Everywhere I go, I always tell people about this band, CAN. It's a bit cliche to say "THEY CHANGED MY LIFE MAAAAN" but, they did. As a musician, they changed the way I approach writing music. I went through a three year obsession with this group, they destroyed everything that had come before.
[IMG]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hE3xdMDdJiM/Ta1v40vZarI/AAAAAAAAUlg/qqaO3c6jpXo/s1600/R-1292887-1207055918.jpeg[/IMG]
[video=youtube;96SZCmP_UDw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96SZCmP_UDw[/video]
They are not for everyone. I felt that they had captured a sound that had been waiting to come out of my head , I freaked when I heard them.
Interesting things about this group/background.
Formed in 1968 in Cologne, Germany prior to founder, Irmin Schmidt, seeing the Velvet Underground in New York a year earlier...
Group consisted of former guitar teacher and mad scientist sound engineer , Holger Czukay, Class A free jazz drummer (and best jazz drummer in Germany at the time) Jaki Liebezeit, student of Holger Czukay and lover of Eastern Gypsy music, Michael Karoli, classical music composer and student of Avant garde electronic music pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen, Irmin Schmidt and finally, Japanese wild man, Damo Suzuki.
The bands music is composed through live improvisation. The group would come into the studio, improvise for hours and Bass player/Engineer, Holger Czukay, would record everything. After recording, Czukay would listen to the entire tape, splice out parts they didn't want and keep parts they wanted to create full songs. Czukay called this "Instant Composition", a method contrary to the present way of making music at that time.
The band was much different live. Never playing under three hours, Can became notorious and respected as Europe's most talented group in the 70's. Live, they take the basic formula of their studio album songs and recreate them into completely different songs.
Can came from a post-world war 2 Germany. The country was enduring a financial meltdown and culture was almost completely absent. The pop music at the time was complete shit (kind of like today in America). It was called "Schlager" music (no need to explain, it sucked.) The young musicians of Germany formed. [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krautrock"]"Krautrock"[/URL] began.
The band never saw much commercial success in the pop market (they were considered pop) however, the band made most of their money providing soundtracks for many films in Germany at the time. Can released an LP with all of their top Soundtracks called "Soundtracks". "Mother Sky" - look it up and listen to it.
The band has many studio albums, however, in my opinion, there are only three that represent the groups magic. The three albums in which Damo Suzuki (lead singer) was present (this marks an era, the Damo era 1970-1973) , Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi and Future Days.
Influence: Public Image Limited to Radiohead, Mars Volta, John Frusciante of RHCP, Joy Division, Brian Eno, Sonic Youth, DJ Shadow and many others have stated (particularly Radiohead however Sonic Youth and DJ Shadow remixed Can tracks.) that they were heavily influenced by the sound of Can.
If you like improvised music, this band is for you. If you're a musician and you take your shit seriously, listen to this group. This band is the fucking truth.
"Halleluhwah" from Tago Mago - [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBVdqjPEZqs[/url]
"One More Night" from Ege Bamyasi - [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyJzv4AFZXc[/url]
"Bel Air"" from Future Days - [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irRZygMDCmo[/url]
A clip from the CAN - Free Concert DVD (which I own of course). . In my opinion, this band is the most intense and hardcore group. It's very frightening sometimes. [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3buYpfYRlaA[/url]
Finally, an excerpt from the Can DVD Documentary [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkRczBPRbCk[/url]
This band did everything without pretensions . They weren't trying to be anything . CAN.
These guys are amazing.
[QUOTE=pie_is_good;32092585]These guys are amazing.[/QUOTE]
Is this your first time hearing them?? Or did you know about them before?
I know about them before.
You can hear a lot of them (and other krautrock bands) in most bands today. Radiohead's newest album really reminds me of Can a lot. These guys were very ahead of their time.
They're not called the Godfathers of Indie Rock for nothing.. though I don't really like the new Radiohead album too much.
What would you recommend for one of their non-Damo Suzuki albums? I thought his vocals really did add a lot of the band so I'm kinda wondering how they are with someone else singing.
Well, I personally don't really like their later albums after Damo. I think the trilogy , Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi and Future Days are the fucking best. But Soundtracks, Delay and Monster Movie are all pretty good. Soon over babaluma isn't that great in my opinion. The magic just wasn't there.
I need more albums...
I've only got the one with the can of peas on it and Tago Mago.
Check out Future Days, man.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luWPCKvmJq4[/media]
[i]You just can't get back no more...[/i]
I've heard Tago Mago a couple times so far... it grew the second time, and I think it'll continue to do so. Slowly getting into these guys.
That's exactly what happened to me. I listened to Tago Mago once with my friend, and for two years after that I was hooked, listening to them for two years straight..
What's great about their music is you can always find new things about songs that you may have never heard before, and continue to do so for a long time. I'm still finding little details in their songs, two years after finding them, and it amazes me each time.
I'm ashamed that we haven't talked more about them :(
They're great, I've heard a lot about CAN and the Krautrock scene but never been able to find their tunes. Very informative thread OP and excellent music!
Can tapped into a source that many other bands never could. . Specifically, their live improvisations demonstrate this. It was rumored that they could read each others minds. . I don't doubt it one bit.
I hate it when people view them as just a "Jam band" like the Grateful Dead or something. .
It was more than that. . They created a sound that is distinctly Can. .
lolwhatsnip
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