Amon Düül was originally a collective that emerged from a far-left commune in Germany, the more musically talented members of this group formed the band Amon Düül II, arguably the most psychedelic band of the Krautrock scene, led by Chris Karrer on guitar, violin, and vocals and featuring John Weinzierl on guitar and vocals, Renate …
Mark Lager’s Desert CDs: Agitation Free – Malesch (1972)
Best listened to on a CD in your car stereo while driving down a desert highway, the psychedelic rock band Agitation Free had returned from an eye-opening and mind-expanding two week trip through Egypt, Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece, the band’s contact with other cultures captured on tapes that they interspersed throughout the seven tracks of Malesch …
A Beautiful Masterwork of Grim Psychedelia: Love – Forever Changes (1967)
George Harrison was disappointed when he visited San Francisco at the tail end of the Summer of Love. “I went to Haight-Ashbury expecting it to be this brilliant place,” he said in a retrospective interview, “I thought it was gonna be all these groovy… people with little shops making works of art and paintings and …
Florian Fricke’s Mystical Genius
In Germany circa 1969, the new generation was radically changing German music away from the bland pop Schlager songs of the past towards a psychedelic rock partially influenced by the American and British counterculture, especially Pink Floyd’s first two records Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Saucerful of Secrets. Conrad Schnitzler (a musique concrete …
Delired Cameleon Family – Visa De Censure N°X (1967/1975 )
I’ve always had an aversion to the musical category called ‘Fusion’, often referred to as Jazz Fusion or, even worse, Jazz/Rock Fusion. Those slick, smooth artists like Pat Metheny, Jean Luc-Ponty or… Allah help me, Jeff Beck. Maybe I should explain. Just the thought of that smooth, useless sound immediately transcends me back to my …
Weites Luftmeer – Siebenunddreißigachtundvierzig (2016)
The almost old-school hard rock riff of Isosceles just comes flashing out of my speaker like holy fury. The intensity of the music forces me to my knees- I swear, this move looks cool in my head, despite the pain shooting through the back of my leg and my general awkwardness with such a “Rock Star” move. …
The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Broken Imaginary Time: A Requiem to Civilization
The civilization of the modern West appears in history as a veritable anomaly: among all those which are known to us more or less completely, this civilization is the only one that has developed along purely material lines, and this monstrous development, whose beginning coincedes with the so-called Renaissance, has been accompanied, as indeed it …
The Comet is Coming – Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery Impulse! (2019)
I miss those days when I would walk into a record store and scan the wall of new releases. Sometimes looking for nothing more than a sleeve that grabs my eye. That one cover that jumps at me, with no or limited knowledge of the music or musicians within those grooves. The art of album cover design …
Dr. John -Gris-Gris (1968)
“He’s such a polite young man. And handsome, too”, said Mrs. Riley as she looked at her granddaughter Carrie. What she really meant was that Jordon Richman was wealthy. True enough. In fact, the young Richman was probably the most polite (and wealthiest) businessman in the Parish. Everyone liked him. From a respected old New Orlean family. The Richman’s gave …