★Wah Wah Records
Third
"After our acclaimed reissues of the first two LPs by French electronic rock pioneers Heldon, we are proud to offer a lavish vinyl version of their third album (also known as It's Always Rock 'n' Roll), where Pinhas and Co. follow the same paths he created with Electronique Guérila under the strong influence of works by Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, and of course the contemporanean Krautrock movement. For those of you following our line of releases there will be no need to say that composer, …
Piece Of Mind
"As K.J. Gustin wrote, Piece Of Mind is a work of 'exotic psychedelic free-jazz-meets-rock, East-meets-West, progressive and smoky moment in late Twentieth Century music history'. Add to that a spice of jazzy brassed R&B and a touch of minor-key popsike sensitivity and you get an accurate description of the sounds contained in Roger Bunn's astonishing 1969 LP, originally released in the UK on the Major Minor budget label, but issued in some European countries (Ohr label in Germany or Phil…
Fantastic Party
"Probably one of the weirdest discoveries in the field of collectable German albums in recent years, Staff Carpenborg's sole output was first brought to the spotlight by the compilers of the celebrated Kraut! Demons! Kraut! CD series in the mid-'90s. Since then, rumors and interest about the album have risen exponentially since this weird record (and we mean WEIRD) is one of the earliest known examples of Kraut rock. How such a demented collection of tunes found their way on the budget Ma…
The Kühn Brothers & The Mad Rockers
"Experienced jazz avant gardists Joachim and Rolf Kühn joined forces with Volker Kriegel, Gunter Lenz and Stu Martin to release this superb mixture of Krautrock, psych, funk and free jazz. With all kind of sound effects coming from distorted clarinets, Hammond organ, groovy bass/drums section, breaks and hot guitar licks The Mad Rockers paved the way for many Krautrockers to follow. Reissued in vinyl for the first time since its 1969 debut on the Metronome label, this is a basic record to…
Paradieswarts Duul
"Recorded in 1970, Amon Düül's only album for Ohr was a visionary slice of acid-folk which has gained cult status as years passed by. Ritualistic folk-rock, pastoral hippie songs, stoned jams, Eastern flavors, mystical passages and heavy hypnotic riffing which are in fact very different from the early Amon Düül epic freaked-out improvisations (Psychedelic Underground) or Amon Düül II complex and psyched-up progressive works (Phallus Dei). These were in fact archival recordings done by a di…
Osmose
Annexus Quam had actually a quite long career, having their roots in the outfit Ambition Of Music, formed back in 1967 Kamp-Lintfort (near Düsseldorf). By 1970, and paying tribute to their early name, they had incorporated a whole array of influences (most important one, the inclusion of jazz instrumentation) and brewed them in what was becoming a very personal progressive fusion of styles, best witnessed in their their debut album Osmose. At that time, the band had grown into a septet fo…
Broselmaschine II
"Second chapter on the Bröselmaschine saga after a four-year hiatus. The band's second incarnation came to life in 1975, when Peter Bursch reformed the group together with old member Willi Kissmer and new recruit, Klaus Dapper (flute, sax, tuba). Helped by such honorable guests as Mani Neumeier and Roland Schaeffer (from Guru Guru) or Jan Fride from Kraan, their 1976 album was a solid session of progressive folk, very different than its predecessor but also with an atypically hypnotic and…
Ufo
The first 2 Guru Guru releases, both from 1971. Musically, these 2 represent (along with their 3rd, Kanguru) the reigning moments of this acid-destroyed-jamming Krautrock outfit, and are essential artifacts of pure thunder.
