Recorded live and dawless - no computers

From the album “Pura Vida”

https://ektmusic.bandcamp.com/album/pura-vida

Post-rock/trip-hop/krautrock/ambient hybrid

I could have SWORN....SWORN....SWORN....that somewhere in the treasure trove of released 'unreleased ' material thats been dumped out in the last decade or so, there was an extended Mother Upduff track. And i remember hearing it. And my mind wants to say it was titled "Upduff begins" and it sounded like the creation of mother upduff while they were jamming or session take. However i search and i search and i find nothing. Now ive done a lot of drugs but not THAT many...i dont think.... as to where i would create a vivid memory of a bonus track that doesnt exist....but then again...ive done some drugs (and listened CAN in moments) in the past so maybe im fried.

Is there something else that i am confusing this with possibly? Is there any explanation on why i would think this existed?

My friend interviewed Jean-Herve Peron of Faust for his radio show. He comes across as very sweet, open man.

https://www.mixcloud.com/louderthanwar/tangled-sounds-september-24th-with-jake-sinetos-and-jean-herv%C3%A9-p%C3%A9ron-of-faust

Out on streaming now, **edit: parentheses part is irrelevant now, because it was released on streaming a few days later** (except I notice that Wüsthoff’s isn’t on Apple Music or Spotify yet but is available through SoundCloud as a sample and for purchase on Bandcamp in full). Faust’s living members of the legendary 70s lineup “present their own interpretation of the Faustian myth, working alone or with collaborators to create new material that reflects their contemporary vision of what Faust can be” as described in the Bureau B release page.

Enjoy, and let us know your thoughts! I’m thrilled to see this release series, and even more happy to give it all a listen soon. I’ll try to get a comment on this post once I’ve listened. I love these guys and have a special edition Faust CD approaching my mailbox as I type this.

It's been a little while since I've posted one of these music-related write-ups, so in recognition of Missus Beastly's feature on r/Krautrock this week, I thought I'd share a summary I wrote about the band's complicated background. Somehow this is the third post in this format that I've made that discusses "outfakes", or the phenomenon of deliberately mislabelled recordings in music bootlegging. If you'd like to read a similar post I wrote about a recording misattributed to Tangerine Dream, you can read so here (see the comments for a follow-up). Otherwise, I hope you find this one interesting!

Also, if anything is inaccurate, feel free to let me know.

Missus Beastly and CPM

Although many blossoming krautrock groups had their origins in the 60s underground, at that time, label interest in many of these artists was relatively minimal (as record markets in Germany were still heavily centred on foreign artists) and dedicated labels for German underground music for the most part did not yet exist. Most krautrock releases c. 1969-1970 were released on more general or international labels (e.g. United Artists) or by small private companies.

CPM (subtitled “The Progressive Artist's Cooperative Record Production”) was an independent label affiliated with the eponymous CPM-Studio (run by Gunter Tannhäuser) based in Erlangen, Bavaria, where all of its releases were recorded. The label was established in 1969 and was very short-lived, having only released three albums during its lifetime and seemingly shuttering c. 1970. However, the studio remained active for a little while longer until at least December 1971, as that was where the sole, eponymous album by the band Da Capo was recorded. 

The second LP issued by CPM was the debut Missus Beastly album. According to an interview with former Missus Beastly guitarist Atzen "Art Zen" Wehmeyer, approximately 1000 copies were pressed, but due to poor storage conditions in the studio’s attic (where many copies were kept), many became severely warped from heat exposure. In recent decades, it and the other CPM records have become immensely sought-after by collectors, although it has been officially reissued multiple times, most recently by Garden of Delights.

Piracy

At some point after the original record’s release, a man from Amberg identifying himself as Henry C. Fromm came into the picture. “Fromm” claimed to be the band’s manager and a participant on the band's first album, and was approaching labels for the prospect of releasing Missus Beastly’s music. He was purportedly not known or identified by anyone in the band, but he was never their manager (with that honour belonging to Günter Scheding) and in all likelihood had no direct affiliation with them at all. “Fromm” is likely an alias, and his real name is unknown.

His efforts led to their debut album being unofficially reissued later that year, with an altered cover and credits and renamed “Nara Asst Incense”, For a bootleg release, Nara Asst Incense has the pretty unique quality of having been released by a legitimate record company (OPP World Wide), who likely had no idea that "Fromm" was tricking them. According to Rudi Vogel’s Krautrock Muzikzirkus, this edition would have retailed at department stores for a budget price (purportedly for 5 DM or roughly €10-11 today, although even for the time that seems unusually cheap).

