Here's Where the Obsessive Part Happened

1. The more ambient stuff I've been getting into, coupled with the renewed desire for more krautrock and early electronica pioneers, has led me to finally giving Klaus Schulze a try. I've never really given Schulze much serious consideration before—a quick look at this 100+ album discography was enough to scare me off—but he's been on my periphery for a while. With no real sense of how to enter such a sprawling discography that spans 40 years, I figured the best thing to do was start at the beginning and pick up Irrlicht, from 1972—three tracks adding up to fifty minutes, notable for being droney ambient soundscapes but using no synthesizers or electronic instruments. It's a good album, in an intellectual sort of way—I'm not going to bust it out at parties, in other words. But it's a promising beginning.

2. I was at Amoeba a week later and, despite no longer being able to load CDs onto my ancient Mac and only being able to hear them while driving (something I don't do often), I bought more new-to-me krautrock: Harmonia's Deluxe and Ash Ra Tempel's Join Inn (which I mistook for their debut because I saw that Schulze was in the lineup, and I'd just read that, as he'd done with Tangerine Dream, he left the group not long after forming it; in fact he briefly returned for this two-track record).

3. Geeking out about my new purchases, despite being unable to hear them, I started wasting time on Wikipedia and ILM. Because frankly, the web of krautrock connections in the 70s is baffling. Schulze started Tangerine Dream with Conrad Schnitzler, who was simultaneously in Kluster with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius. Then Schnitzler and Schulze quit Tangerine Dream and Schulze started Ash Ra Tempel, which he then quit (and who eventually, years later, changed their name to Ashra). Then Schnitzler quit Kluster and they changed their name to Cluster and continued as a duo. Then Cluster teamed up with Michael Rother of Neu! and the trio called themselves Harmonia, which functioned simultaneously with Neu!. Then they made a record with Brian Eno and called themselves Harmonia 76. Then Neu! broke up and Harmonia broke up and Cluster kept making records and Michael Rother went solo and his partner in Neu!, Klaus Dinger, started La Düsseldorf. Then Cluster made their own record with Eno, which they called Cluster & Eno, then they made another and called it Moebius Roedelius Eno. Or something like that? Meanwhile Schulze kept making a million solo records, and so did Schnitzler, and I haven't even gotten to other iconic bands who were more on the organic psyche-rock tip than they were electronica, like Can and Faust and Guru Guru and Amon Düül and Amon Düül II and Amon Düül UK. And then, you know, Kraftwerk. And I even read somewhere that the Scorpions of all bands factored in somewhere though I don't know if that's all true.

If you've ever read Homer's Iliad, you know there's this ridiculous chapter early on where Agamemnon inspects his ships before they go to war, and something like 852 different characters are introduced, all of whom factor into the epic at one point or another, so good luck remembering who's who when they show up for their turn in the spotlight. Reading about all the different krautrock permutations sort of felt like that chapter.

4. Now seems like a good time to remind you of my obsessive nature. When I realized I loved Graham Greene, I decided that I needed to read each and every one of his twenty-eight novels. In a row, in chronological order. (Almost done.) When I realized I loved the Byrds, I decided I needed to buy their albums in chronological order, roughly spacing out each new acquisition to correspond with how much time separated their original releases, so that I would go through the cycle of consuming, digesting, and craving that a Byrds fan in the 1960s/70s would. For God's sakes I keep track of every single album I listen to every single week, and I do this manually—none of this automated last.fm bullshit. And then every three months I look at this list and analyze it statistically. All that is to preface this: I made a list.

5. Quick interjection: I said to my brilliant wife the other day, in all seriousness, "I fear I may be a dilettante." 

6. In an effort to wrap my head around the environment in which all these records were made, I tracked down all these bands' discographies, mingled them all together, and organized them by year. I find this immensely helpful as far as tracing the roots of the electronica strain of krautrock and also just seeing what came first for all of these bands, in a "you can't have Sgt. Peppers without Pet Sounds and you can't have Pet Sounds without Revolver" sort of way. I can't expect to get all of these—I'm not that crazy—but this list does give me a kind of road map as to what to get first, etc.

