exudes a "stoned summer afternoon" vibe so strong that you can smell it from four decades away. Part of me still prefers the hippier Amon Duul to the more rockin' Amon Duul II. For those of you interested, this blog has the album.

it is hard to argue that it truly is a paramechanical world...

Amon Duul II "Sandoz in the Rain"

Happy In(ter)dependence Day to my American friends (and to everyone else, though the greeting won't mean as much to others). What better way to celebrate than with a little Amon Duul II? A thick and heavy kraut group made up of largely very hairy commune-livin' german hippies. Hair was important back then and the more of it the better. Here's a great blog that has some albums for you and here's one of my favorite songs by them:

I feel kind of sorry for the guy in hat in the far right of the Youtube picture above, he's the only bearded dude in the picture and yet he's been largely obscured by the locks of the pretty boy in front of him. Photographic hair wars were dangerous games played by 70s rock stars everywhere. Whoever had the most hair and stood in front won. This poor man in a hat was obviously the loser...

Brainticket "The Space Between"

I love this spaced out kraut track. It reminds me of a goofy arty take on the "Fantastic Planet" soundtrack.

For those who'd like to sample this far out album, here's a link

Sand "May Rain"

It's like listening to a 1970s version of Current 93. A little lo-fi but still quite cool!

Can "Spoon"

I never get tired of this song. It's happy, catchy and really strange too. A brilliant cocktail...