Damo Suzuki & Jelly Planet: Damo Suzuki & Jelly Planet

Can vocalist Damo Suzuki is a Krautrock legend and for good reason as Can were a groundbreaking band at the time. Amazingly enough, Suzuki is continuing his musical explorations recording live and totally improvised performances with likeminded experimental bands. This particular recording took place at Blubox Studio, Troisdorf, Germany in 2005 and features the vocalist improvising with the German space rock band Jelly Planet, a band certainly influenced by ‘70s Krautrock.

The disc contains only two tracks but with a total running time of almost sixty-three minutes these musicians explore plenty of spacey territory. It’s a sort of intergalactic free for all, completely entrancing and totally spontaneous. And what a trip it is.

The first track “Wildschweinbraten� has Suzuki’s abstract vocalizations, completely illegible somehow making sense within the confines of the band’s Kraut leanings. An urgently paced guitar begins the piece and slowly other instruments enter; the blips and bleeps of synths and keys and of course the unusual vocal inflections. It is both minimalistic and densely layered, with swirling synth patterns taking the listener into the deep cosmos with the best space-like intentions. It’s a very cool ride indeed for those willing to just let it happen. A few minutes in the music gets particularly trippy as the synths modulate back and forth as if space time is indeed warping. The guitar work is also about as tripped out as one can get. With “Venushügel� chopped up synth loops and a heavy bass intro as well as Suzuki’s weird vocals make this one another other worldly and completely strange offering. The Can-isms are certainly apparent.

If you enjoy the music of Can and Krautrock in general this one should have some staying power. I really enjoyed it.

Track Listing:
1. Wildschweinbraten (27:59)
2. Venushügel (34:21)

Added: March 20th 2019
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Artist's Official Site
Hits: 833
Language: english

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