Fliessbandbabys Beat-Show
"Actually the first release ever on the revolutionary and innovative Ohr label, Fliesbandbabys Beat Show saw Floh De Cologne's delivering a hard slap on the face on Western Germany's capitalist society. Well-known for their humorous and satirical approach (which gained them comparisons with other freak troupes like The Fugs or The Mothers Of Invention), they deliver a freaky concoction of agit-prop satire and madness with relentless no-barriers free jamming. Political agitation meets free-r…
Sturmischer Himmel
Often described as one the oddities in the Ohr catalogue, Sturmischer Himmel supposed the vinyl debut of Anima, the radical free-music duo of sculptor Paul Fuchs and her wife Limpe Fuchs. Recorded at a "thousand year cottage on a windy hill" and opening with ambience recording of wind and sheeps, the album is an organic collection of improvised atonal pieces ranging from the atmospheric to the wild with much use use of screaming, horns, percussions, ambience recordings, wordless vocals and all k…
Visa De Censure N° X
Another lost gem of French underground music, Delired Cameleon Family was originally conceived as the soundtrack to Pierre Clémenti's "Visa de censure nº X", and was originally released as an LP in 1975. It was a host of reputed experimentalists who took charge of producing this soundtrack. Under the direction of Cyrille Verdeaux we found the likes of Yvan Coaquette (Musica Elettronica Viva, Spacecraft...), Gilbert Artman (Lard Free, Urban Sax...), Christian Boulé, Tim Blake (Gong, solo recordin…
Electronique Guerilla
Centered around guitarist Richard Pinhas and featuring a floating cast of regular collaborators (Didier Batard, François Auger, Patrick Gauthier, Alain Renaud, Georges Grunblatt; Coco Roussel amongst others), Heldon will marry Pinhas personal obsessions -modern philosophy (Deleuze, Guattari), science-fiction (Norman Spinrad, Philip K.Dick), progressive rock (King Crimson, Fripp & Eno), american minimalism (Terry Riley, Steve Reich) and electronic music- into a diverse musical cocktail tha…
Musik fur alle
Rare private press Krautrock from Paul and Limpe Fuch's Anima Sound – featuring one long improvisational piece on each side – oddly haunting and strangely beautiful! Raw home made percussion, off kilter melodies and really effective vocals make this a genuinely fascinating set that's surprisingly effective. Made while the duo was touring Germany and performing on a wagon they used as a stage, pulled throughout the country by a tractor!
Unnamed
Issued on vinyl format for the first time ever, Unnamed is a collection of 1971/1972 Lard Free "lost" recordings that documents an interesting, primitive period of the band and shows Artman and Co. moving freely in different directions : jazz, noise and the most radical musical improvisation.
Lard Free III
This one was their second album in 1975, featuring Richard Pinhas from Heldon and the most electronic effort of Lard Free. We can't hear bass guitar here anymore. The instruments on this item are mostly synths, in addition yet piano, drums, vibes, guitar - and clarinet as the first time guest on the recordings of LF. And the trips are longer (two LP-side-long trips here) than on earlier stuff. We can understand approaching to more meditative and athmospheric electronics with urbanis…
I'm Around About Midnight
Lard Free's second LP, I'm Around About Midnight, was recorded in Paris in a three day session and released in 1975 also on Vamp. There is a totally different line-up from that of the first LP and it features long time friend Richard Pinhas, with whom Artman explores (in his own way) some sound passages of strong Heldon inspiration, although in a less immediate register, building an organic layered sound that emanates a certain shadowy formal beauty. The strong Artman-Pinhas connection is …
Gilbert Artman's Lard Free
Lard Free is French psychedelic minimalism band, formed around drummer and keyboards player Gilbert Artman. He was the only constant member of the band on their few next albums. Music on their debut album is perfectly composed angular rhythm structures-based synth/rhythm compositions with free-jazz sax improvs over them. All this mix sounds heavy, spacey, psychedelic, minimalistic - and excellent. I am not sure if this music could be labelled as "krautrock" , or let say - it's a French krautroc…
Hamel
First ever reissue of Peter M. Hamel's debut album, originally released by Vertigo in 1972. An extended trip through meditative and minimalist territories that has its roots both in western avant-garde and Indian classical music. Organ and synthesizer drones mix with natural sounds in a flowing, ever-changing soundscape. For fans of Terry Riley, La Monte Young, Popol Vuh, Taj Mahal Travellers, Deuter and anyone into ambient and meditation musics. With Peter Michael Hamel (organ, voice, el…
Einstieg
The debut album by this multinational outfit, originally released by Wergo in 1971. A groundbreaking fusion of diverse sources and traditions: from ancient and medieval to avant garde, free improvisation or eastern meditation. A unique mixture that will blossom in their follow up And The Waters Opened. With Roberto Detree (guitar, motocello), Peter-Michael Hamel (piano, organ), Robert Eliscu (oboe, vocal), Cotch Black (percussion), Ulrich Stranz (viola) plus a young James Galway on flute…
Agilok & Blubbo
The Inner Space is the stuff of legend. This obscure outfit is best known as the antecessor band of Can and not much is known about them except it featured the core members of Can (Irmin Schmidt, Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit) and lasted just a few months before renaming themselves The Can and releasing Monster Movie. They left two ultra-obscure seven inches as their only recorded legacy and only the first of them is credited to The Inner Space, it contained two songs taken fr…