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."

Embed and breakfast man: Amon Duul II

Something slightly Proggy and a lot Teutonic this weekend - that'll teach you for complaining about Britpop. Inspired by Rob Hughes' replaying of a 1973 Peel Session this week on 6Music, we're dipping into the back catalogue of Amon Duul II. Without Amon Duul II, it's probable there wouldn't have been Krautrock as we know it.

Founded in 1969 out of a schism in a commune-based improv band, Amon Duul II were the more successful of the two factions. They achieved chart success in the UK - along with the Peel Session - but a move to Atlantic Records irked the purists and marked a change in the music; striving for accessibility, and sales, resulted in an erosion of early support without much in the way of new fans to replace them. Oh, yeah, and punk. Punk definitely didn't help them. They called it a day in 1981, although the surviving members reunited to perform at drummer Peter Leopold's funeral in 2006.

Let's start near the very beginning - this is an untitled jam from 1969:



More about the band
Official site - aptly for a prog band, the site is completely over-engineered and slow to navigate
Wikpedia entry
Amon Duul II on Last.FM

Buy
Phallus Dei - debut album, and yes, it translates as God's cock.
Vive Le Trance
DVD of Phallus Dei live - not the greatest quality, but essential for aficionados

More video action across the weekend
Phallus Dei
Between The Eyes live on Beat Club
Surrounded By Stars live in 1975

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?