Sneak around-round-round in a blue jump suit Ghost Rider motorcycle hero”
Ghost Rider
How do you even begin to talk about an album like this? An album whose sole purpose was to shock and terrify the listener. When performance art duo Alan Vega and Martin Rev conceived of this musical idea, their goal was to scare audiences. Alan Vega would aggressively get into audience members faces in hopes that they would beat the shit out of him in response, screaming gutturally in their personal bubbles., all while Martin Rev was behind his keyboards playing droning bass synths that felt like they were trying to eat your soul and attacking synth sounds with his right hand that pierced through your ears like a sharp needle. As a whole this is not meant to be a pleasant experience, it’s supposed to be disturbing and horrible… and yet… it’s absolutely beautiful in its execution.
Hauntingly beautiful is the words I would use to describe it, because no matter how sinister the album gets, there’s always the strange ethereal beauty just underlaying the whole thing. The best example of this is Cheree, which feels like a love song for two haunted souls finding each other in the afterlife. It’s like the soundtrack to a demented rom-com taking place on a creepy graveyard and I’m here for this. For all of this. Maybe it’s the halloween-esque synth sounds that feel possessed or the added reverb to Alan Vega’s vocals that give it this haunting beauty. Whatever it may be, this is one hell of an experience in the world of synth-punk that you will truly never forget.
How does one even convince people of the dark, sinister beauty of this album? Any average listener would run screaming at the very mention of it. The name of the band is provocative enough, but if they even make it to their ten-minute opus “Frankie Teardrop” there’s no way this person you’re trying to sell the experience on will be by your side. The second Alan Vega’s blood-curdling screams exit his mouth and travel through the speakers into their ears, they’ll be done. Their souls shrivelling up and decaying on the spot. A shiver down your spine is an understatement and he does it not once but multiple times and all to the story of a man snapping and shooting his wife and kids before shooting himself, the horrifying screams replacing the gun shots… how do you sell an album like this to someone?!
I would like to say I can spread the word and convince everyone of the haunting beauty that is Suicide’s Suicide. But, alas, with a piece of music like this, there’s more chances of a rejection happening than an acceptance. I would urge everyone to listen to this album at least once in their lives and experience it for themselves. If I can get just one person to see the album’ for what it is’s haunting beauty then I know I will have done my duty.
Genre: Art Rock / Experimental Rock / Electronic / Ambient
“We’re nothing, and nothing will help us Maybe we’re lying, then you better not stay But we could be safer, just for one day”
Heroes
I’m finding that David Bowie is slowly becoming one of my favourite artists. He’s slowly nudging his way closer and closer to my top ten and revisiting albums like “Heroes” is really helping him climb that ladder. After rediscovering the beauty that was Low, “Heroes” followed up shortly after on the list and just kept reminding me how much Bowie was truly a master of his craft. His constant risks as an artist, his ability to shape shift into different genres and his willingness to try something new and constantly reinvent himself made sure he stayed with the times musically but also showed he was a deep well of creativity. There’s few artists who can claim to have the longevity that Bowie did while maintaining a level of integrity and artistry throughout their long storied careers, and Bowie is definitely one of those artists who maintained that quality. The Berlin trilogy is a perfect offering of this.
To complete the trilogy, I also listened to Lodger, which I had zero memory of and found myself, once again, just falling in love even more with Bowie’s work. Of course, I understand they couldn’t put all three of the albums on the list, especially since Bowie already is one of the artists that has one of the most, if not the most, albums on this list, and it makes sense that of the three albums in this trilogy, Lodger was the one that was left out. It completes the trilogy very well but compared to Low and “Heroes” it doesn’t quite hit those highs. At time he sounds like he’s trying to do his best David Byrne impression and trying to write a David Bowie version of a Talking Heads album. Despite that, what I find funny is how similar “Heroes” is to Low. It’s structured the exact same way, with the first half being these wonderful Art Rock – Brian Eno style songs, and the second half being these experimental, synthesizer, ambient pieces that paint vivid pictures to the listener. Once again, it’s Eno’s Before and After Science being fed through David Bowie and let’s be honest, this trilogy definitely feels more like Eno. His fingerprints are all over this album (but int he best way possible).
I won’t complain because again, Bowie was coming off a massive drug addiction and was using the creation of this trilogy as his way of staying sober. Eno was a good friend supporting him through that just like he is supporting him musically on this album. But it definitely feels more like an Eno album than a Bowie album to me. Not a problem though as I love both and it still works wonders for me… I just wonder why they felt they needed three albums on the list that are basically almost exactly the same. I guess that just shows how strong this album is, the production on this feels the cleanest and sharpest, I felt like I could really feel each synthesizer note and it made it all feel epic in a way. It may practically be the same album as Low, but it’s just THAT good that it doesn’t matter at all.
