Downloadable: Can

'Tis the season for, amongst other things, random Teutonic generosity. Can are making their version of Silent Night available for free.

Bookmarks: Some stuff to read on the internet

Apart from swallowing whole Gallagher's claims that The Smell Of White Lightning has got a Krautrock influence, Yahoo's primer's guide to Krautrock is pretty good:

Bands were also anxious to direct their amps and fuzz boxes against the political establishment, which in 1968 still contained many Nazi-era officials, said Guru Guru's Neumeier.

"There was a thick layer of dust everywhere left by Uncle Adolf, and we wanted to really blow it away," he said.

Anglo-American domination of the record industry was a further obstacle to German acts, which needed time to find their own voice in the Cold War aftermath of the Nazis' defeat.

"After the war, we had no self-confidence to put down roots on our own turf, musically or otherwise," said Holger Czukay, bassist for Cologne-based Can. "It only really began in 1968."

Uncanned

If you've often hankered for a hard-disc full of top-notch kraut-rock, but can't be arsed to go down a record shop, purchase the CDs and then rip them to your Mac, here's some good news: the whole backcatlogue is getting digitised and will be available for download from March 13th.

Of course, you could get it for free now from Bittorrent, but that would be like stealing teacups from the Hermitage, wouldn't it?