Cloud Nine & The Vitamin C - Evolution of a psychedelic Band (4) (GER)

Time for the 4th part of my feature about the german psychedelic rock band CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C. This gig was recorded in a rather small venue at an University Art Festival at the "Alte Universität", Heidelberg, May 24, 1989. It was the first time of only two occasions the band was supported by substitute drummer (and multi-instrumentalist) Daniel P. Caesar. It's a rather strong performance: the playing is well done and the sound is quite good. And it's – for better or worse – a straight forward issue, less experimental than some other performances.

Highlights probably the blues song "Death Blues" with its arabian middle part and D. Engel's sad hommage "Sing A Song" to some of the lost heroes of the past...

(The picture shows l. to r.: Mike Schroeder: bs, voc, Dominik Engel: voc., keyb., CK: lightshow, Peter Schupp: g. – Daniel P. Caesar (dr.) is not shown.)

CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C -

Official Bootleg Archives Vol. 5

(live 1989) (mp3 zip, 13 tracks, 69 min, 95,4 MB)

1. Car Car - 3.17

2. Survivor - 9.13

3. I'm Lost - 4.43

4. Death Blues - 6.43

5. Angel Of Mine - 5.27

6. Annemarie - 4.24

7. Tracks Of My Tears - 4.58

8. Last Night (edit) - 2.40

9. -11. Jack o'Lantern - 14.02

12. Sing A Song - 5.05

13. Black Queen - 8.07

No longer available! But you may listen to an earlier version of Jack o'Lantern here:

 

 

The band now (December 2023) has some regular releases out, check 'em out at Bandcamp and Discogs.

 

EP: Rainfrontier 

LP: Draw Down The Distance
 

 

 

Egomania - Collage (GER, 1996)

Probably Member's most ambitious solo-work. "It's a mind blowing trip through many different spaces, mostly made by sampling and mixing different music together." (Quoted from "emptyblaukraut".) Part of the PTE (= "Psychedelic Transfer Explosion"). Read more about PTE, MEMBER and STOLLE and their various projects here.

My favourite track is: "Doors of Perception", that has some kind of a FAUST industrial feeling. But the whole thing is recommended.

Egomania - Collage (1996)
(mp3 zip, 13 tracks, 74 min, art incl., 170,2 MB)
Get it HERE!

More Member & Stolle projects: 

Egomania - Moon

and The Whole feat. Damo Suzuki

Anyone's Dreamcolour - Acid Daze (GER, 1992)

This is a true "psychedelic" recording in its literal sense. And probably the most "far out" musical work of the one-man-home-recording-project ANYONE'S DREAMCOLOUR. One improvised guitar track was recorded, while allegedly under the influence of some psychedelic substance, and later, over the next few weeks/months three more tracks were overdubbed with various guitars, voices, drums and other sounds – trying to resemble the different moods of a psychedelic experience. The result is – not surprising – an unnerving, often disturbing bizarre listening adventure. This for sure isn't straight rock music! Rather a kind of a rough soundscape, giving one the opportunity to witness an inner space travel. Some tracks, like for example "Out of Time", are heavily disjointed, resembling quite effectively the affect of psychedelic substances. 

"Butterfly", which is sandwiched between the two parts of the long "Acid Daze" song, was recorded under similar conditions around the same time on another date. This time the rhythm guitar track was recorded live together with a drum track, more or less improvised, lyrics added later.
"No Difference" was (in a more rock oriented version/arrangement) later played live by CLOUD NINE (and ORANGE) and also recorded. "Butterfly" also appeared for a short time in the ORANGE playlist.

Be warned! This recording is surely something of an acquired taste. But look at the name of this blog. Isn't that what it's all about? Different sounds for different people...

Anyone's Dreamcolour - Acid Daze (1991/92)

(mp3-zip, 3 tracks, 35 min, 49,7 MB, art + lyrics incl.)
(New Link HERE! Re-up 2022)

Catasto Elettrico - Trio (IT.)

