Tag: krautrock

Yoo II avec Nolan Potter
Vinyl

Yoo Doo Right, Population II & Nolan Potter: Yoo II avec Nolan Potter (2025)

Ever have one of those workdays that beat you down to the point you can’t remember your name, let alone whatever you had planned when you got home? Today was one of those days, and with only two hours to go I’m going to be very brief about my love for Yoo II avec Nolan Potter, the (possibly) sole output from a two-hour live jam session between Austin, TX psych rocker Nolan Potter and the experimental explorers from Québec: Yoo Doo Right and Population II. TL;DR? Hawkwind circa Space Ritual meets garage groove for some sweet extended jams, perfect for settling down into a better headspace.

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orange peel - orange peel
Vinyl

Orange Peel: Orange Peel (1972)

Gotta love the dusty corner where you come across those “one and done” bands. Especially in Germany, where the krautrock reaction to the rise of the American and UK rock scenes spawned any number of bands reaching to find a musical expression that embraced the rise of that country’s youth. Orange Peel may have taken a safer path with their self-titled album – this is very much indebted to the aforementioned scenes – but when it’s done this well, who really cares? I guess the listeners did, which is why despite opening for Deep Purple and getting packaged with other great (but tiny) German psych/rock acts, Orange Peel the album became another casualty of the “one and done” phenomenon. Too bad, because I really like the vibes on this one.

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web web - plexus plexus
CD

Web Web: Plexus Plexus (2025)

We’re going to slip back for a bit into shorter reviews, particularly when it comes to bands like the German improvisational collective Web Web. I had no idea what I was in for, but based on the single line description for their latest album Plexus Plexus on LaserCD (a lot of my blind purchases stem from perusing the New Arrivals and Restocks section and just seeing what catches my eye), I had to check it out. “More psychedelic, sometimes more krauty”, you say? Responding to this singular duck call I grabbed it, and the result is a fine, groovy set of tunes, taking inspiration from a number of different sources and stirring them into a sauce that’s tasty if not exactly essential. But like a good sauce you can pretty much pair it with anything.

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ash ra tempel - scwingungen
Vinyl

Ash Ra Tempel: Schwingungen (1972)

If bands like Kraftwerk and Neu! sit as standard bearers of krautrock, and Hawkwind firmly wears the crown of space rock for many, where does that put a band like Ash Ra Tempel? Somewhere in the middle, at least to my ears after listening to their sophomore record Schwingungen (a name I can’t help but pronounce in my head like Mike Myers in Wayne’s World). The title translates to “vibrations” from German and over the course of its three tracks indeed vibrate back and forth between the two genres, finding pockets of blues and psychedelia along the way. This was one of my impulse “let’s check out a band I know nothing about purchases” and it’s something I need to be down with in order to enjoy. Exhausted and running on fumes, it’s about what I can manage this morning.

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