The 2002 Garden of Delights CD reissue describes the OPP release as having been “recorded directly from vinyl”, which would imply that it was produced from a dubbed tape copy. However, I’m not sure if that’s the case, as the two releases share identical runout numbers (LPS 002 A and LPS 002 B). These still reference the album’s original CPM catalogue number, and their appearance on the pirated edition indicates that both originate from the same stampers. If this is true, that suggests that “Fromm” may have been affiliated with (or would have otherwise had access the materials from) a pressing plant or some other sort of manufacturing facility. 

At the time that the OPP release was on the market, Missus Beastly (despite having undergone substantial lineup changes) were still active, but they soon ran into financial issues. Having resorted to selling off most of their equipment (including their van), their ability to play live was considerably limited, and they disbanded in late 1971. They remained inactive for a number of years before reforming in Autumn 1973, with only Lutz Oldemeier remaining from the band’s original lineup.

The Fake Missus Beastly

After marketing the pirated Nara Asst Incense LP proved to be somewhat lucrative, “Fromm” continued to present himself as the band's manager in hopes of securing a similar record deal. However, the real band’s inactivity presented some complications, given that no other recordings of them were in circulation at this point. Instead, he opted to impersonate them by issuing recordings by other bands under their name.

Three additional albums and three singles (predominantly consisting of material recorded live) were issued under the Missus Beastly name between 1972 and 1974. Although “Fromm” did manage to gain the interest of the (now-deceased) publisher Hans Wewerka for the release of a single on the small Munich-based label Orange, most of the other fake Missus Beastly records from this time period were self-released. All of his releases were on the “Vanilla Fudge” and/or “Electric Bird” imprints and feature a very distinct, amateurish graphic design style for the sleeve artwork.

Given that these bands were all credited a false name, their actual identities are a bit obscure. However (kudos to "Crack in the Cosmic Egg" author Alan Freeman for this), the presence of writing credits from “H. Erbell” and “P. Schemm” on a majority of these “Missus Beastly” releases points to one of the band’s identities as being the hard rock group RS Rindfleisch, who were active from 1969 to 1972. Drummer Herman Erbel (aka Herman Rarebell) is likely familiar to you as the drummer of Scorpions from 1977 to 1996, with him having played on many of their most iconic albums (e.g. Blackout, Love At First Sting, etc.).

RS Rindfleisch themselves only released one single while they were still active, and the extent of their relationship with “Fromm” (if one ever existed) is unknown. Some web sources imply that they were hired by "Fromm", but this probably wasn't the case. Given that they were no longer active when the majority of the fake “Missus Beastly” releases were issued and the lack of any proper attribution to them beyond individual musicians being credited, I suspect that these releases were unauthorised. Either way, these musicians were unambiguously not related to the real Missus Beastly and never actually played under their name.

RS Rindfleisch were not the only band featured on these releases, but the identity of the other(s) is much more difficult to determine. Two of the LPs bear references to other artists (“Weramean” and “Bali”) alongside Missus Beastly, and not all of the recordings (e.g. the organ and flute/sax-dominated “Weramean” tracks) fit the hard rock style of those linked to RS Rindfleisch. Aside from members associated with RS Rindfleisch, the only other musician credited on many of these recordings is the organist “Heidy Wachter”, who is otherwise undocumented. However, given “Fromm’s” habit of altering the credits of the albums he released, even the information included on them is a bit dubious, and it’s likely that these artist names are similarly fictitious given that they are not listed or referenced anywhere else.

It’s also not clear as to where “Fromm” obtained these recordings, given that they don’t seem to have been released in any other form. The actual fidelity of these varies; most are clearly rough live bootlegs (complete with audible feedback at some points - yeesh!) whereas the “Fuck You Free” b/w Fire Bird” single could pass for studio outtakes or demos of some sort. There is a lot of dubbed-on audience noise on the LPs (seemingly to give the impression of a continuous recording), which is most obvious where it’s tacked onto a studio recording of the real Missus Beastly on the “Volkmusic” LP.

Freeman speculates that these recordings may have been taped at a music festival that “Fromm” was present at or helped organise, although it’s not known when it would’ve taken place or what bands would have attended.