Again a great improvisational work by the Italian jazz-prog-psych band CATASTO ELETTRICO. "Trio" is one long flow, very much in the style of SOFT MACHINE around 1970/71. Instruments used: electric piano. bass, drums. Recommended listening!

Catasto Elettrico - Trio

(mp3 zip, 8 tracks, 43 min, 98,4 MB)

Get it here! (Re-up 01/2024)

Orange - In The Garden Of The Demon King (GER. 1995)

"Never draw conclusions about a garden from the way a person looks – and especially don't do so about the inside of the arbour from the way the garden looks." 

This kid at any rate looks like straight out of a Stephen King novel...

This is the 2nd demo-recording of the german psychedelic band ORANGE, based in Frankfurt a. M., from 1995. For more info check out the older entry here.
The original ORANGE existed from 1993 until 1995. In those years the band released two demo tapes and was very active, playing many festivals in Germany (Rhein-Main area and south Germany) as well as a lot of solo performances, especially in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden.

 
This 2nd demo called "IN THE GARDEN OF THE DEMON KING" (as a kind of hommage to KING CRIMSON) was recorded in true home recording spirit on a Fostex 4-track tape machine in their reheasal place in Frankfurt (an old WW II bunker). The band played and recorded the backing tracks in first takes on two days and then overdubbed vocals, guitar parts and assorted other instruments, noises and tape effects. This probably explains the somehow tinny overall sound, but nevertheless this recording definitly has its moments, especially on the 30 min psychedelic-experimental masterpiece "NEIL'S ELEVATOR". 

 

This tracks builds up quite slowly, starting with wind sounds and a long, slow guitar solo (kind of UFO-Flying-style), before rushing into the post punk indi instrumental main theme, with lots of different parts following, culminating probably in a bizarre, surrealistic druggy story told (in german) by singer Sue Boildice (about some pigs that don't like her green, new shoes because they remind them of the green grass... and more strange things happening) – very far out. Especially because Sue's voice of the backing track shimmers through and so creates a spooky, heavily disturbing overall atmosphere. After that you can listen to some kind of hobbits freak-out party... (They even make an attempt of singing "Rosies" from the 1st demo...). The second (slow) theme follows, with Sue quoting some familiar lyrics above a PINK-FLOYD-Echoes-like backing... And this is just halfway thru the song! A heavy psychedelic roller-coaster/elevator ride indeed! Not to be missed!

In comparison with "Neil's Elevator" (by the way: also a live killer track!) the remaining songs (usually with Sue's PATTI SMITH like vocals to the front), though not bad, surely look a little pale. "Brown" and "Love in the Suffer Room" offer some kind of post grunge/indi sound, while the title track "In the Garden Of The Demon King" (formly known as "Orange" – remember "Red" by KING CRIMSON?) shows the band again in a more progressive mood. 

I added "Soul Drive", usually part of "N.E.", as a single track, 'cause it is quite a good song in its own right.

 
Again: Only around 8o tapes were originally sold at concerts or given away to friends. So this is a true rarity.
Should be listened to on headphones! Enjoy!

 

ORANGE - In The Garden Of The Demon King (1995)

(mp3 zip, 6 tracks, 58 min, 83,5 MB, artwork incl.)

1. Brown - 5.50

2. Tryin' To Be A Good Human - 6.01

3. In The Garden Of The Demon King - 8.29

4. Love In The Suffer Room - 3.12

5. Neil's Elevator - 30.54

6. BONUS: Soul Drive (edit) - 3.30

 Get it here!

