So Uncanny

The Dead fronted by a female version of Damo Suzuki? Trippy SF spacerock collective Dire Wolves pulls it off on Spacetime Rider, the price track of their new Grow Towards The Light album. 3, 2, 1... and we have lift off.

Dire Wolves - Spacetime Rider

But Of Course

Yesterday's Guardian featured a heartwarming feature on Irmin Schmidt, at 81 the last man standing of krautrockers supreme Can. Wonderful anecdote: "By all accounts a brilliant musician from an early age, he was already a professional classical pianist when he signed up to study under Stockhausen at Cologne’s Rheinische Musikschule. Czukay was a fellow pupil, and Schmidt is rather proud of the fact that, when Stockhausen was later played a selection of experimental German rock tracks, he dismissed all of them except Can’s 1971 track Aumgn. When he found out who had made it, he said: ‘Well, of course it’s good – these were my students.’”

Can - Aumgn

Lovely Times

Just got the sad news that Jaki Liebezeit has passed away. The highly inventive drummer of seminal krautrock formation Can was 78. Miss him.

Can - Millionenspiel
Can - Shikaku Maru Ten
Holger Czukay, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit - How Much Are They?

Got Good Taste

A classy 'lost' track with a wonderful title from my fave krautrockers, the mighty Can. Recorded live in their unique studio in Schloss Nörvenig, when Malcolm Mooney was still behind the mic.

Can - Your Friendly Neighbourhood Whore

In Session

Some more Peel-related stuff? Why not indeed. Here's a six pack of tracks from a couple of his legendary sessions. Only the proverbial tip of the iceberg of course, as the list of bands the great dj and wonderful human being managed to coax into recording for aunty Beeb is all but endless.

Can - Geheim (Half Past One)
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Love In A Void
The Slits - Newtown
Wire - Practice Makes Perfect
The Fall - Theme From Sparta F.C.
Billy Bragg - Which Side Are You On?

Super Krauts

Guten Tag, Leute... Continuing our summer tenpack series, For The Sake Of The Song goes all German on you this time. So put on your Lederhosen and enjoy a krautrock primer of sorts,

showcasing the various exciting directions - electronic pop, avant-garde rock, neo-classical, ambient avant la lettre and a mix of all these - this utterly surprising genre could take. Auf wiedersehen!

Faust - It´s A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl MP3

Can - Splash MP3

Popol Vuh - Brüder Des Schattens MP3

Amon Düül II - Wolf City MP3

Neu - Super MP3

La Düsseldorf - Geld MP3

Guru Guru - Next Time See You At The Dalai Lhama MP3

Cluster - Caramel MP3

Harmonia - Watussi MP3

Kraftwerk - The Model MP3

Yes We Can

Enjoyed one of the best games of football I´ve ever seen last night. My beloved FC Barcelona met Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Champions League quarter finals at home in Camp Nou and totally outclassed the opposition. Ninety thousand plus spectators (me among them of course) could hardly believe their eyes as the most lethal forward line in Europe (Messi, Henri and Eto´o) secured a 4-0 win in grand style, which makes next Tuesday´s return more or less a formality. We played many a great match this season already, but this was definitely football from another planet. As they say in Catalan: Ser del Barça es, el millor que hi ha... The semis await.

To rub it in a bit more, here are some tracks from my fave krautrock ensemble, the mighty Can. Father Cannot Yell stems from the ´69 debut Monster Movie, when Malcolm Mooney was still their vocalist. Nice, but only the beginning. By ´71 the wild Japanese Damo Suzuki took over behind the microphone, and Can really found its form. Tago Mago´s Mushroom shows exactly why Can has a reputation for originality and rhythmic cunning. "I´m gonna keep my distance!"

Follow-up Ege Bamyasi (´72), with that beautiful album cover of a can of yummy ladyfingers, is just as good, as the dreamlike Sing Swan Song proves. Next year´s Future Days is probably my favourite Can album though. Ambient avant-la-lettre? Something like that. The hypnotic Dizzy Dizzy from their nearly-as-perfect ´74 effort Soon Over Babaluma finds guitarist Michael Karoli on whispery vocals. "Don´t throw ashtrays at me..."

And as a bonus track, here´s the exotic Persian Love from Can bassist and producer Holger Czukay´s highly original solo album Movies (´79). Auf wiedersehen!