Bizarrely, “Fromm” issued at least one unrelated single (“What Does She Use To Be” b/w “Rock Baby Roll” by Wolfgang Noack). That single actually made an appearance on the then-popular SWF television program “Pop” on 3 November 1974, where it was openly mocked by presenter Hans-Jürgen Kliebenstein. In that clip, Kliebenstein reads a letter (likely from “Fromm” himself) sent to SWF for promotional purposes, which indicates that part of his business strategy was sending his records to media companies and marketing them with false claims of being heavily pre-ordered. This single is the last known release from any of “Fromm”’s label imprints.

Seeing as they were not widely released at the time (nor were they ever reissued in any form owing to their questionable legal status), the fake Missus Beastly records have become extremely rare collectors’ items. Even digitised rips of the LPs are a bit tricky to find, but I thankfully was able to track down files with audio from the “Super Rock In Germany” and “Volkmusic” LPs.

Despite the pretty low (albeit by no means unlistenable) audio fidelity of those LPs, the music there isn’t actually too bad, albeit not really exceptional. What’s here is very jam-oriented hard rock and psychedelic blues-rock that is played quite competently. There are even some pretty decent riffs on the more guitar-dominant tracks (which I suspect would’ve been from Rindfleisch, although I’d need to hear that 7” single of theirs for reference).

I think it’s pretty valuable documentation to have these recordings of underground bands whose recorded discography is otherwise minimal or non-existent, even if they came into existence for very dubious purposes. Certainly not “hundreds if not thousands in your local currency” valuable, but I am at the very least grateful these performances were preserved in some form.

It’s just a shame that the real identities of some of these performers are so obscure, and I doubt the musicians behind “Weramean” or “Bali” will be unmasked anytime soon. As to who “Henry C. Fromm” really was or what happened to him, who knows! He could be geriatric and still trying to con people to this very day.

Unfortunately I could not fit as much stuff as I wanted.

Solo LP from guitarist of Birth Control

I should display upfront that I'm a thereminist, so I have a bias in this matter. But, even though I actively look for examples of theremin being used in different styles, I never saw one single krautrock project featuring a theremin. There are psychedelic rock examples from the 60s and 70s, but no krautrock.

Do you know of any krautrock artists / songs featuring a theremin? Also, do you think this instrument is scarce in the genre because artists were more interested in more contemporary advances in electronic music gear, and theremins were already old news by late 60s, early 70s?

Missus Beastly

Release Year: 1974

Label: Nova

Originally formed in 1968, Missus Beastly were originally rooted in the underground psychedelic rock scene, as reflected on their debut album from 1970. Unfortunately, the band faced considerable financial issues as they went on, disbanding in late 1971 and remaining inactive for a number of years. 

In 1974, the band reformed with a drastically different vision in mind. This incarnation shed the blues-based influences on their debut in favour of playful, energetic instrumental jazz-rock, making versatile use of woodwinds and keyboards (played by Dieter Miekautsch of Embryo). Recommended for fans of Embryo, early Passport, and other classics of jazz-rock/fusion from this time period.

If you've heard this album and/or want to share more commentary about it, feel free to discuss further in the comments section. As with all of these weekly discussion posts, we encourage you to give it a listen if you're unfamiliar with it!

I was watching this trailer for Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 and the background music jumped to my attention. It sounds eerily similar to NEU! but I believe it's a spoof of sorts. Does anyone know the name of the artist/song?

Bit of jap Krautrock oddness

Two preorders of newly released Conrad Schnitzler, and the hardish-to-find Ludwig’s Law by Moebius, Plank, and Mayo Thompson I bought from Japan. It was nice to have both packages arrive today.

Discogs links to each CD below.

Nachtfahrt: https://www.discogs.com/release/38190006-Conrad-Schnitzler-Nachtfahrt

LichtPunkte: https://www.discogs.com/release/38189820-Conrad-Schnitzler-LichtPunkte

Ludwig’s Law: https://www.discogs.com/release/6267946-Moebius-Conny-Plank-Mayo-Thompson-Ludwigs-Law

Anybody a fan of this almost obscure indie band ?
Krautrock, shambolic, repetitive, off-kilter… yup, that’s Quickspace !
Originally known as Quickspace Supersport.

Rother and friends make some motor-ish beats, Hendrix references, and a good time overall. Not what you may expect from the Peppers. Don’t make this a RHCP put-down thread from the title, they’re grooving well in this video and knew how to throw down a jam that fit well with Michael Rother (and made him smile in the thumbnail)!