Superking & The Fire Action - Hinkelficker (GER. 1992)

 

SUPERKING & THE FIRE ACTION was the homemade lofi project of Daniel P. Caesar and Sue Boildice before they both founded ORANGE with Mike S. (from CLOUD NINE) and Maxim Engl (from THE JANITORS OF LUNACY). And what a project that was! A weird mixture of various sounds and styles (including tape speed experiments) – often funny (especially when you understand german!), very experimental and sometimes quite psychedelic, with layers of different guitars (acoustic, electric, wah wah, slide, jazz guitars...) all played extremely well, then all kind of strange voices and stupid babbling ´a la Suzy Creamcheese. Everything recorded on 4 track TEAC and overdubbed again and again. So the sound here is REALLY lofi – AND I MEAN LOFI – most of the time. But don't let that stop you from exploring this great madness. Otherwise you will truely miss something!

One can hear echoes of great musicians all over: first of all FRANK ZAPPA and THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION (ca. 1968 in their UNCLE MEAT phase), then NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE (listen to "Cortez will nach Hause" meaning: "Cortez wants to go home" – 'cause he's homesick!), JIMI HENDRIX (wah wah!), early PINK FLOYD (in their Soundtrack music mood ("Desert Lovers" which by the way also features a porn movie sample)). And then there is that tasty old fashioned jazz guitar again and again!
Some tunes later reappeared in the ORANGE playlist, e. g. a rework of "Idiot in Bed" or "Rosies" (both also on their first demo), "White Autumn", "Dinosaurs", "7th Sky" and "Breathin' Soft & Slow".
For the non-german listeners: "Vorm Massa" means "In front of the shopping mall" and this is what happens there: Two old women are babbling in the worst german Pälzer slang about everyday problems, while we can hear some cars passing by. In fact we don't hear the car sounds, but the bass sound of the car hifi turned up in full blast! – The title "Hinkelficker" means "Chicken fucker".
The original version also contained some cover songs, namely "Arnold Layne", "Fire", "Bad Boy" and "We Love You", (as well as a telephone sex episode), that had to be left out.
Enjoy!

SUPERKING & THE FIRE ACTION

(1992, edited version)

(mp3 zip, 21 tracks, 75,7 MB, 54 min)

1. Desert Lovers - 1.30

2. Green Or Dead - 0.49

3. Idiot in bed - 1.25

4. H Minor Forest - 3.39

5. Idiot II - 2.35

6. Echoes - 1.22

7. Happy Birthday, Mickey - 0.28

8. Cortez will nach Hause - 4.26

9. Their Satanic Gypsy King's Request - 2.45

10. Aardvarkian Ghostbuster - 3.01

11. White Autumn - 2.36

12. Venus Byrds - 2.21

13. Earth Destruction - 3.43

14. Dinosaurs - 2.24

15. 7th Sky - Allein - 4.55

16. Rosies - 4.26

17. Vorm Massa - 1.40

18. Easy Jazzers - 1.44

19. Breathin' Soft & Slow - 4.26

20. Café 7/4 Takt - 1.37

21. Breathe 'n' Play Yer Guitar - 1.56

(New link – 04/2024) – Get it HERE!

Peace'n'Stuff - Bits & Pieces (GER 1999-2002)

 

 

PEACE'N'STUFF is a german blues and rock band in the Mannheim/Heidelberg area.

Besides playing traditional blues rock and the occasional 70s cover, PEACE'N'STUFF have always integrated several other styles into their unique mix. Their albums and setlists featured heavy rock and even punk cabaret numbers, folk tunes, rock ballads with progressive and/or psychedelic influences. Lyrics are mostly in german.

Check out their site here.

"Bits & Pieces" is a collection of songs from 1999-2002, taken from the albums "Wüstabschub" and "brummer!" sessions, featuring a huge jam at the end of the song "Ausflug", reminding even a little bit of the good ol' GRATEFUL DEAD in their prime, while especially the song "Foumo" has a kind of GOLDEN EARRING sound... Pretty interesting stuff! I especially like the occasional flute playing.

