Zuckerzeit

Two things: first, if you haven't stopped by the Painted Lady in Hamtramck lately, you should. Second, you should listen to more Kraut Rock. There, I said it.

At the Painted Lady, the cheap PBR, Blatz, and Old Milwaukee still flows freely (at a price). The Leroux Blackberry Brandy and Sparks also flows freely when the latter is in stock. When I was in there last night, Nick was behind the bar, Andy the owner was cooking up some cheese fondue, Lou was holding down the fort, and Tim Vulgar was playing the records.

That's where the Kraut Rock comes into play. Tim was playing something that I really liked and I asked him what it was. He passed the CD case over to me and I saw that it was "The Faust Tapes" from Faust. I have that. I just didn't know it. Okay, I did, but I hadn't listened to it very much. Months ago I acquired several Kraut Rock albums through an ex-girlfriend (thank you, by the way), and I still haven't sat and listened to all of them yet.

So now I'm sitting at the office listening to Faust (as well as Cluster and Neu!), and a co-worker asked what it was. I didn't expect that, but then I realized that it was the track "Untitled: Rudolph II" from Faust. It's a short piano thing - maybe a minute long. But she really liked it. Then I explained to her that the track she liked was probably one of the 'easiest' songs from the band and that everything else is way fucking out there. I like arhythmic and atonal music.

In the time I was there last night, Tim was pulling out a lot of the more obscure stuff that has come to sound like my idea of mainstream radio. Gong, Neu!, Marc Bolan, Faust, as well as some stuff where I don't know the artist info, but I know it when I hear it. He and his former co-conspirator DJ Nai Sammon are almost entirely responsible for my interest in Kraut Rock. But that was almost ten years ago. And I've acquired a lot more music in that time.

Go here for a really good wikipedia article and list of Kraut Rock bands. Then go here to check out what's happening at the Painted Lady.