Two things worth immediately mentioning about Cold Pumas. One, I will never make friends with the band’s name. I picture a crate of refrigerated shoes, which is apropos imagery for my recent post-quitting smoking Lynchian nightmares. Two, that’s completely irrelevant, as the music is awesome. Cold Pumas is a stalwart power trio from Brighton, and are fairly accurate in describing themselves as “HEALTH but in Neu time.”
On “Tropical Guilt,” Cold Pumas summon precise 4/4 kraut apache rhythm and augment it with tape echo-laden punk vocals, light rapid-fire surf guitar, and unadulterated hypnosis. The amalgamation of chilly motorik and bouncy beach punk is a welcome juxtaposition, and I’d love to see their tag line be “motorik for partying.” Because that’s exactly what it is. Highly recommended. Cold Pumas find themselves on the MySpaces and the Tumblrs.
The recent BBC Four documentary Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany, the most thorough examination of the genre since Julian Cope’s definitive Krautrocksampler, has finally made its way onto the Interwebs. And it’s as solid as you’d expect.
From the BBC: “Between 1968 and 1977 bands like Neu!, Can, Faust and Kraftwerk would look beyond western rock and roll to create some of the most original and uncompromising music ever heard. They shared one common goal – a forward-looking desire to transcend Germany’s gruesome past – but that didn’t stop the music press in war-obsessed Britain from calling them Krautrock.”
I really dig John Weinzierl’s (of Amon Duul II) logic early in the film, when he says “we wanted to be international,we tried very hard to not be Anglophonic and not to be German. So… space is one solution.” And it’s totally worth mentioning that Werner Hertzog shows up for a bit. Action packed.
Oh gee whiz you guys, I made a computer programming joke in this entry’s subject. I’ll now get all sorts of geeks coming here looking for hawt tips on Ruby on Rails, and all they’ll get is some fucked-up kraut/electro/experimental/intergalactic instrumental pop. Bad vibes, greases!
No, but seriously, this On Rails stuff is on point. Dig on “Broken on the Wheel”’s tinty, crisp, motorik-driven, freaky-deeky electro battle cry, closer to Neu ‘75 than, say, the Faust Tapes. This is a power jam. Use it to get your morning started. And dude, czech the On Rails bro’s cover of the Velvets’ “White Light, White Heat” with enough vocoder to make Wendy Carlos and Black Moth Super Rainbow shit at the same time. Ever wonder what a classic rock cover performed by Kraftwerk would sound like? Wonder no more. This cover is crazy.
All of their current material is available for free on their website, with the thought that you’ll come out to see them at a later point because you like the songs. I think that tactic works.
[Editor's Note: Best Album Cover of 2009... no contest!]
Approaching the 40th anniversary of their inception, Faust return to show the newcomers how it’s done with their new studio albumC’est Com…Com…Compliqué. Original members Jean-Hervé Person and Werner “Zappi” Diermaier team up with Amaury Cambuzat from Ulan Bator to revisit material previously mixed by Nurse With Wound in 2006. Armed with a new outlook and a fresh label, they’re poised to re-stake their sizable territory in the avant-rock world. Continue reading ‘New Faust!!1! C’est Com…Com…Compliqué’