Peace'n'Stuff - Bits & Pieces (1999-2002)

(mp3 zip, 5 tracks, 42 min, 63,1 MB)

1. Foumo - 7.05

2. Orient Express - 6.47

3. Miebschutte - 5.16

4. Auf der Kippe - 9.21

5. Ausflug - 13.38

Get it here! (New link 04/2024.)

Klaus Dinger R.I.P. (1946-2008)

Sad news: Krautrock drummer Klaus Dinger died March 21st 2008, age 61.

Dinger, born in 1946 in Düsseldorf, Germany, first studied architecture before becoming an innovative rock drummer. In 1969 Dinger met jazz pianist Ralf Hütter and flutist Florian Schneider, with whom he recorded the first KRAFTWERK LP in 1970. After a brief live intermezzo with Michael Rother in the short time KRAFTWERK 3 man line-up (Schneider, Rother, Dinger) featured at the german BEATCLUB, Dinger founded NEU! with guitarist Rother. NEU! recorded three groundbreaking records between 1972 and 1975 before breaking up. In 1974 Rother founded HARMONIA and Dinger went to LA DÜSSELDORF, who in Germany became quite famous in the late 70s.

Dinger's motorik minimalistic style of drumming influenced many electronic bands and later djs – first of all the british band STEREOLAB.

The Janitors Of Lunacy - 1984-'87 (GER)

This is the third part of my series called "A VISIT TO THE DARK SIDE".

The band THE JANITORS OF LUNACY was founded in 1983 in Worms, Germany, as a dark experimental industrial band and soon moved to Berlin. Most of their songs have a real sinister atmosphere full of angst and depression and despair.

In the beginning the JANITORS were heavily influenced by THROBBING GRISTLE, but soon moved on to a greater variety of sounds. Of course there is a strong NICO and VELVET UNDERGROUND influence (the band is named after a NICO song), but one can also hear traces of SUICIDE or BAUHAUS. "We All Want To Be Loved" could easily be an early EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN track, and "L'etranger" sounds like a JOY DIVISION instrumental outtake. 
The singer sometimes resembles a sedated late JIM MORRISON (e.g. on "Back to the 50ies"), while the girl singer most of the time sounds EXACTLY like NICO. Really amazing!

 
My personal favourite tracks are "Stanley Kubrick's Diaries" and "The Sweat of Fear in Lying Beds".

 
In late '87 the band simply vanished from the German Underground scene, and guitarist Maxim Engl later went on to ORANGE and EPHEMEROL in the Frankfurt/Rhein-Main area.

The Janitors of Lunacy - 1984-'87

(mp3 zip, 14 songs,100,4 MB, 73 min)

01. L'etranger - 4.01

02. Twenty Three - 2.39

03. Today (version 1) - 3.04

04. We All Want to be Loved - 6.30

05. The Long Tomorrow - 8.34

06. Back To The 50ies - 4.37

07. Stanley Kubrick's Diaries - 7.11

08. Catholic Girl - 3.10

09. Today (version 2) - 2.26

10. The Sweat Of Fear in Lying Beds - 11.16

11. Stormy Weather - 7.50

12. Won't You Try - 3.23

13. When A White Swan Meets A Black - 4.42

14. Alia - 3.20

Get it here!

SOME STATISTICS

• The most downloaded files in the first 3 months were:
  
• 
  
• 1. The Whole & Damo Suzuki - Live in Offenbach (2007)
  
• 2. We're Late For Class – "Set The Controls For The Heart of The Sun" As Played By Vanilla Fudge Imitating Iron Butterfly When Fudge Were Forced To Open For Butterfly At The Fillmore West After In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Went Top Ten (2007)
  
• 3. Light Seems Dark - Psychedelic Virgin (1999)
  
• 4. Cloud Nine - 1992
  
• 5. The People's Tongue - present Sonny Bono's Favorites (2007)
  
• 
  
• Close to 700 downloads and just a couple of comments. Well, psych-heads, you can do better! Come on! Let me know what you liked (and what you didn't)!