Looking for Krautrock

[jdh]

Though I dislike that label,I am looking for music from that period,1970-76 or so.Though I have been collecting music for some 30 years,I have no idea about what these Krautrock groups sound like(I sound ignorant).I know the names-Can,Cluster,Harmonium,Faust-but not the music.I was listening to this newish group-Fujiwa & Miyagi(actually British)and liked it,as well as a bit of Kranky(label),both influenced by Can.Looking for that motorik beat I hear so much about as well as ambient passages but no freak outs or outdated sonics.
Any suggestions.Thanks.

[Somnia]

Newer band called 120 Days with serious kraut influences.

[jblock]

Cluster did some wonderful albums on their own and also with Brian Eno. I'm not sure if any of these are currently in print. I also enjoy Cluster 2, which is more along the lines of early Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze.

[Undershadow]

I was listening to this newish group-Fujiwa & Miyagi(actually British)and liked it,as well as a bit of Kranky(label),both influenced by Can.Looking for that motorik beat I hear so much about as well as ambient passages but no freak outs or outdated sonics.
Any suggestions.Thanks.

If adventurous (which Fujiwa & Miyagi are in deploying their kraut influence), I’d suggest ANTIGUO AUTOMATA MEXICANO's album Kraut Slut (Static Discos) esp. if you’re looking for something with a more up-to-date sound and you don’t mind the kraut stuff being slathered over an off-kilter minimal techno template.
More about it:

Word+sound:
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=36996
(Re: that motorik beat you’re looking for, check soundclip ANTIGUO AUTOMATA : 01 in particular)

My word:
“[...] Informed by Germanic 70s out-rock pioneers of kraut’n’space [...], as well as minimal techno and DSP-funkery.[...]” (from http://www.ei-mag.com/verite0010.php#02)

Other words:
“...an incredibly deep and cerebral exploration of minimal glitchy techno and early-'70s experimental German rock...” (from http://blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/curb-your-cynicism/aams-kraut-slut/)

“... a warm mix of bubbling minimal techno and spacious ambient electronics with just enough quirk, pops and crackles to sit somewhere between the dancefloor and headphone earspace. [...] submerges robot burbles in lush gaseous atmospheres. [...] There is an oversupply of ‘minimal’ techno at the moment and AAM’s closest touchstones are closer to Wolfgang Voigt’s pulsating drones of his Gas project, and the processing of Fennesz.[...]” (from http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/blog/?p=1235)

[Undershadow]

Mo Kraut comin' atcha:

Two further suggestions for Kraut-flavoured updates, though these are from a <ahem> RAWK band and as such not your average Forum fare. CLOUDLAND CANYON make retro-/post-/psych-/space-rock with a Kosmische Muzik flavour:


CLOUDLAND CANYON Silver Tongued Sisyphus (Kranky)
“[...]There are plenty of Kraut imitators at the moment, but sadly most end up sounding something like Stereolab with rough edges, not that sounding like Stereolab is a bad thing, but sometimes you just wish there were more albums like Harmonia's 'Deluxe' to keep us entertained. Enter Cloudland Canyon, a band who are not only familiar with the best of Rother and Moebius, but also manage to do a great job of re-creating and re-jigging the sound for 2007 and then some. This EP is a mere two tracks (both clocking in at 12 mins) but within two tracks they have managed to distil more of classic Krautrock and prog than most bands manage in a decade. The opener 'Dambala' brings us into the record on a more transcendent, minimal tip with scorched strings and devastating looped synthesizers straight out of the Tangerine Dream back catalogue. Initially you might be reminded of Kranky classics - Windy and Carl possibly, maybe bridging into newer artists such as Keith Fullerton Whitman, but before long the track shows its true colours and bursts into the gorgeous 'Silver Tongued Sisyphus'. Beginning with what sounds like DX7 synthesized bells within three minutes we're greeted to a motoric drum beat and German vocals accompanied by reverberating noise that it's almost impossible to recreate (I reckon) without classic German gear. When the vibrato synthesizisers burst in it's like the moment you've been waiting for in modern Kraut rock and you have proof that although there are many pretenders, Cloudland Canyon are the real deal, pure and simple.[...]”
to listen, click PLAY on this page http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=54471 next to the BUY button


CLOUDLAND CANYON & LICHENS Exterminating Angel (Holy Mountain)
“[...] Made up of one single track we get something which reminds me of absolute prime period Klaus Schulze with the pads and crumbling atmospheres of 'Irrlicht' morphing slowly into the devastating arpeggiated sequences of 'Moondawn' held prisoner in some kind of American psychedelic time capsule giving it a quality it's impossible to put your finger on. No doubt many will be referencing Harmonia too (most obviously 'Deluxe') but the long form, almost episodic nature of the track gives away way too many Schulze/Tangerine Dream references to my mind and it's no bad thing. All too often we get the whole nu-Kraut sound only looking to Faust, Neu! And Can, when many of us know that there's far more out there to salivate over, and the most interesting elements have often been the most synthesizer-reliant.[...]”
to listen, click PLAY on this page http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=67940 next to the BUY button

(n.b. Not exactly my customary style of listening material, but very well done of its type)

[Brian Bieniowski]

Krautrock is some of my favorite music ever.  Here's a simplistic guide by your criteria.

