The Holydrug Couple - Awe (2011)

Hazy Chilean neo-psych. Fuzzed-out, jammy guitar reveries dotted with the occasional sleepy vocal. Demands to be listened to in the sun, and by the time you read this, I hope to be on a beach doing just that.

Track listing:

1. Ancient Land

2. Mountaintop

3. Long Rain

4. Now Revisited

5. We're Gonna Die

6. Flow

7. Clouds

Baby, I'm going away

If you like this, listen to:

Hash Jar Tempo - Well Oiled (1997)

Blues Control - Local Flavor (2009)

Wolfgang Bock - Cycles (1980)

First album by German synth-man Wolfgang Bock. Lots and lots of synthesizers, live drums, and production by (obvious predecessor/possible mentor) Klaus Schulze. According to my 5 minutes of research, Bock wrote the book on synthesizers, released 4 albums over the course of 17 years, then gave up music in order to devote his life to sailing. 

Track listing:

1. Cycles

2. Robsai Part 1

3. Robsai Part 2

4. Changes

5. Stop the World

Beyond the sunrise

That is where we live

Similar listening:

Ariel Kalma - Interfrequence (1975)

Bas B. Broekhuis - The Escher Drawings (1991)

Siddhartha - Weltschmerz (1975)

German psych greatness. Dextrous, anxious guitar interplay, organ, violin, and occasional male and female vocals. Each song constantly changes motifs, or stutters briefly only to pick back up again, as if the band is grasping for a stable reality that never quite materializes. Too bad it's their only record.

Track listing:

1. Looking into Past

2. Tanz im Schnee

3. Times of Delight

4. Weit Weg

5. Gift of the Fool

I wandered lonely as a cloud

Further listening:

Affinity - Affinity (1970)

Paternoster - Paternoster (1972)

Jane - Fire, Water, Earth & Air (1975)

Excellent German prog/space rock. Three sprawling, interwoven suites contemplating love and human inter-connection through the lens of the classical elements. The Floyd influence is certainly there, as is the utopian rush of krautrock. I've known this band for years, but for some reason slept on this record until recently. Highly recommended for any prog fan.

The track listing's kinda confusing and overly long to write out, so I'm actually not gonna try to suss it out here, but it essentially amounts to: Track 1 has the Fire and Water bits, Track 2 is Earth, and Track 3 is Air.

See the light

You should also hear:

Earth and Fire - Atlantis (1973)

Eloy - Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes (1979)

Bright - Bright (1996)

Blissed-out, kraut-indebted indie/post-rock from a Boston duo. Echoing guitars, understated vocals, insistent drumming, and a few saxophone cameos for good measure. Bright does remind me of some other, great bands -- Stereolab, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and Duster, primarily -- but their sound is their own.

Track listing:
1. Canal
2. The Res
3. Enthusiasm
4. Off
5. Merrimack
6. Point
7. Lake Killala
8. Elting 1901
9. Switch
10. Mugged
11. Redefine
12. All the Wheels Go
13. Pannonica
14. Perennials
15. Boham and Pribram

Forever more or less

You'd also like:

Flying Saucer Attack -
Flying Saucer Attack (1993)

Pram - The Stars Are So Big, the Earth
Is So Small... Stay as You Are (1993)

Trans Am - Futureworld (1999)

Super-sweet fourth album by Maryland stalwarts Trans Am. While still loosely based in knotty, hard-hitting, synth-y math rock, this time it's shaped by vocals -- all-vocoder, at that -- and has some serious krautrock vibes that at times drive them into a queasy, fully synthesized dream-state. The late 90s were a real golden age for techno-angst/fear of a dystopian future that wasn't too far off from the one that we currently live in, and this record has that shit in spades.

Track listing:
1. 1999
2. Television Eyes
3. Futureworld
4. City in Flames
5. Am Rhein
6. Cocaine Computer
7. Runners Standing
8. Futureworld II
9. Positron
10. Sad and Young

If the air was transparent
I'd float away

You might also like:

Alien Sex Fiend -
"It" The Album (1986)

Fujiya & Miyagi -
Ventriloquizzing (2011)

Ariel Kalma - Interfrequence (1975)

Abstract, psychedelic synth-based pieces from French composer Ariel Kalma. Some are pure synth, others are colored by cosmic saxophone, flute, and motorik rhythms. With 18 tracks, most of which are under 3 minutes long, Interfrequence plays like a series of snapshots from a strange and beautiful alien world.