I’m starting to face the same issue I did with Joni Mitchell when it comes to David Bowie now. I’ve hit so many albums of his and there’s just so much I can say that I don’t know what more I can really say about him anymore. He still has a few more albums on this list and I feel I’ll just be repeating myself when it comes to my feelings towards him. I think I’ve definitely hit my limit with what I can say and have dried up that well (wow two well analogies in one post?). Maybe by the next album I will have discovered new feelings to express in regards to Bowie, but at the moment I’m feeling like I’ve said all I could. Maybe it’s because I just witnessed two Bowie albums in close proximity and they were incredibly similar in style, that’s probably a big factor in this feeling. With his next album might come his next musical reinvention and I might find myself with new things to say. I’ll just have to wait and see when the time comes.
Favourite Song: Beauty and the Beast
-Bosco
P.s. I like the fact that Heroes is in quotations as the title, almost makes it feel like the concept of heroes is sarcastic.
Genre: Art Rock / Avant-Pop / Electronic / Ambient / Experimental Rock
“Oh, what you gonna say? Oh, what you gonna do? Ah, what you gonna be?
To be real me, to the real me Under the cool, under the cool and under having a ball What you gonna say to the real me, to the real me”
What In The World
How low can you go?
If you’re David Bowie, apparently low, very low indeed. When working on this album he seemed to be coming out of a period of drug addiction where he was constantly high on cocaine. So much so that he seemed to have had zero memory of ever recording his previous album Station to Station. One can say this is one of David Bowie’s most important albums ever in his career because in a way it may have saved his life. He and his best buddy, Iggy Pop, got themselves out of the USA and moved to France with the singular goal to kick their cocaine addictions. Of what I know it paid off because I’m pretty sure he ended up kicking it, which let’s be honest is no easy feat to pull off. If there’s anything I’ve learned is that addiction is one of the hardest things to overcome and I’ve read that drug addiction especially has a low rate of success overall. I have to commend Bowie for doing that, first realizing his problem and making the decision to kick it and secondly sticking to it. And he wasn’t alone, it was him and Iggy Pop working together to do it. It is slightly easier when you have someone to not only hold you accountable but that you keep accountable to and I’m very proud of them (even if this was decades and decades ago).
This also marks the first in what would be called his Berlin trilogy, which is often considered a peak in his creative output. I’ve always enjoyed Bowie but found myself disappointed when I heard Ziggy Stardust and Young Americans. And although Hunky Dory is a personal favourite of mine and I am partial to both Aladdin Sane and Station To Station, it did feel like a bit of a 50/50 chance that I might enjoy this one. I’m happy I went into it with low (hehehe) expectations because there’s a good chance this might even surpass Hunky Dory as my favourite Bowie album. It’s funny too, because this isn’t the first time I’ve heard it. I remember hearing it a long time ago and remembering that I just wasn’t into it. It seems my first time around was not that enjoyable. But that was a long time ago and I’ve grown a lot when it comes to how I listen to music and my appreciation for it. So coming into this time was a whole new experience in a way and it was an amazing one.
The first thing I noticed listening through it was that the musical style sounded very familiar. It felt like I had just heard this album not long ago and I realized it made me think of Brian Eno’s Before and After Science. It was even structured the same way, with Side A being these fun Art Rock bangers and Side B these ambient electronic experimental tracks. Even off the top with the first two songs I felt they sounded oddly like Brian Eno songs even from Here Come The Warm Jets and Another Green World. Well, wouldn’t you believe it, when I searched it up, lo and behold, Brian Eno was indeed a collaborator on this album. Not only that, but it seems Bowie was listening to Eno’s solo work on repeat quite a bit and used it as inspiration. I have to say, I’m pretty proud of myself for noticing that on my own! That could also be why I loved this album so much too, seeing as I have enjoyed Brian Eno’s solo work quite immensely.
Looking at David Bowie’s catalogue and going through all these albums, there’s no denying what a masterclass of a musician he was. It’s quite an experience going through his albums because he’s always changing, always growing as an artist and constantly trying new things and expressing himself creatively in a vast array of ways. There may be some slumps in his discography, but creatively bankrupt he was not. I have a lot of admiration for Bowie and can only hope to have at least half the creative talent he had.
Genre: Electronic / Synth-Pop / Experimental Pop / Avant-Garde
“Parks, hotels and palaces (Europe endless) Parks, hotels and palaces (Europe endless)”
Europe Endless
I always get excited when I get to talk about Kraftwerk in any way. There’s a giddiness that just fills me up and I don’t know exactly why Kraftwerk fills me with such emotion, but they do and I won’t question it because it’s good to get excited about things. It makes me sad that whenever I bring up Kraftwerk in social circles, rarely anyone even knows who they are, which is shocking especially when you take into consideration that a lot of these people love electronic music in some way. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t see beyond just what’s modern and don’t look back to what came before. Real shame because they are missing out. I think I got especially excited because I recently just read a book that dissected Kraftwerk’s album Computer World (which has quickly become my favourite album by them) and I got a lot of insight about how they function as a band and even a little glimpse into how they went about recording this particular album. I learned about how they write their music, how they use their studio as an instrument and also about their philosophies as a band in regards to our relationships with technology. It was an incredibly insightful read and I would suggest it to anyone who is interested in learning more (It’s the Computer World book that’s part of the 33 1/3 series!)