So, presented for your benefit and/or bemusement: krautrock, 1969–1979. If I forgot any seminal or otherwise noteworthy acts that factor into this universe, let me know so I can update my list.

1969
Amon Düül: Psychedelic Underground and Collapsing/Singvögel Rückwärts & Co.
Amon Düül II: Phallus Dei
Can: Monster Movie
Holger Czukay: Canaxis

• Can: Father Cannot Yell
• Holger Czukay: Boat-Woman-Song

1970
Amon Düül II: Yeti
Can: Soundtracks
Embryo: Opal
Eruption (aka Conrad Schnitzler and friends): Eruption
Guru Guru: UFO
Kluster: Klopfzeichen
Kraftwerk: Kraftwerk
The Organisation (aka Kraftwerk): Tone Float
Popol Vuh: Affenstunde
Tangerine Dream: Electronic Meditation

• Amon Düül II: Burning Sister
• Embryo: You Don't Know What's Happening

1971
Amon Düül: Paradieswärts Düül
Amon Düül II: Tanz der Lemminge/Dance of the Lemmings
Ash Ra Tempel: Ash Ra Tempel
Can: Tago Mago
Cluster: Cluster
Embryo: Rache
Faust: Faust
Guru Guru: Hinten
Kluster: Zwei-Osterei
Popol Vuh: In den Gärten Pharaos
Tangerine Dream: Alpha Centauri

• Faust: Meadow Meal

1972
Agitation Free: Malesch
Amon Düül: Disaster
Amon Düül II: Carnival in Babylon and Wolf City
Ash Ra Tempel: Schwingungen
Can: Ege Bamyasi
Cluster: Cluster II
Embryo: Father Sons & Holy Ghosts
Faust: Faust So Far
Guru Guru: Känguru
Klaus Schulze: Irrlicht
Kraftwerk: Kraftwerk 2
Neu!: Neu!
Popol Vuh: Hosianna Mantra
Tangerine Dream: Zeit
Timothy Leary & Ash Ra Tempel: Seven Up

• Klaus Schulze: Satz Gewitter Energy Rise Energy Collaps
• Tangerine Dream: Zeit

1973
Agitation Free: 2nd
Amon Düül II: Vive La Trance and Utopia
Ash Ra Tempel: Join Inn and Starring Rosi
Can: Future Days
Embryo: Steig aus, Rocksession, and We Keep On
Faust: The Faust Tapes
Faust & Tony Conrad: Outside of the Dream Syndicate
Guru Guru: Don't Call Us, We Call You and Guru Guru
Klaus Schulze: Cyborg
Kraftwerk: Ralf und Florian
Neu!: Neu! 2
Popol Vuh: Seligpreisung
Tangerine Dream: Atem

• Guru Guru: 200 Cliches

1974
Agitation Free: Last
Amon Düül II: Hijack
Ash Ra Tempel: Inventions for Electric Guitar
Can: Soon Over Babaluma
Cluster: Zuckerzeit
Faust: Faust IV
Guru Guru: Dance of the Flames and Der Elektrolurch
Harmonia: Muzik von Harmonia
Klaus Schulze: Blackdance
Kraftwerk: Autobahn
Popol Vuh: Einsjäger und Siebenjäger
Tangerine Dream: Phaedra

• Cluster: Caramel

1975
Amon Düül II: Made in Germany
Ash Ra Tempel: La Berceau de Cristal
Can: Landed
Embryo: Surfin
Guru Guru: Mani und seine Freunde
Harmonia: Deluxe
Klaus Schulze: Picture Music and Timewind
Kraftwerk: Radio-Activity
Neu!: Neu! 75
Popol Vuh: Das Hohelied Salomos and Aguirre
Tangerine Dream: Rubycon and Ricochet

• Neu!: Seeland

1976
Amon Düül II: Pyragony X
Ashra: New Age of Earth
Can: Flow Motion
Cluster: Soweisoso
Embryo: Bad Heads & Bad Cats
Guru Guru: Tango Fango
Harmonia 76: Tracks and Traces
Klaus Schulze: Moondawn
La Düsseldorf: La Düsseldorf
Popol Vuh: Letzte Tage - Letzte Nächte

