HARMONIA Musik Von Harmonia LP NEW VINYL Gronland reissue Moebius Roedelius Krau

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Store Categories HIP HOP FUNK / SOUL DUB/REGGAE/DANCEHALL EXPERIMENTAL/IDM DOWNTEMPO DUBSTEP/GRIME SERATO CONTROL VINYL HOUSE TECHNO INDYTRONIC SYNTHWAVE/80'S/INDUSTRIAL UK BASS/FUTURE GARAGE/UKF WONKY GLITCH HOP AMBIENT/DRONE BATTLE BREAKS/ACAPELLAS DISCO ELECTRO/BREAKS GHETTO TECH/JUKE/FOOTWORK HIPSTER JUMP OFF PROGRESSIVE/TRANCE DRUM N' BASS BREAKCORE ROCK POP PUNK METAL JAZZ HARMONIA Musik Von Harmonia / LP NEW VINYL / Gronland 2015

The daddy of Krautrock supergroups - Moebius, Roedelius and Rother's Harmonia - receive some reissue love! It's hard to overstate this album's influence over concurrent generations since its release, remaining a steady fixture in the diets of so many electronic pioneers and fringe oddballs ever since. And it's not hard to hear why, either, especially in the blueprint setting genius of their chaotic, motorik 11 minute flight, 'Sehr Kosmiche', in the brain-cleaving synthesiser and guitar advances of 'Ohrwurm', or the elegant, entrancing whimsy of 'Hausmusik'.

The debut Harmonia album is at once a product of their source bands and a fine new twist on them, resulting in music that captures what for many is the Krautrock ideal, or more accurately, the motorik ideal. It's not Kraftwerk's all-synth, clean, clinical pulse, nor Neu!'s seemingly effortless glide, nor Can's stomping art world funk. Instead it's at once playful and murky, steady and mechanical, a supergroup of sorts who easily achieves and maintains such a seemingly overstated status by embracing a variety of approaches that work wonders. The players bring their usual multi-instrumental roles to the fore, ensuring that the end results achieve their own distinct sound -- this isn't simply Cluster with Rother's assistance or Rother trying for a solo record with Cluster's backing. For all that, there's a touch more Cluster in the end -- the spacier parts on Musik Von Harmonia have that duo's hushed chill, the electronic percussion of Rother meanwhile avoids his familiar crisp punch using real drums in Neu! outside of the perky "Dino." "Ohrwurm," meanwhile, has a strung-out guitar grind nicely offset by a far more restrained wail in the background, further backed by delicate keyboards and tones. When it comes to pure drift, the wonderful "Sehr Kosmisch" is the understandable winner, a nearly 11-minute-long piece that undeniably had to have been part of the attraction for Brian Eno in his later work with the band. A piano piece reminiscent of Eno collaborator Harold Budd drifts up and down through the mix of keyboard shimmers and electronic washes, resulting in a piece at once both meditative and gently rhythmic. Other songs, like "Veterano" and "Watussi," suggest the electro-pop approach, which Kraftwerk inadvertently founded, but with their own quirky edge, rhythmic distortion, and guitar parts playing with the expected formula.

A1 Watussi 5:55
A2 Sehr Kosmisch 10:50
A3 Sonnenschein 3:50
B1 Dino 3:30
B2 Ohrwurm 5:05
B3 Ahoi! 5:00
B4 Veterano 3:55
B5 Hausmusik 4:30