In true Kraftwerk fashion, they continued what they started with Autobahn and created a soundtrack to modern technology, specifically related to travel. While Autobahn evoked imagery of driving in your car down the German autobahn, Trans-Europe Express does the same but this time with train travel. Songs like Europe Endless recreate the feeling of sitting in a train and watching the scenery pass, while the entirety of Side B is the movement of the train, from the percussion that recreates the chugachuggachugga of a train, and the synths that evoke speed and directness, with a kling klang of metal on metal as the train barrels down the tracks, its amazing how well they bring that to life from 100 % synthetic sounds from their studio. It seems the group were trainspotters and loved watching and listening to the trains pass by, recording their sounds as they did. These recordings would heavily inspire them to make this album and would provide the blueprint of the sounds they were looking for. Even the two songs on the album that have nothing to do with trains (Showroom Dummies and Hall of Mirrors) still hold true to their exploration of modern technology (Hall of Mirrors being well, mirrors, and Showroom Dummies being a pre-cursor to the Robots and their mannequin aesthetic they would develop in their live shows and appearances).
I always believed Kraftwerk to be predicters of the future, somehow having such a good grasp on what was happening and predicting where things were going. But it seems the reality was they were very much in tune with what was happening in the present. As much as a lot of their music seems to predict future trends (Man-machine and Computer World being the biggest examples of this) they always claimed that they were very much just living in the present and seeing what was happening around them. It just happened that their strong awareness to technology around them would make them out to seem like seers of some sort. Their strong fascination with the technology was what made them seem like a band from the future, when in reality they were just strongly living in the present (which I feel is a lesson we should all learn for our own personal lives).
Kraftwerk is one of those bands that I think I’ll never grow tired of in any way. Maybe it’s because it’s one of the earliest bands I got into or maybe it’s just my love for anything electronic, but they really did have a unique talent with how they handled their music. A part of their process when writing their songs was to let the beats and foundations of the song play sometimes for days on an endless loop to see if the music could live that long, which I’m sure was an incredibly helpful process for this album to recreate the feel of long distance travel on a train and get that chugging sound just right. Their studio was very much an instrument as much as the actual instruments. And although none of this is unique when looking at it through a modern lens, it definitely was one of a kind back in 1977 and no one was doing what Kraftwerk was. They were innovating and inventing and just living in their own little world musically.
I, for one, couldn’t ask for any more from them.
Favourite Song: Europe Endless
-Bosco
P.S. A lot of the information here came from the 33 1/3 book on Computer World. If you love Kraftwerk, I highly recommend reading it!
Genre: Electronic / Ambient / Synth-Pop / Space Music / New-Age / Electropop
“(haunting synths)”
I had bought this album as a total blind buy a few years back. I had vaguely heard about it beforehand but knew basically next to nothing of what to expect of it. It was a big risk buying it like that but hearing that it was one of the important albums of early electronic music was enough for me to be heavily interested. The title and that album cover were the extra icing on top that made me feel this would be an album I would enjoy. It was already on my radar as an album that I wanted to listen to, so finding it for sale just gave me the push to finally do it by purchasing it. I have to say, it’s easily one of the best blind buys I’ve ever done and I’m happy to say my intuition was absolutely correct in that I would love this album, because love it, I did.
It’s such a difficult album to describe. I mean, sure it’s an electronic album, so throughout, you hear the wonderful swirls and flows of synthesizers, but it’s more than just straight-forward music. Jean-Michel Jarre seems to mix elements of synth-pop, ambient and electronic experimentation to create this 6-part suite soundscape that feels both tuneful and atmospheric. This is music that’s creating a mood, putting you in a certain place for its entire runtime and taking you on this journey of electronica fabricated precisely to give you an air of… well air!
The title of the album is quite apt as it seems Jean-Michel really dives into every aspect regarding breathing and air that could possibly be explored, whatever that might mean to you (or him technically). From literal interpretations, there are moments where you can feel breezes flowing through you or as if you’re stuck in a mighty wind, while other moments are more abstract, giving a sense of breathlessness or a high when you’ve inhaled too much oxygen. It’s a sweeping oeuvre that at times feels pensive and serene and others hauntingly beautiful (a sentiment that helped since I was listening to it near halloween and never thought I’d think this album would fit those vibes nicely).
There’s not much I can really say about this because, like most albums in this style, it’s much more of an experience that needs to be, well… experienced! I took away a lot from my experience listening to this album and I can only hope that others will too.
Weekly Mixtapes Based Off the Albums I Listened to in the Previous Week!
