Norwegian band that fuse improvised jazz with improvised psychedelic rock. Think John Coltrane meets Amon Duul in intense LSD jam.
Erna Schmidt – Live 69–71 (2000)
“Erna Schmidt were living near the village of Wintrup in a country house even before it also became the home of Kraan. They were a very popular live band, well-known for their incredibly long improvisations in the Cream and Hendrix vein. Some tracks would last up to three quarters of an hour, for on stage they were usually stoned, jamming away in a frenzy, often together with guest musicians. Some good-quality recordings of these gigs survived and were used for putting together Live ‘69-71.”
People of the North – Deep Tissue (2010)
“Started by Kid Millions and Bobby Matador of Oneida, People of the North is an ongoing but sporadic outgrowth of that restlessly experimental Brooklyn assemblage. While there are no clearly defined boundaries separating POTn from Oneida, it might be fair to say that the music tends to be more staunchly devoted to minimalism, repetition, improvisation, and sternness than the wide-ranging efforts of the big brother band. They packaged and unleashed a noisy krautrock behemoth of a jam session in the form of Deep Tissue. Recorded in 2009, it consists of four plodding, hypnotic psychedelic tracks clocking in at around 37 minutes – making it quite the heart-pounding journey. With an obvious penchant for improvisation and the immediate mood, People of the North not only revels in the static charge found in heavy guitar and feedback drenched freak-out moments, but can also be heard mining more pulsing, minimalist territory here. They’re pulling big influence from krautrock innovators Can and Neu! , but there is also a deeper, darker Japanese psych influence here, new and old – Les Rallizes Denudes & Acid Mothers Temple to name a couple. If you’re a fan of any psych, space rock or krautrock, you need to hear this record.”
Koolaid (Global Tyranny) – Koolaid (Global Tyranny) (2011)
“The weirdest of the bunch, groovy, and almost funky, thick steel string strum, all wreathed in psychedelic guitar noise, laced with some weird samples, drug related of course. All wound into a sound noisy and weirdly tripped out. Totally drugged out hypnotic space rock . The band set up a groove, usually super simple and minimal, spaced out and krautrocky, and then over the top, they basically let loose, a barrage of samples, all twisted up and layered and doused in effects, some looped rhythmically, others slowed down and sped up, and on top of that sheets of strange drones and whirs, clouds of swooping echo and delay, all manner of backwards melodies. The musical part slipping easily from minimal hushed lope, to pounding wah wah guitar drenched Stooges-y psychedelic stomp, to buzzy raga, to dirgey almost Butthole Surfers sounding drug rock, but again, it’s what’s going on all around it, which is like a symphony of malfunctioning samplers gone haywire.”
Xhol – Essen 1970 (2009)
“Xhol Caravan, known first as Soul Caravan and later as simply Xhol, was one of the first bands participating in the launch of the Krautrock movement in Germany in the late 1960s. Their music draws from varied influences and fuses rhythm and blues and free jazz with a psychedelic rock sensibility… The live recordings include improvisational pieces stretching in some cases well beyond 25 minutes in length.”
Electric Orange – Netto (2011)
“Electric Orange is a german psychedelic band from Aachen. They are influenced by bands like Amon Düül II, Can and Ash Ra Tempel. Krautrock from hell is one way to call it and to give it a true name. Soft, psychedelic stoner rock is another. Electric Orange share a band history of almost twenty years jamming and exploring songs together. Their main focus is long, instrumental songs that leave a lot of space for improvisations and ebb and flow with their own internal tide. Song defined as a structural piece of music that comprehensively contains a certain idea put into notes, then Electric Orange overflow that definition again and again with yet another wave of improvisation or solo. Because that seems to be their vision: a boundless, overflowing and transcending rock experience that makes the mind flow on the fundament of the rhythm section together with the foreground improvisation instrument. Or in other words: psychedelia.”
F/i – Paradise Out Here (1989)
Underrated obscure space rock band with tendency of exploring lengthy improvisations.
Papir – Stundum (2011)
“Papir is a krautrock band from Copenhagen, Denmark. Band correctly eschews the traditional pigeonholes of krautrock, prog rock, space rock and stoner rock, while admitting to retaining elements of all these nebulous and intersecting genres. Influences cited by the band include Can and electric Miles Davis (Stundum is semi-improvised, with a few extra layers of guitar and percussion overdubbed onto the frenzied three-piece jams), as well as German guitar legends Manuel Gottsching (specifically the two extended freakouts on the first Ash Ra Tempel album) and Michael Rother (as heard on the crushing and thoroughly atypical early Kraftwerk bootleg K2).”
Ektroverde – Ukkossalama (2003)
“Ektroverde is an offshoot of Circle, the musicians change as constantly as the ideas expressed musically in this band. An eclectic combination of krautrock, post-rock, space rock and free-form jazz, Ektroverde is marked by it’s long, hypnotic jams and it’s use of homemade electronica – the UFOX air humidifier theremin, vacuum cleaner synth, breadbox guitar amp, and a collection of modular oscillators and such. Think of The Young Gods mingling with the Lotus Eaters, Hawkwind, Los Natas, Colour Haze and the Velvet Underground with a bit of Bootsy Collins bass here and there for good measure. A highly recommended listening experience.”
Dom – Dom / Devil’s Grandma (1972)
Improvised set from obscure German group with lots of wah-wah and fuzz.