Gunter Schikert – Samtvogel If something can be said to fall on the lesser known side of Krautrock (itself not the most overly household friendly entity) I'd say Schikert might qualify. Though he worked with Klaus Schulze, his work is much closer to another of that
genre's lost classics Echo from A.R. and Machines which appeared in these pages not too long ago. Built around dizzying layers of guitar that swirl and zip from right brain to left brain and back again; the album is definitely a long lost classic of headspace inducing psychedelia, but combined with the motorik pulse that made German progressive music so distinctive. The fist track is just a portal to the huge slabs of sound present in "Kriegmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Holle" and the titanic closer "Wald". The three pieces seem fairly intertwined, forming a full on trip that just happens break for a few moments of breath before sliding further into universal consciousness. The truly amazing part of this album's dense end result is how painstakingly Schikert had to work to construct it; utilizing multiple tape recorders and only a two track mixer to craft the final shimmering opus. The album was reissued once before in 1981 and has lain dormant for quite some time but thankfully Wah Wah Records has stepped up to rescue it again, though only in a run of 500 so don't sleep on this already hard to find gem. Download: [MP3] Gunter Schikert - Apricot Brandy Support the artist. Buy it: HERE