It’s been a hot second since I posted a new mixtape Monday, my main reason for this was my album listening was pretty low the last two weeks and I also didn’t feel I was providing enough variety in terms of the music found on it, that wouldn’t have been fair for all of you or the most enjoyable listening experience I think. But this week, I was back in action and felt that urge to get back and share the music I listened to with everyone once again! This week we have a nice variety of music I rediscovered, revisited and was just plain new for me, with a variety of genres from electronic, folk, baroque pop, punk, world music, classic rock, electroclash and an entire album of just Theremin music. Enjoy!
P-Model – In A Model Room This is probably the third or fourth time a song from this album has appeared on one of these playlist, and can you really blame me? It’s been years of not being able to listen to it in a convenient way and now I finally have that convenience at my fingertips. That’s a lot of years of lost time that could have been spent listening to this album, it’s all happening now.
Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell I realised I hadn’t heard this one in ages. I have it in my record collection just sitting there, untouched for years. I can’t even remember the last time I listened to it. I had recently been talking about it a lot because it came up as a possible choice for my improv show next month (where improvisers do sets based off records in my collection). Next month I’m doing “Popular” albums and Bat Out Of Hell is one of the well-known albums of all time, how could I not choose it. All that talk had me revisit it, which I’m happy I did because it wasn’t as I had remembered and ended up being better than I did.
Frank Zappa – Playground Psychotics When I have long periods at work where I’m just working in silence, it always makes sense to me to listen to incredibly long albums. I have the time right there to be able to listen to them from start to finish and since I’ve been going through Frank Zappa’s entire discography, that long period of silence at work was the perfect opportunity to listen to the next album on the list.
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois I had never listened to a Sufjan Stevens album. It wasn’t because I had no interest, or like I was actively avoiding it or anything. I feel like it was one of those that was always in my peripherals in some way but I just wasn’t turning my attention towards it, that is until a friend of mine recently posted about a Sufjan Stevens album he was listening to and I mentioned I never heard one, where should i begin? He suggested this one, so here I am, a person that has now heard it. I have to say I absolutely love how long and ridiculous some of the song titles are, tickled me in the right way.
Bad Brains – I Against I Should reggae and punk mix? That shouldn’t even be a question. Both are rooted in revolution in some way, it only made sense the two would eventually blend together with a certain band. That band was the Bad Brains, and although I’ve never really been into reggae music as a whole, the Bad Brains incorporate it in such a way that makes me love it, but that could also just be more because I love punk music as a whole. Which one is it? I might never know.
Circle Jerks – Group Sex Nothing like some group sex and a good old fashioned circle jerk to get the heart pumping.
Devo – Oh No! It’s Devo! I’ve talked about this album many times, mentioned it’s my favourite of all time and that it would probably appear again… so are you really that’s surprised that it’s here once again? Really? REALLY?!
Skunk Anansie – Post Orgasmic Chill I had heard this album once a long time ago and had zero memory of it. Absolutely zero. Like you couldn’t ask me to tell you what happened on it because I would have been incapable to tell you. I wouldn’t have even been able to tell you what genre it was or how it even sounded, that’s how much my brain had removed it from my memory. When your memory forgets something that strongly, it’s usually a good sign that maybe, just maybe, you should revisit it, the bonus is it’s like listening to it as if it were the first time again!
Sparks – Propaganda Hello soldier boy, it’s Propaganda by Sparks! An album that could be listened to At Home, At Work, At Play, no time is a bad time. No Reinforcements required as you can listen to it alone, whether it be 2023 AD or 2023 B.C. it’s always a good time. If someone says to listen to something else, you tell them Thanks, But No Thanks and turn to your other friend and say Don’t Leave Me Alone With Her, because someone who suggests something other than Sparks is not a person to be trusted. Be careful because you should Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth and find SOmething For the Girl With Everything. ACHOO! Bless you, sorry had to sneeze. I sometimes ask myself Who DOn’t Like Kids, but to those who don’t like kids or Sparks I say Bon Voyage, see you later.
The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs Talking about long albums earlier, holy shit is this album fucking long. The name of the album is no joke because this is indeed 69 Love Songs, you couldn’t get a more straight-forward album title. Can’t complain about it’s length because the album literally tells you exactly what you’re gonna get. 3 hours of 69 love songs… that number must have been chosen deliberately. Reserve an afternoon, heck a whole day, because you’ve got one album to listen to the whole way through.
Beth Orton – Central Reservation This album has always been on my radar, something about the album cover has always been alluring to me. Maybe it’s the smirk Beth Orton has on the cover, or the simplicity of it as a whole, there was always something that had me interested in checking it out. I didn’t for the longest time for no other reason than it’s on the 1001 Albums list and I figured I’d save my first listen for when I get to it. At the rate I’m going though that might be a few years before I do. I figured, fuck it, that’s too long, I’ll finally give it a listen and check it out and it was worth the wait, I have to say.
