“Instrumental improv spacerock extravaganza that can stand proudly alongside better-known works by Ash Ra Tempel, Pink Floyd or Amon Düül II… Gila could jam out the blues with the best of them, but they never found the success that eluded them.”
Swamp Sessions – Swamp Sessions Vol. 1 (2006)
Side-project from members of Colour Haze. Colour Haze fans will definitely appreciate this album. This is even more experimental, long improvised music played in altered state of mind.
Colour Haze – Tempel (2006)
“Hailing from Munich, they follow in the tradition of other classic rock trios such as Cream, Grand Funk Railroad and The Jimi Hendrix Experience… Initially, the band seemed to be strongly influenced by the sounds of Black Sabbath… This style later evolved into an unmistakably dry, bass-laden soundscape. Characteristic of this phase is Kogleks’ continual guitar playing between trance-like bass rhythms… further develop this style with longer, more complex song structures, and increasingly strong jam and jazz elements. The results of these experiments were, in part, ridiculously long, complex, and self-referential 20-minute songs.”
Buddha Sentenza – Mode 0909 (2009)
“After a seemingly random sonic collision over the city of Heidelberg in later 2008, the constellation of *Buddha Sentenza* began to form during the darkest hours of that cold and silent winter. Deep under the earth, in the hidden bowels of the Klonlabor tunnel complex, the searing strings and pounding drums condensed rapidly to form a nebulous cloud of loosely jammed, spaced-out, rocking riffs. Rotating freely around some of the most ancient soundscapes – from the astral end of the Pink Floyd to the depths of galaxies such as Black Sabbath – Buddha Sentenza has continued to expand, drawing energy from contemporary constellations as well. Thus, its elements follow the trail of early rock psychonauts and modern riffrockers alike, fusing droning riffs, screaming solos and cosmic harmonies into an instrumental sound experience that defies any strict genre boundaries. The result is a texture that combines the raw massiveness of rock with the infinite possibilities of outer space.”
Samsara Blues Experiment – Long Distance Trip (2010)
“SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT are a Berlin based band, founded in Summer 2007 by leadguitarist/singer Christian Peters… As the band name implies three elemental aspects are to notice – the blues as the fundament where it all comes from, the inclusion of spiritual influences accompanied by Indian/raga music and the experimental approach to mix up varied elements in a convincing manner. The band’s songs are dominated by a playful dual guitar work as well as a passionate blend of heavy psych, stoner and space rock. This is provided with several nuances and transitions in between – quite retro styled, jamming, even sometimes worked out with a repetitive hypnotic touch in the tradition of krautrock.”
Neumeier, Genrich, Schmidt – Psychedelic Monsterjam (2004)
“Live recordings from June/August 2003 by the trio of Mani Neumeier (drums, percussion), Ax Genrich (guitar), both from 70’s German improv/space rock outfit Guru Guru, and Dave Schmidt (bass) known from Liquid Vision, Zone Six, Sula Bassana & Weltraumstaunen. They jam in the tradition of early Guru Guru and rock out extended instrumental tracks of spontaneously improvised psychedelic spacerock including versions of Guru Guru classics (Stone in, Electric Junk, Next time see you at the Dalai Lhama).”
Guru Guru – UFO (1970)
“Guru Guru is one of the most notable German Krautrock bands, existing from the late 1960s to the present. The band has had many incarnations over nearly 4 decades. Drummer Mani Neumeier has remained as the only original member. Mani and bassist Uli Trepte came from playing free jazz in the mid 1960’s with pianist Irene Schweizer and the appear on an obscure out of print album under her name shortly before forming Guru Guru in the late 1960’s. They were joined by ex-Agitation Free guitarist Ax Geinrich as a “power trio” that was clearly influenced by Hendrix, Zappa and LSD and perhaps Karlheinz Stockhausen… Guru Guru were looser, more improvisational and noisy than most of the Krautrock bands of that time.”
The Cosmic Jokers – The Cosmic Jokers (1974)
“The COSMIC JOKERS is an extreme musical trip, a unique adventure throw time and space. The music is for a large part improvised with proto-electronic gadgets combined to bluesy & spacey musical sentences built around the talented Manuel Gottsching’s electric guitar style (always spacey and bluesy). This is real German acid music, a ‘music of paradise’, transcending music, breaking of the materialistic world, a protest against the reality.”
Ash Ra Tempel – Ash Ra Tempel (1971)
“One of the most formidable of the German Krautrock groups, ASH RA TEMPEL were a powerful force led by guitarist Manuel GÖTTSCHING, and also included former TANGERINE DREAM drummer Klaus SCHULZE at various points. Their music is very spacy and psychedelic, in the manner popularized by early HAWKWIND and AMON DÜÜL II. The early albums all had basically one track a side, one more powerful and dramatic, the other of a more atmospheric nature. Their albums are all classics; those with Klaus SCHULZE (“Ash Ra Tempel” and “Join Inn”) are the best. ASH RA TEMPEL’s first release is a classic of the space/cosmic genre.”
German Oak – German Oak (1990)
“In the strange Olympic summer of 1972, the Düsseldorf instrumental group (community of 5 hippies / open mind artists) German Oak entered the Luftschutzbunker (or Air Raid Shelter), in order to record their eponymous first self-titled LP. The purpose of recording in a bunker was to recreate the feelings experienced by German soldiers during the Allied invasion of 1944. The strange acoustic conditions in the bunker made the music, which was a series of long, spacious guitar jams, sound distant and filled with echo… By consequence German Oak’s music is very tortured, dark and weird, dominated by heavy, “distorted” guitar solos & rhythms. The background creates “painful” & “ambient” sequences thanks to delay echoes, electronic “fuzzy” noises & repetitive bass lines.”