Brainticket - Voyage (1983)"Voyage" continues where "Adventure" left off with more strange sonic cosmos and amazing percussive tones and moods. Essentially "Voyage" was a live in studio jam which got carried away one evening and was captured on tape for the world to enjoy. Once again we are surrounded by the electronic genius of Joel Vandroogenbroeck and his gang of merry men. "Voyage" seems to be more devoted to exploring the percussive side of their music in sharp contrast to "Adventure" and "Celestial Ocean". Voyage Part 1 would certainly rank as one of my all time electronic Krautrock favs. 3 more bonus tracks have been included as well in the same vein as those found on "Adventure". (loserboy- www.groove.nl)

Hans Deyssenroth: e-piano, computer, synthesizer
Barney Palm: percussion
Wilhelm Seefeldt: synthesizer, computer

Joel Vandroogenbroeck: clavinet, synthesizer, flute

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Blackbirds - Touch Of Music (1971)

Amongst the earliest of Krautrock bands, The Blackbirds (like Xhol) started elsewhere before venturing on to experimental realms. In fact, they were originally a 60's pop band typical of the soul-beat era, but with a touch of the Mothers Of Invention type satire and some progressive touches. Although their debut "No Destination" had its moments, it is generally very dated and only of marginal interest. Curiously it only ever gained a UK release.

By the time of their second album "Touch Of Music", the three year gap had made a lot of difference. In fact, only one member (Werner Breinig) remained from the original line-up, and they had moved on to a classical spiced rock music of great invention, blending heavy and spacey styles with great finesse. Strong songs form the basis of most tracks, all of which are sufficiently long enough to give plenty of room for solos from flute, violin, guitar and keyboards. Stylistically The Blackbirds here come pretty close to Italian bands of the era like New Trolls, Panna Fredda, Hero, at al, (a hint of Xhol Caravan and Vanilla Fudge even more so) and they also had much in common with British bands like Skin Alley or Jody Grind. It's a shame they never made a third album!

Werner Breinig (guitar, vocals), Heinz Koop (bass), Hubert Koop (organ), Helmut Vigneron (drums) (The Crack In The Cosmic Egg)

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Dada - Dada (1971)

Only release from this British jazz/rock outfit, which will probably be of interest to fans of Elkie Brooks. She and two other members, Pete Gage and Robert Palmer, went on to form the great 70's band Vinegar Joe.

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Tritonus - Tritonus/Between The Universes (1975/1976)

Peter K. Seiler had a musical background from his university days (he studied classical music) which prompted him to form a "classical rock" trio, in the tradition of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Their first album (1975) was quite conventional for the symphonic rock genre. However, Between the Universes (1976) was a definite improvement, benefitting from Geff Harrison's vocals (ex-2066 & Then and Kin Ping Meh), catchy tunes and great keyboard arrangements (mainly synthesizers). After this, Seiler seemed to lose the interest in Tritonus, and worked increasingly with other musicians, like Michael Bundt. Check out Bundt's solo albums if you enjoy the Tritonus-style. (Cosmic Dreams At Play)

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