Album: Deluxe
Artist: Harmonia
Born: Forst, Germany
Released: August 1975
Genre: Ambient
Influenced: Brian Eno, David Bowie, Julian Cope, Boards Of Canada, Arthur Russell
One of the new musical genres to emerge in the 70s was ambient music and one of the real innovators in this field was German band Harmonia, not quite krautrock but kosmische (cosmic). Their early albums were purer ambient creations, but on Deluxe that famous motorik beat is added to the mix. Harmonia was born out of two more famous parents, a hybrid of Neu! (Michael Rother's guitar deconstructions and electronic percussion) and Cluster (Hans-Joachim Roedelius' synths and Dieter Möbius' electronic wizardry). When I first dipped my toes into 70s German music, Deluxe was one of the albums that I loved instantly. Opening track Deluxe summons up the warm hazy glow of summer like no other music, and Rother's guitar continues to build layer upon layer ("immer wieder" means over and over). The first half of this record is complete bliss.
Walky-Talky is the highlight for me, benefiting from the presence of Guru Guru's Mani Neumeier on drums, who provides some languid percussion that fits perfectly with the swirling synths and dreamy guitars. Monza, which also has a subtitle (Rauf und Runter, up & down) suggestive of repetition, marks a distinct change of pace when the drums kick in just before the 2-minute mark. This is more familiar krautrock territory, especially the strange sound effects and manic lyrics. Notre Dame is another departure, all chopped up organs and electronic rhythms. Gollum gets in the obligatory Tolkein reference and combines a slightly haunting, buzzing soundscape with a driving drumbeat, before the album fades out with the lush melodies of Kekse. This was the sort of music really pushing the boundaries in 1975 and sounds way ahead of its time.
One of the new musical genres to emerge in the 70s was ambient music and one of the real innovators in this field was German band Harmonia, not quite krautrock but kosmische (cosmic). Their early albums were purer ambient creations, but on Deluxe that famous motorik beat is added to the mix. Harmonia was born out of two more famous parents, a hybrid of Neu! (Michael Rother's guitar deconstructions and electronic percussion) and Cluster (Hans-Joachim Roedelius' synths and Dieter Möbius' electronic wizardry). When I first dipped my toes into 70s German music, Deluxe was one of the albums that I loved instantly. Opening track Deluxe summons up the warm hazy glow of summer like no other music, and Rother's guitar continues to build layer upon layer ("immer wieder" means over and over). The first half of this record is complete bliss.
Walky-Talky is the highlight for me, benefiting from the presence of Guru Guru's Mani Neumeier on drums, who provides some languid percussion that fits perfectly with the swirling synths and dreamy guitars. Monza, which also has a subtitle (Rauf und Runter, up & down) suggestive of repetition, marks a distinct change of pace when the drums kick in just before the 2-minute mark. This is more familiar krautrock territory, especially the strange sound effects and manic lyrics. Notre Dame is another departure, all chopped up organs and electronic rhythms. Gollum gets in the obligatory Tolkein reference and combines a slightly haunting, buzzing soundscape with a driving drumbeat, before the album fades out with the lush melodies of Kekse. This was the sort of music really pushing the boundaries in 1975 and sounds way ahead of its time.
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