Le Tigre – Le Tigre Heard this album for the first time about two months ago, fell in love with it, wanted to listen to it again and loved it even more the second time around. It’s a true love story in the making, my love affair with this album and I feel that love will just keep on growing. I can see this one quickly becoming a top 20 favourite… all those albums on my top list better watch out… a new album is in town to knock them down.
Les Rythmes Digitales – Darkdancer This is another case of an album that had a cover that intrigued me. The cartoon drawing just caught my eye and I was always curious as to what this album would be. After reading it was some dance electronic album that tried to capture the spirit of 80s dance music but updated with modern equipment, I knew I had to listen to it immediately. I was not disappointed in the slightest. I found myself dancing and bopping and swishing and swooshing all throughout the album. Any album that makes me dance in that way is an album that will be on rotation for sure.
Electrocute – Troublesome Bubblegum The short lived genre of Electroclash offered quite an electrifying array of albums and Troublesome Bubblegum was always one of my favourites of the genre. It’s like a sugar coated dance party wrapped in tutti frutti bubblegum. What’s not to love when you’re bombarded with that amount of sweetness.
The Undertones – The Undertones No band captured what it was like to be a teen in the late 70s as well as The Undertones did. They oozed a youthfulness unlike any other and expressed their woes, angst, pleasures and highs with the energy of a typhoon. We’ve all been 16 at some point (unless you’re younger than 16 than obviously you haven’t) and all their music is at once relatable and just a ton of fun. Being a teen never felt so great with The Undertones.
Joanna Newsom – Ys Another case of an album being nowhere to be found on Spotify, which is a shame because I’d love to be able to revisit it more often but can’t since it’s not the most convenient one to listen to. Thankfully, it is on youtube and surprisingly, despite being a style of music I usually never listen to, I find myself completely endeared to the vocal charm of Joanna Newsom. Listening to her, it’s hard to believe she’s married to Andy Smaberg, whose music could not be any more different than hers. While his is as immature as it gets, she exudes a maturity that is rarely seen in music with a poetic flare that could equally work in written form as it does musically. I’d buy this if I could.
Clara Rockmore – Art of the Theremin An album filled with only Theremin music? Is that an album I’d really listen to? You’d better believe your sweet bippy it is.
Talk Talk – The Colour of Spring All I do is Talk Talk, why can’t I just listen to music and shut up once in a while?
Electronic – Electronic The title of the band and album give away exactly what you’re in for, electronic music and very dancey electronic music. I feel like this is the 200th time I’m talking about this style in this post. What can I say, I love synthesizers and I love to dance. The combination of the two hit my sweet spot in a way that no other music can (OK maybe some other music can but hey I gotta say something hyperbolic here).
The Strokes – Angles Weeks ago, someone had suggested I check out this album because it was their favourite. I assured and promised them that I would… weeks later, I still hadn’t checked it out. Well, I finally remembered about it and had promised them I would. So I did. And here it is. Enjoy.
Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderbeast The main reason I had decided to check out this album was because I had read somewhere that there was a song on it that seemed to be heavily influenced by the Banana Splits Theme Song. Hearing that I felt I had to listen to this album because what would an album inspired by a childrens theme tune sound like? This album was completely different than I expected and it took me more than halfway through the album to hear the one song that sounded like the Banana Splits Theme Song. I was so crushed it was only that one song and not the whole album. I wish I was joking about this… I’m not.
Arcade Fire – Funeral Let me tell you something about my experience with Arcade Fire. They’re originally from my home town, so there should be some pride there when it comes to them… there isn’t. In my hometown, I saw them perform a free live show for the Jazz festival. I figured why not go see them, it is free after all. Even free felt like I paid too much because holy crap was the show boring as all hell. This band has absolutely zero stage presence. I was so bored I just left and that experience really painted my feelings towards Arcade Fire. Fast forward to modern day and I found myself enjoying one of their songs quite a lot. It was strange because I found myself thinking “this isn’t the same band I remember seeing live all those years ago”. After years of avoiding them, I finally listened to one of their albums and absolutely loved it. I would never see them live but at least I know they sound great in the studio.
A Journey to Listen to an Album from Every Single Country
4/198
Album: Computer World
Artist: Kraftwerk
Year: 1981
Length: 34:25
Genre: Electronic / Synth-Pop / Electro
I am only four countries in and once again I’ve decided to do a big country when it came to music. Just like Japan and Brazil, Germany was probably, debateably, one of the leading forces for music innovation and influence. Of course, it wasn’t the only country to do so, but there’s definitely a strong case to be made for what Germany had to offer musically to the world and the impact it had left. Let’s just say there was no lack of choice when trying to pick a band to listen to, let alone an album. That’s just a testament to Germany’s music that I could probably do a whole series purely on German bands and it would last me longer than I had ever thought.