• Harmonia 76: Welcome

1977
Tangerine Dream: Stratosfear
Amon Düül II: Almost Alive…
Ashra: Blackouts
Can: Saw Delight
Cluster & Eno: Cluster & Eno
Embryo: Apo Calypso
Guru Guru: Globetrotter
Klaus Schulze: Body Love and Mirage
Kraftwerk: Trans-Europe Express
Michael Rother: Flammende Herzen
Popol Vuh: Herz aus Glas
Tangerine Dream: Encore

1978
Can: Out of Reach
Cluster & Eno: After the Heat
Hans-Joachim Roedelius: Durch Die Wüste
Klaus Schulze: X
Kraftwerk: The Man-Machine
La Düsseldorf: Viva
Michael Hoenig: Departure from the Northern Wasteland
Michael Rother: Sterntaler
Moebius & Friends: Liliental
Popol Vuh: Brüder des Schattens - Söhne des Lichts and Nosferatu
Tangerine Dream: Cyclone

• Popol Vuh: Brüder Des Schattens

1979
Amon Düül II: Only Human
Ashra: Correlations
Can: Can
Cluster: Grosses Wasser
Embryo: Embryo's Reise
Guru Guru: Hey du
Hans-Joachim Roedelius: Jardin au Fou and Selbstportrait
Holger Czukay: Movies
Klaus Schulze: Dune
Richard Wahnfried (aka Klause Shulze): Time Actor
Michael Rother: Katzenmusik
Popol Vuh: Die Nacht der Seele
Tangerine Dream: Force Majeure

Comments

[Ramone666]

That Embryo track´s great. Will look into them further.

[Paul]

Impressive.

[Andrew TSKS]

You've seen the swanfungus post where he uploaded Julian Cope's book Krautrocksampler as two pdf files, right? If you haven't, it's here: http://blog.swanfungus.com/2006/10/krautrocksampler.html

Highly recommended reading.

[scott pgwp]

Embryo is new to me - learned about them as I was digging further and further into wikipedia and allmusic. As time went on they seem to have ventured into jazzier territories than other bands here, I think. But this song is literally all I know of them at the moment.

Andrew - thanks for re-posting that link. I do have that pdf printed out somewhere but I haven't read it; thanks for reminding me.

[Jeremy]

wow dude. I mean, really. wow.

PS: I had heard For Carnation in the 90s (the first album) and didn't love it. the song you posted the other day (from the second album I guess), I love. Really love. Is the whole second album great? Also, do I need to revisit the first?

[scott pgwp]

You mean the one I posted just this week? (I also posted an older FC song a few weeks ago). The one from this week is from their 2000 self-titled album. I'd say the whole record is very much like that. It's terrific.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, the one from this week. Totally great. I'll have to pick up the album. Like I said, so many years ago I heard a little, decided I didn't like it, and never tried again. Now I'll re-think that decision.

[bananafish]

I've been crazy about Can lately, and found this post of yours... now you've got me hooked on Faust, and looking into Neu! and Embryo. thank you for this lovely dose of krautrock (though I hate the term; it makes me think of my mother's delicious cooking... e.g. my personal favorite, BIGOS. try it if you haven't.)
this music is perfect lava lamp territory, imo... in fact listening to it is like having a traveling animate lava lamp companion, but more intense. and funny that it resembles Velvet Underground so much (or vice versa, I won't argue on 'influences'). they must have been friends at some point, VU and some of these bands.

[scott pgwp]

bananafish - Faust IV is totally where it's at. That album is utter brilliance, beginning to end.

[Neil Cake]

Wow. You're even more of a geek than I am.

Congratulations, and keep up the good work.

[andy]

Schulze didn't start Tangerine Dream, it was formed on Sept 29th 1967 by Edgar Froese. Klaus Joined in 1969 (for 8 months)...left before the first album (electronic Meditation) was released in 1970...and then re-joined TD very briefly for their 1973 tour when Peter Baumann left, only to rejoin within a month

[mike]

nobody's interested in what you have to say.
Write less.