Track listing:
1. Generus
2. Casiopee
3. Oasis
4. Retour d'Elle
5. Danse Soeur
6. Promenade
7. Round You Go
8. Merry Forest
9. Barimpa
10. Gaite Blue
11. Vers Gaite
12. Rep Voc
13. Zdunska Wola
14. Trompe Vie
15. Chinassou
16. Ba-Tu-Kalma
17. Interfrequence
18. Source Fraiche

Fast road to nowhere

Also listen to:

Klaus Weise -
Baraka (1981)

Barry Cleveland with
Bob Stohl & Katy Epple -
Stones of Precious Water (1986)

Double Fantasy - Universal Ave (1987)

Related:
Robert Schröder - Harmonic Ascendant (1979)
Robert Schröder - Brain Voyager (1985)

Hypnotic Berlin-school magic from a duo consisting of German musicians Robert Schröder and Charly McLion. Motorik beats, fuzzy guitars, and lush, weightless synths. It seems that their relationship grew contentious, as they ended up in a legal battle over the band name, but thankfully they managed to record this slice of heaven beforehand.

Track listing:
1. Heartbreaker
2. Universal Ave
3. Endless Running
4. Food for Fantasy
5. Lost Control
6. Children of the Universe
7. Strangers in Space

Food for fantasy

You'd also like:

Peter Baumann -
Trans Harmonic Nights (1979)

Dreamworld -
On Flight to the Light (1980)

Kraan - Wintrup (1973)

German krautrock/jazz-rock. Jerky rhythms with their own sense of off-kilter groove, and some gleefully bizarre, almost Mike Patton-esque vocals.

Track listing:
1. Silver Wings
2. Mind Quake
3. Backs
4. Gut und Richtig
5. Wintrup
6. Jack Steam

Son of the sun

Also listen to:

Supersister -
Present from Nancy (1970)

Grobschnitt -
Solar Music - Live (1978)

Fujiya & Miyagi - Ventriloquizzing (2011)

Dark but catchy, krautrock- and disco-infused English indie rock. Muted, rhythmic guitars, oscillating synths, a tensely controlled rhythm section, and vocals that barely surpass a whisper.

Track listing:
1. Ventriloquizzing
2. Sixteen Shades of Black & Blue
3. Cat Got Your Tongue
4. Taiwanese Roots
5. Yoyo
6. Pills
7. OK
8. Minestrone
9. Spilt Milk
10. Tinsel & Glitter
11. Universe

These little pills may give you dizzy spells

If you like this, listen to:

Pram - The Stars Are So Big, the Earth
Is So Small... Stay as You Are (1993)

Digital Leather -
Infinite Sun (2011)

Blues Control - Local Flavor (2009)

Experimental, lo-fi, instrumental psych. Sun-baked guitars, chiming keyboards, a bit of trumpet and sax, and simple, programmed rhythms make for a hypnotic, krautrock-y feel.

Track listing:
1. Good Morning
2. Rest on Water
3. Tangier
4. On Through the Night

Opium den

You should also listen to:

Liliental -
Liliental (1978)

White Rainbow -
Sky Drips Drifts (2007)

Peter Baumann - Trans Harmonic Nights (1979)

Second solo album of synth-fueled krautrock euphoria from German musician Peter Baumann, then a recently departed member of Tangerine Dream.

Track listing:
1. This Day
2. White Bench and Black Beach
3. Chasing the Dream
4. Biking Up the Strand
5. Phaseday
6. Meridian Moorland
7. The Third Site
8. Dance at Dawn

Pleasure

If you like this, you'd also enjoy:

Michael Rother -
Flammende Herzen (1977)

Robert Schröder -
Harmonic Ascendant (1979)

Grobschnitt – Solar Music - Live (1978)

Mind-melting prog/psych by one of Germany's finest. Generally, I'm not a huge fan of live albums, so it really speaks to the greatness of Solar Music - Live that it's probably my favorite Grobschnitt record.

Track listing:
1. Solar Music I
2. Food Sicore
3. Solar Music II
4. Mülheim Special
5. Otto Pankrock
6. Golden Mist
7. Solar Music III
8. The Missing 13 Minutes
9. Vanishing Towards the East

Would you like to sit on your bum on the surface of the sun?