Can - Father Cannot Yell MP3

Can - Mushroom MP3

Can - Sing Swan Song MP3

Can - Future Days MP3

Can - Dizzy Dizzy MP3

Holger Czukay - Persian Love MP3

Best minds of my generation grab bag

It´s grab bag time again, so it must be Friday. What songs shook my musical foundations this week? Let´s see... Almost looks like we´ve got a death theme of sorts this time, with two mini-tributes to guys who died on April 5, one to a drummer who passed away only recently and a great teenage tragedy song on top of that. "I looked at the sea and it seemed to say, I took your baby from you away... I heard a voice cryin' in the deep, come join me, baby, in my endless sleep". Dive in! Meanwhile, I´m in the kitchen. With the tombstone blues.

Let´s begin with some krautrock tonight. Kraftwerk never moved me to be honest, but I love bands like Can, Faust, Neu! and Amon Duul. There´s a full post on the German genre in the pipeline, so stay tuned. Here´s two tasters. Moonshake is as close as Can ever came to writing a bona fide popsong. It´s from their terrific Future Days album (Spoon ´73). "Let me free no more..." I learned yesterday that Klaus Dinger, revolutionary drummer for Kraftwerk and Neu!, died a few weeks back. Brian Eno once said that "there were three great beats in the 70´s. Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, James Brown's funk, and Klaus Dinger's Neu! beat." He was right of course. Negativland is from Neu!´s eponymous first album (Astralwerks ´72). Was Neu! ahead of its time? You bet.

Can - Moonshake MP3

Neu! - Negativland MP3

Here´s a small tribute to legendary beat poet Allen Ginsberg, who passed away on April 5, 1997. To refresh your minds, here´s how his most famous poem Howl starts: "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night..." Oh yes. It´s lesser known that Ginsberg recorded a couple of songs with his pal Bob Dylan in ´71, to be released as Holy Soul & Jelly Roll on the Beatles´ Apple label. The album was shelved eventually, but most songs leaked out anyway, like the impressive September On Jessore Road. Ginsberg wasn´t much of a singer, but he sure played a mean harmonium.

Allen Ginsberg - September On Jessore Road MP3

Kurt Cobain died on April 5 as well, in ´94. I wish I could say exactly what I was doing when I heard the sad news, but alas: black hole. I do remember being shocked though. And I certainly recall seeing Nirvana live a few times. Something to impress my grandchildren with someday. "Grandpa shook hands with Dave Grohl once, kids..." Nirvana´s version of Lake Of Fire is from Unplugged In New York (Geffen), and you can find the Meat Puppets original on the must-have Meat Puppets II (SST records).

Nirvana - Lake Of Fire MP3

Meat Puppets - Lake Of Fire MP3

Cobain always was a big fan of the Melvins, that other band from Aberdeen, Washington. I saw their drummer Dale Crover do a soundcheck once and had a beep in my ears for days. Dale hits like Mike Tyson in his prime, no exaggeration. Boom, boom, boom. The undisputed gods of thunder are known for their slow, sludgy sound, but Black Bock (from Stag, Atlantic ´96) shows an unexpected poppy, almost psychedelic side to the band. All together now: "I cut the throat of a billygoat..." One day I´ll ask my barber for a King Buzzo haircut.

Melvins- Black Bock MP3

When you´re finished reading and downloading here, be sure to head over to the great Boogie Woogie Flu blog for an interesting piece on the dB´s, penned by none other than bandmember Will Rigby himself. Read all about Rigby meeting Chris Bell and Alex Chilton in Memphis, and listen to songs by Bell and Big Star. Some rarities there I promise. Good stuff!

The dB´s - Amplifier MP3

Let´s close tonight´s proceedings with a famous teenage tragedy by one hit wonder Jody Reynolds. Endless Sleep sold like hotcakes in ´59 and spawned a whole genre of songs about teenagers prematurely meeting their doom. I´ve got a great vinyl album with songs like these on Rhino records called Teenage Tragedies, which came with an appropriate tissue glued to the sleeve. Why was this never re-released on cd? Just use a smaller tissue, folks... In the meantime you can also find Endless Sleep on a cd with the same name on the Buffalo Bop label.

Jody Reynolds - Endless Sleep MP3