Again, we find ourselves a country rich in musical genres, with a nice variety of selections that are also considered incredibly German. There was schlager music, which was a more traditional music of Germany, Kraut-rock (with bands like Faust and Can), Kosmische Musik (with bands like Neu and Kluster), and of course, as a branch of Kosmische Musik, their electronic music that was heavily influenced by the likes of bands like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. Every single one of these bands had albums I had considered to talk about, but it only made sense to me to choose what is possibly my favourite band of the bunch, my favourite album of theirs and the first band from Germany I ever got into: the unbelievably wonderful and innovative electronic robots, Kraftwerk.
Kraftwerk have often been called the grandfathers of electronic music for a good reason. They may not have been the first to use synthesizers, contemporaries Tangerine Dream were making music at the same time and doing cool soundscapes with them, and electronic music was starting to take form as early as the 1960s with albums like Wendy Carlos’ “Switched On Bach” in 1968. No, they weren’t the first, but they were definitely the most innovative, creating their music from instruments they made themselves, isolating themselves into their own recording studio (called Kling Klang studio, a sound that fits their music appropriately) and developed the aesthetic of robots and machinery as the main sound of electronic music. Before them, synthesizers were used for experimentation, but Kraftwerk took the mechanical sounds and used them to create pieces of machinery and music bout said machinery with albums about driving a car, train tracks and travels, exploring humans as robots living under neon lights and in metropolis’ as the Man Machine, and finally a world controlled by computers. Sounds you can hear through modern electronic and dance music, sampled in countless Hip Hop albums and continuing to appear in current musical trends, even if you don’t realise it.
Before going on, I think it’s important to mention how Germany truly developed this sound. Before Kraut-Rock was a thing, the musical landscape in the country was heavy with Schlager and American influenced bands, something that the youth at the time wasn’t enjoying. They were not happy with the condition of Germany, disappointed with their history coming out of the world war and just not enjoying the extremely conservative stylings of Schlager music and annoyed at how American influences were taking over, they wanted to create their own music, their own sound that they can truly call as their own. These young musicians started to experiment with their instruments, creating new sounds and music that was somewhat challenging yet interesting. Bands like Can and Faust, the latter writing a song called Kraut-Rock (possibly coining the term right there), would hit the scene with drone-like songs and hypnotic, mesmerising tunes that could run as long as ten minutes. Kraftwerk was also one of these bands, starting off extremely experimental in nature (one of the main guys was playing the flute in the early days) and it wouldn’t be until their fourth album that they would discover their true sound.
Discovering synthesizers, they realised they really could do anything they wanted musically and started to develop their robotic and mechanical sound that they would become famously known for. It would be an aesthetic so synonymous with the band, that they would even do live shows with robotic mannequins sculpted in their likeness in their place on stage rather than them playing. Their almost motionless, dead pan, machine-like style of playing would go on to influence a large amount of New Wave and Post-Punk bands who would adapt a lot of those movements to their own aesthetics. Any one of their albums would have been worth talking about, but Computer World is the one I constantly find myself listening to over and over again and out of all of them, still completely blows me away at how ahead of the times they were not only musically, but predicting the modern world that seemed so damn futuristic in 1981.
Take into account that Computers in 1981 were incredibly primitive and not a household item like it is today. Somehow, out of all their albums, this one seems not only prophetic but incredibly, even more relevant today than when it was released. We truly do live in a Computer World today, where we are constantly connected to the internet, with a thousand devices surrounding us at all times that we constantly use. It’s at the point that we wouldn’t even be able to survive without all the technology we have. I especially love the song Pocket Calculator that seemed so innocent and playful at the time, about enjoying your little pocket calculator that you operate yourself and push the buttons and it plays little melodies. From a modern lens, there’s no way to see this as anything than an ode to our love and obsession to our Iphones. I’m guessing this all factors in as to why the album resonates with me more and more as the years go by.
Kraftwerk’s influence on electronic music and how ahead of their time they were cannot be understated. They didn’t put Germany on the map when it came to music, but they definitely cemented the country’s name in music history as being a powerhouse of music. With everything that country has been through, it’s nice to see they at least get this one big positive.
Camila’s Thoughts: “This makes me remember all the reasons why I broke up with my ex.”
Genre: Electronic / Kosmische / Ambient / Space Music / Progressive Electronic
“The sweet, sweet sounds of Icy synths”
Man, I’m a sucker for these kinds of albums. I don’t know what it is about these kraut-rock, art-rock, synth albums that really get to me on a personal level but they do and I love them for that. I’m not going to try and sit and figure it out and rather just enjoy the ride. I’ve always loved synthesizers in general and I think I just love the vast soundscapes that can be created from them. There’s so many fascinating sounds and noises you can create with them and bands like Kraftwerk, Can and Tangerine Dream were definitely doing a lot of interesting things with them. Modern day electronic music can thank them for the innovations they were doing at the time. It’s wild to hear something like this and know it was made in 1974 because it sounds like an album from the future.
