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...

Julian Cope "I Gotta Walk" on Top of the Pops

One might suspect that the last Julian Cope video posted was a peak moment that could never be topped. Of course in the world of St. Julian most moments are peaks. Here he, Thighpaulsandra (armed with an enormous silver dialed and vacuum tube synth that looks like a Doctor Who set piece from the 70s) and the rest of the crew appear on the British Teeny-bopper show Top of the Pops playing their "I Gotta Walk" track off of Autogeddon (my favorite Cope album). To commemorate the moment Julian shaves both sides of his head, puts his remaining hair in a ponytail, wears a yellow mu-mu, makes faces and bellows like a horse while the teen audience bobs their heads in obviously gleeful bewilderment. Nothing like this could ever have come out from any other man...

Govinda Bolo Hari Gopal Bolo

A little techno bhangra kirtan muzak, dig it kids! I like the fact that they actually do a little call and response in the song, which is awesome. I'm still looking for something that is more straight up repetitive with more call and response.

Julian Cope "Try Try Try"

Here's the guy who got me into the whole Krautrock trip with his Krautrocksampler book (available at this blog here). This video is completely insane, with Julian wearing a hippy dippy gnome hat, crazy yellow pants and a Neu! wifebeater prancing and flying around a stage that has been decorated with Cosmic Jokers backdrops. Perhaps most absurd are the brief shots of Thighpaulsandra looking totally out of place in this cosmic hippy space, in fact looking more as if he's just walked off set of a Death In June video. However once ThighP joins in with the "Bump Bump Bump Buh Buh Bump Bo" chant you know all is safe in the universe.

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

Current 93 Cover "May Rain"

And here is the C93 cover: