Kraftwerk "And The Electronic Revolution" DVD

The influence that Dusseldorf, Germany's reclusive electronic act Kraftwerk had over modern music cannot be quantified. From their avante garde experiments of the late 60's to their proto-electronica of the 70's to their influence on the burgeoning hip-hop, techno, and dance scenes of the 80's and beyond, Kraftwerk's legacy is inescapable.

This (unlicensed but candid) documentary does a spectacular job following the history of the group, as well as tracing the rise (and fall) of the amazing 'Krautrock' scene that propelled acts like Can, Neu!, Kluster, Amon Duul, and Ash Ra Tempel to fame and international notoriety in the 60's-early 70's. Interviews with scene legends like Karl Bartos, Dieter Moebius, Hans Jochim Roedelius, Klaus Schulze, and Conrad Schnitzler are necessary and spot-on, and there's plenty of rare footage and sound samples to give better understanding to the discussions here. At 3 hours, it's an exhaustive and thorough examination of this important time in Germany's musical history. Being curious about this scene, but being a bit too young to truly appreciate it in it's heyday, this is a wonderful way to learn about Krautrock and Kraftwerk before diving into a big listening party. Superb and worthy! (Chrome Dreams UK)

Can - "Stuttgart 10.31.75"

Here's a really fine set of commercially unreleased tunes from legendary German avante-rock act Can...live in Stuttgart 31 October 1975. This lineup included Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli, Jaki Leibezeit, and Irmin Schmidt, and with the absence of a vocalist, this is basically instrumental work (aside from some minimal mutterings on 'Dizzy Dizzy').
If you're unfamiliar with this group's prime work, this is a mid-to-later-period set (around the time of 'Soon Over Babaluma'), but still maintains most of the group's trademark sounds. It's only 4 tracks, but don't be deceived - they are all nicely extended pieces that total up to well over an hour, and the sound quality is definitely soundboard/worthy of release. The opening 'Improvisation' is really a nice jammy sort of almost jazz-rock with Leibezeit's trademark shuffling, funky, tribal percussion. 'Bel Air' is an almost ambient rock piece - pretty well relaxing and exotic. 'Dizzy Dizzy' is tight and groovy, and the 28-minute 'Pinch Improvisation' drifts into a hazy psychedeli-kosmische realm at about the halfway mark. Stunning and transcendent, if you ask me.

Man, this stuff is well over 30 years old, but one listen and you know these guys were way, way ahead of their time. If this were a new band, they'd easily be tagged as 'post-rock', believe it or not! Give it a listen yourself, and feel free to comment.

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