Like a lot of other kraut-rock bands, Tangerine Dream seemed to like to use the motif of water as inspiration. The synths here blurb and gurgle their way through each song. And like bands like Kratwerk seem to have a bit of a motif permeating through the album. I don’t know if it was intentional but listening to it I got the soundtrack to some frozen alien wasteland. The music gave me images of ice and water with a sci-fi feel to it all, as if walking through some frozen tundra in a space suit. The title song, Phaedra, pumps and bumps the whole way through and even though it is a roughly 17 minute song, it is engaging as all hell, keeping your attention the whole way through despite having zero lyrics. That’s the power of these experimental electronic songs, they somehow paint a vivid picture and tell a story without ever saying a word.
Tangerine Dream are just one of those bands that can pull it off so incredibly well and Phaedra is a testament to their skill. I don’t really have much to say outside of that other than the experience of this album was a great one and one you can easily lose yourself to and like the songs on this album, words aren’t necessary to describe it!
Genre: Krautrock / Ambient / Electronic / Progressive Rock
“I just think that room’s to end, How commend them from their dreams? Send that money for a rainy day For the sake of future days. You better have nothing for me, You better move year on your face, You hide behind a borrowed chase For the sake of future days.”
Future Days
There is something about the genre of krautrock that really compels me. Just draws me in and keeps me engaged every single time. I love, love, love it and have no idea why it resonates with me so much. By all means, anyone who knows me, would think that a lot of this music is not the kind I would enjoy. As much as I’m into weird music, a lot of experimental music just doesn’t do it for me. The style Can and the genre of krautrock has captured has all the ingredients for the type of experimental music that I normally would not enjoy and would be annoyed by, yet the genre of krautrock manages to do it in a way that makes me enjoy it tremendously.
Can is starting to creep up the list of bands that I absolutely love. I haven’t heard a Can album as of yet that I didn’t enjoy. I absolutely loved Tago Mago and Future Days is no exception. They do something very similar here ax Kraftwerk would later do as well and that’s create soundscapes that not only tell a story but paint a vivid picture to the listener. You can sit there and listen to these songs and just envision a clear image in your mind purely from the music itself. I think that’s why I love it so much. it’s experimentation with purpose. Everything you hear is deliberate with a specific purpose to paint this vivid picture in your mind through your aural cavities and Can does it superbly well.
Future Days is aptly named because the entire run of this album I kept imagining a futuristic landscape. Their use of synths probably did a lot to add to that soundscape, used incredibly well to create the feeling of days to come in a time with Space Labs and Neon Lights (Kraftwerk reference for ya). What I especially liked was how they captured that with two different moods, one of foreboding dread and one of pleasant utopia. No one truly knows what the future holds and the images we often picture when it comes to the future can usually be separated into two categories: A beautiful utopia filled with advanced technology that fixes everything or a desolate wasteland of a post-apocalyptic nation. Can captures both sides of the futuristic coin really well, where one song you’ll be bopping your head gaily to the thought of flying cars and happy days to come, while another song you’ll be sitting in fear of the possible outcomes the future can hold and the darkness it might present to us. The unknown is always the most terrifying thing as we never know what will happen for certain and Can takes us on that journey of both possibilities.
Now that I think of it, with how uncertain the times are at the moment this album seems to be a right fit for the current landscape. We are all filled with massive uncertainty of what’s to come, will we come out of all this back to normal or will it just keep getting worse. None of us know for certain but those two possibilities sit over us in the future and we won’t know until those future days become present ones. Until then, let’s just enjoy the ride for what it is.
“On a dilemma between what I need and what I just want
Between your thighs I feel a sensation
How long can I resist the temptation?
I’ve got my bird, you’ve got your man
So who else do we need, really?”
I’m not going to go into this post with any pretense that I know what I’m talking about. I’m not the kind of person who pretends like they know what they’re saying when they don’t. I don’t want to give the impression that what I’m saying is coming from a place of actual knowledge. I mean, we all talk out of our asses once in awhile (some literally all the time) and I can easily pull out some verbiage and prose (aka bullshit) to pretend like I know what I’m talking about, give the illusion that I’m smarter than I really am. But I won’t. I hate people who are like that, like really hate them, like pretentious, pseudo-intellectuals are really high up on the types of people I hate (higher than ass kissers, but lower than fake people). I’m a man of honesty, so I won’t write this with any pretense like I know anything about Jazz or Soft Machine’s third album aptly named Third.
