Head Music :: Fruits de Mer Records

Fruits de Mer line up their planets with the 40th anniversary of the start of the Brain label (nitty-gritty sleevenotes by Ulrich Klatte, CPG) on the new double-lp opus, Head Music. The line-up of outfits taking this one on are as diverse as the interpretations of that one word, krautrock. The Bevis Frond, Dead Sea Apes, Vibravoid, Black Tempest, Electric Orange, vert:x…to name a few. New twists and turns are placed on Can, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Kalacakra…you get the point.

Grobschnitt’s Eroc gives a brief, but manic, kick-off into heady new crops of sounds that started growing under the umbrella of ‘krautrock.’ Prog rock, space-outs and jams, motorik rhythms…How much and what is done to each song varies as much as the music and the line-up, but Head Music holds together start to finish, cuts thumping and smearing right over each other into a kosmische whole. The outfits you are familiar with keep their own sound, even through head-snapping turns (that really make perfect sense) like Electric Moon’s take on Tangerine Dreams’ Madrigal Meridian, mastered my Eroc, cracked emcee.

Madrigal Meridian :: Electric Moon :: Head Music (2012, Fruits de Mer)

Earthling Society marry themselves to Parachemical World, making a perfect transition to Jay Tausig, making another stellar Fruits de Mer appearance, on his take of Surrounded by the Stars. Argentina’s Anla Courtis twists Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express into a much darker ride, while Dead Sea Apes take a ’71 Beat Club appearance by Kraftwerk doing Rückstoβ Gondoliero and cook it into their own. Can is represented by Saturn’s Ambush and Language of Light in two great imaginings that show the range of Can and their influence. Black Tempest shapes a stand-out cut with Klaus Schulze’s Bayreuth Return, a brooding and entrancing introspection. And outro…vert:x put the cosmic chug on Harmonia’s drive taking Dino’s journey outer-bound…and there’s plenty more to feast on in-flight.

Schizo :: Frobisher Neck :: Head Music (2012, Fruits de Mer)

Every cut, familiar or not with the new speaker or the old tongue, is engaging, whether in the context of Head Music, or standing on its own. There’s no pretense that this is a comprehensive overview or some definitive statement. That would be as confining and misrepresentative as that word ‘krautrock’ again. You don’t have to be a scholar to appreciate or gain entrance to the music and range of talent spread across Head Music either. It’s obvious that every outfit here is invested in this music on many levels, and it’s infectious. Head Music comes across as a laborofloveletter to not only the originators and their music, but also to many of the reasons they pursued them to begin with.

Head Music will be on sale mid-April in a limited edition of 700.

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