The Krauts are Alright

Last night I caught a BBC4 documentary about Krautrock. The entire shebang started off with the stark, entrancing 1st track off of Popol Vuh’s soundtrack for Werner Herzog’s Aguirre: The Wrath of God. (It’s called Aguirre I, in case you want to hunt it down.) Centuries back in my very first post for the NAP, I wrote about my love of Popol Vuh, and for all intents and purposes, whenever I do that, I am first referring to that very piece of music. I love a lot of the Vuh catalogue, but that album (and by extension, that track), is something I continue to enjoy immensely.

The documentary itself wasn’t too bad. I enjoy the subject matter a great deal, so the fact that the show felt a bit rushed, and was in no way what one might consider comprehensive, ultimately was okay. I think it does what it set out to do — to turn people on to the amazing music that came out of Germany in the late 60s through much of the 70s (and on in some instances).

Generally, whenever I think of BBC documentaries, what I tend to imagine is Sir Richard Attenborough prattling his way through some hi-def footage of a Darwin’s Beetle hoisting its massive jaws though the air on its search for a mate, or some such shit. I would put live footage of Can rocking out with Damo Suzuki, blasted out of his bell-bottoms, or a current clip of the otherworldly-voiced Renate Knaup chatting about being pissed that her Amon Duul II bandmates were willing to allow Baader-Meinhoff Gang members to shack up with them pretty far down my list.

Shows you what I know.

There’s some good footage of very early Kraftwerk, before they went pure electronic. So far before, in fact, they basically sound exactly like Neu, a Kraftwerk offshoot that produced one of the best rock records ever in any genre (their first), if you ask me. There’s also some later shots of one of the guys from Popol Vuh talking about recording the very track I love so much. Honestly, the guy sounds like a nut as he reminisces about Vuh head man Florian Fricke’s locating a mysterious new instrument “Nobody has ever heard of,” in Vienna.

The instrument? A Mellotron. I’m pretty sure Brian Wilson has heard of them. But I digress.

There are bits about Tangerine Dream, including some great shots of their epic walls of analogue synths back during their infamous live shows. There’s also some fairly amusing shots of modern-day Faust as they create some sort of impromptu, pastoral Neubauten banging around, comprised entirely out of some very tribal drumming coupled with a cement mixer with rocks in it.

There’s some pretty funny stuff with Iggy Pop talking about going grocery shopping with the hyper-Teutonic Klaus Schulze, and there’s also some good stuff about Brian Eno, Bowie and the whole Low era which owes so much to Berlin and Krautrock.

Yeah — essential.

The showed is cribbed. But to be fair, in order to really give bands like Neu or Kraftwerk or Faust or Tangering Drean or Can or Popol Vuh, etc . . . their proper due, you would need several hours and undoubtedly a budget no studio would ever approve.

I guess the biggest critique I have is that the show doesn’t really reach a stopping point, it just sort-of meanders off. But, you know, in retrospect, it’s actually a fair way of viewing Krautrock in general. Most of the bands are either still around in some incarnation, or else the members are still very much active in creating music.

Whatever. I enjoyed it.

I wish I could remember where I found the show. If I remember, I promise I’ll let you guys know.