Motorik:
Neu!— Neu! 1, 2, '75
Harmonia—Deluxe
Michael Rother—Sterntaler, Flammende Herzen, Katzenmusik
La Dusseldorf s/t
Faust IV

Ambient Passages:
Early Kraftwerk (like Ralf und Florian)
Musik von Harmonia (the one with the detergent bottle on it)
Cluster II
Cluster & Eno
Eroc I
Popol Vuh—In the Garden of Pharao
Hans-Joachim Roedelius—Wenn der Sudwind Weht
Ashra—New Age of Earth
Manuel Göttsching—Dream and Desire
Early Tangerine Dream (like Atem
Early Klaus Schulze

If you don't like freak-rock, stay away from Ash Ra Tempel, Amon Duul II, Agitation Free, Guru Guru, Faust's first three albums, and stuff on the Cosmic Couriers imprint.

Can, to me, are a separate entity from all the other groups here.  In my opinion, you can't go wrong with their first five albums.  After that, things get a little dicey.  I'd consider them more like a post-punk band before there was even such a thing as punk.  My personal favorite's Monster Movie.  The double-CD set called Anthology is a good cross-section.

[Brian Bieniowski]

I should add that, if you're wary of "outdated" sonics, I'd move with caution through these albums.  I personally love the sound of this music, but they aren't exactly electronic soundscapes conjured by Monolake, if you catch my drift.

[Mark Mushet]

I personally love the sound of this music, but they aren't exactly electronic soundscapes conjured by Monolake, if you catch my drift.

For which we should be grateful, if you catch my drift! 

Another artist who carries a perfectly assimilated krautrock flame is Polmo Polpo (aka Sandro Perri). The Science of Breath is a good place to start. Definitely a Neu influence there. Can't recommend him enough!

[jdh]

Thanks all,I will order some of the suggestions.Mark,I bought Polmo Polpo years ago and it is a favorite,on my I-Pod,very B.C. I find.

[9dragons]

I'm not sure what it could be categorized as, but as far as the most amazing '70-'76 psych-sci-fi-cosmic-space-proto-punk-fantasy-cosmic-rock, Hawkwind has to take the crown. I may be contested by many out there on this, but I will just bow my be-headphoned head and go back to the magical and electronically girdled yet upliftingly rocking strangeness of albums like Space Ritual, Doremi Fasol Latido, In Search of Space, and Hall of the Mountain Grill...

[LNerell]

I'm not sure what it could be categorized as, but as far as the most amazing '70-'76 psych-sci-fi-cosmic-space-proto-punk-fantasy-cosmic-rock, Hawkwind has to take the crown.

Maybe but they were a British band so don't really qualify as Krautrock. 

Here's a few Krautrock albums I would add to the list:

Can - Monster Movie, Soundtracks, Future Days.
Agitation Free - Malesch,  2nd, Last. I'd start with 2nd which I think is by far their best album.
Cluster - Zuckerzeit, Sowiesoso.
Ash Ra Tempel - New Age of earth, Inventions for electric Guitar. I never got into their earlier stuff, these two are considered transitional albums as they moved from the more pure freakout rock to more cosmic electronic sounds similar to Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze.

On a releated note some of Edgar Froese's early solo albums are worth a listen, Mainly Macular Transfer, Aqua, and my all time favorite Epsilon in Malaysian Pale. Their are tons more, I would have to dig through my collection for some more, maybe later.

[Mark Mushet]

Mark, I bought Polmo Polpo years ago and it is a favorite, very B.C. I find.

That's an interesting take as Sandro is very, um, Toronto! What makes you say that? The first time I heard "Dreaming is Real" I thought it was the second coming of Neu!

[jdh]

Mark,I meant Basic Channel,not British Columbia !

[phrozenlight]

my favorite Krautrockers are:

Eloy
Novalis
Grobschnitt
Jane
Omega (i know not German )

[Mark Mushet]

Mark, I meant Basic Channel, not British Columbia!

Well that's just funny! The periods threw me off!