this is installment 1 of a new music series -- KRAUTROCK 101, by antonio ramos. all mp3s are available for educational purposes only. if you like it, buy the rest of the record. thanks! - mgt.

Ok time for krautrock 101, we'll start with the big names.

1. faust - krautrock [mp3]
2. kraftwerk - ruckzuck [mp3]
3. can - dont turn the light on, leave me alone [mp3]

The obvious choice for first track is krautrock's namesake itself, "krautrock" from faust's 1973 lp 'IV'. It pretty much defines the unique style of psychedelic rock the german's owned in the 70's. An awesome wall of guitar and synth noise over a driving repetitive rythym section, it somehow manages to sound agressive/harshly noisy in a peculiarly efficient german way while also sounding spacey and bouncy in a happy hippy almost corny way. Amazing stuff.

Next up is kraftwerk. Everybody knows man-machine, autobahn and trans-europe express but their lesser known first 3 records from before they got all robotic are amazing as well. Here's a track "ruckzuck" from their first lp which has no title, just a red traffic cone on the cover. (you may recognize this one as the theme song from a weird 80's pbs science show they used to show in schools)
[ed. note: the show was "newton's apple" - click here for more kraftwerk references]

And of course you can't forget can. Started as a zepellin-esque american psyche-blues rip off band, somehow things got lost lost in translation and they ended up being one of the most original, influential, and amazing rock bands ever. Their best are the damo suzuki fronted albums 'tago mago', 'ege bamyasi' and 'future days' This track is from 'soundtracks' an odds and ends collection from 1970 that documents the change from the pretty good malcom mooney fronted can of the late 60's to the jaw droppingly amazing damo suzuki fronted can of the early 70's. Listen to that rythym section- silky smooth, stupid clean and slick, yet funky in a german way with suzuki's odd mumbling, some flute, and karoli's guitar all floating on top.