If, then:

Nektar - Remember the Future
(1973) + Magic Is a Child (1977)

Eloy - Silent Cries
and Mighty Echoes (1979)

Passport - Looking Thru (1974)

Hella sick German fusion founded by saxophonist Klaus Doldinger. Weird time signatures, noodle-y melodies, synths galore, and just a touch of krautrock.

Track listing:
1. Eternal Spiral
2. Looking Thru
3. Zwischenspiel
4. Rocksport
5. Tarantula
6. Ready for Take Off
7. Eloquence
8. Things to Come

I'm a stranger here myself

Also listen to:

Ronnie Laws -
Pressure Sensitive (1975)

Spaces -
Border Station (1981)

Liliental - Liliental (1978)

Related:
Asmus Tietchens - Nachtstücke (Expressions Et Perspectives Sonores Intemporelles) (1980)
Club of Rome - Große Statik (1985)

Cloudy, ambient krautrock from a one-off supergroup that included, among others, Dieter Moebius and Asmus Tietchens. A tranquil haze of synth, sax, sparse percussion, wordless vocals, chiming guitar, and chirping birds. This one's a rare case of a supergroup somehow surpassing one's inflated expectations.

Track listing:
1. Stresemannstrasse
2. Adel
3. Wattwurm
4. Vielharmonie
5. Gebremster Schaum
6. Nachaison

Weird dream

You'll also like:

Michael Rother -
Flammende Herzen (1977)

Eroc -
Eroc 3 (1979)

Michael Rother - Flammende Herzen (1977)

Related:
Can - Soon Over Babaluma (1974)

Michael Rother (of Neu!)'s heavenly first solo record. Chiming guitars, gauzy synths, and motorik beats aplenty. One of the greatest, most beautiful krautrock records in existence. I've been meaning to post something by Rother for a while now, and now given the passing of the great Jaki Liebezeit, who played drums on Rother's early albums, I pretty much have to.

Track listing:
1. Flammende Herzen
2. Zyklodrom
3. Karussell
4. Feuerland
5. Zeni

Cruising through clouds

You should also listen to:

Dreamworld -
On Flight to the Light (1980)

White Rainbow -
Sky Drips Drifts (2007)

Eroc - Eroc 3 (1979)

Instrumental krautrock splendour from Joachim Heinz Ehrig, one-time drummer of symphonic prog greats Grobschnitt. Following an intro track that's as conspicuous and confounding as that album cover, the record quickly segues into a dream-like state of psychedelic, woozily beautiful krautrock, and stays there for most of the album's duration.

Track listing:
1. Wutpickel
2. Tontillon
3. Fito Linte
4. Wolkenreise
5. Solar Plexus
6. Euer Lied
7. Falke Whips It Out
8. About My Town
9. Sunny Sunday's Sunset
10. He's Around Here
11. Crew Blues Session

Andromeda

You might also enjoy:

Gila - Gila: Free
Electric Sound (1971)

Novalis -
Brandung (1977)

Streetmark - Eileen (1977)

German prog/space rock that's equal parts Yes and Pink Floyd. Lots of keyboards/synth and warm, analogue production give Eileen a laid-back sound even during faster, technically-demanding sections.

Track listing:
1. Crazy Notion
2. Passage
3. Sea of Melted Lead
4. Tomorrow
5. Eileen
6. Dreams
7. Choral

Whatever you do

More along these lines:

Supersister -
Present from Nancy (1970)

Eloy - Silent Cries
and Mighty Echoes (1979)

Conrad Schnitzler - Rot (1973) + Blau (1974)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Giancarlo Toniutti & Conrad Schnitzler - Кулáк (Camma) (1990)

Two albums of experimental synth and way-abstract krautrock from the great Conrad Schnitzler. The world's in pretty bad shape as it is -- imagine the hellish dystopia that we'd be living in had the Germans never gotten their hands on the synthesizer.

Track listing:
-Rot-
1. Meditation
2. Krautrock
-Blau-
1. De Rebellen Haben Sich in den Bergen Versteckt
2. Jupiter

Wild space

You should also hear:

Heldon -
Electronic Guerilla (1974)

Club of Rome -
Große Statik (1985)