I’ll be honest, no secrets, when I go into writing these posts I do research. Research is obviously normal to do, learn some history, get some context, understand the music a little better. Usually I do it because I genuinely want to learn more about the album I listened to, either because I loved it or because I was fascinated about it enough that I wanted to know more and understand it more. It’s kind of become the default for most albums I listen to, I just love learning about music. However, sometimes I do research because I just have no idea what to say about the album. Instead of looking at history and analysis, I look at reviews. Reviews done by critics and reviews written by music fanatics expressing their views and opinions on the album. I should say that sometimes these reviews I read tend to influence my opinion of the album as well. Not because I’m easily persuaded, but sometimes someone else expresses what I was thinking in words I just didn’t think of and sometimes they’ll say something I wasn’t thinking but after reading it it makes me go “Huh… wait, that’s true… now that I think about it”. Hearing others talk about these albums help a lot because someone else could have seen something I hadn’t thought about or noticed and hearing different perspectives could create a new idea about what I heard. I know I should go for my initial reaction, but opinions are malliable and can be molded and transform and shaped into a new opinion after hearing others. Sometimes I do hear opinions and go “no, I disagree with that” but sometimes I do read one and go “I like what that person said and they worded it so well I also want to word it like that”. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that as long as you don’t act like it’s your thought, but I guess there’s a fine line between forming your own opinion and stealing another person’s ideas and acting like they’re your own. I mean, if someone expresses an opinion that clicks with you, obviously you’ll start expressing that opinion too as your own, so is that stealing someone else’s words or your opinion has been formed by information you heard and you’re using those words to express an opinion that’s your too? I guess it’s only bad if you’re expressing it as yours only because you want to give the illusion that you’re smart but it isn’t actually your own opinion, but if it is your opinion and you’re using those words to express a genuine opinion that you have then good?
Point is, sometimes I hit albums like Soft Machine’s Third and I don’t know how to talk about it. Especially since it’s a Jazz album with only one of their songs having any sort of lyrics on it. And it’s very experimental sort of modal jazz fusion rock type… stuff. I’ve had a complicated relationship with jazz throughout this journey and I’ve always mentioned how I have no idea about how to talk about jazz since I know nothing about theory and I feel jazz is a very difficult genre to talk about if you don’t really understand it. I thought I was done with Jazz, but I was wrong, jazz is evolving and transforming and here I’m given a new form of Jazz that is on the one hand intricately beautiful but also superbly aggressive. Jazz is very much about feeling, I’m sure, but I still have a lot of difficulty putting that into words because these 18 minute songs go through so many different musical paths that it’s hard to put it into the right words, That’s why I go to the reviews, in hopes that something will be able to help me find the words. Heck, someone who said they adore this album even expressed how difficult it is to put their feelings into the right words to properly talk about it, so… I’m definitely not alone it seems.
Soft Machine’s Third is a double album with each side dedicating it’s space to one complete song. So we’re experiencing four almost 20 minute pieces of pure Jazz Rock Fusion with elements of electronic music and prog rock structures (yes I did need help to describe that). I feel this is very much a case of understanding the band as a whole and having followed them through their career (something I’ve never done has I hadn’t even heard of them until this list). According to fans (and people who love this album LOOOOVE this album) this was an important moment for the band where they made a switch from their psychedelic rock era into a more jazz oriented musical era (yes again, thanks to help from reviews). I find there’s quite a lot of these types of albums on this list, the album where the band shifted their career or made a big change that was important for their career. Although that’s a great reason for them to be acknowledged for their achievements, it’s hard to really grasp fully without context, like with Soft Machine and their move to Jazz. But the fans definitely expressed it well on how the band really fell into their own here and created music that truly transcended their talents, so that’s something!
I shouldn’t undersell it with that because it was also considered highly influential in the Jazz Rock Fusion type genre and broke open the doors for what can be done. The two first songs are pure modal jazz improvisations, with Facelift being a live rendition to really capture the aggressive and dirty nature of the instrumentation (yup, got that from a review too). I do agree with what a lot of people were saying about the strength of each of the band members’ playing, each member has their moment to shine in some way and they play with incredible finesse the whole way through that when put together each song puts you on one hell of a trip. I was listening to this while sitting next to a lake and my dad came to join me. Within one song he went from “this is my type of music” to “This is weird” in the same exact song. (Reviewer said next thing) The third song is the most poppy of the bunch and that’s thanks to Drummer Robert Wyatt, whose album Rock Bottom which is later on the list I just listened to and this song is definitely a good pre-cursor to that. But ending the album is definitely the best (and according to the fans the fan favourite) Out-Bloody-Rageous. One fan said the electronic synths at the beginning were very Kraftwerkian and I would have to agree with that. I’m a big fan of Kraftwerk and those opening and ending moments of the song reminded me heavily of Kraftwerk’s sound and it was really sweet to hear something like that as early as 1970 (although Kraftwerk were creating music this early just their breakthrough Autobahn wouldn’t hit until a few years later).
There you have it, with the help of the internet and fans of the band and album, I was able to talk about it. I enjoyed this album very much but did have difficulty finding words to describe it and I didn’t want anyone to think anything I said was words I came up with myself without any help. I don’t believe in that pretense and wanted everyone to know I had help, needed help to do it. That’s fine. I don’t know why everyone feels the need to act in ways they aren’t, try to prove something to people. This need to try and prove to everyone they know everything and are super smart. Why can’t we all just admit our flaws or admit what we don’t know. Why can’t everyone just be honest about themselves to each other… it would honestly be much better than all the bullshit everyone spews to each other to try and look good not realising that just being honest makes you look better than you’d ever think… oh well.
Bosco's Modern Life 