Sula Bassana is the guitarist in Electric Moon, who are probably my favourite practitioners of the ‘jam-band’ aesthetic. He’s a busy boy, as not only does he run Sulatron records, he actually has quite the back catalogue of solo releases, of which the above mentioned and pictured is the latest. He also plays in Krautzone and Zone Six.
He’s dropped his guitar for this one as this one is almost entirely electronic using mostly vintage (therefore analogue, presumably) instruments. The tunes have that propulsive rhythm associated with that area of the world that we’ve come to know and love, but also a really deep, meditative and trance like feel. I’m not talking Ibiza here.
Now for a bit of a rant – until the end of last year, I was happily using the word ‘krautrock.’ But now I actually think about it, I’m not going to use it. Given that the term ‘kraut’ was a derogatory term for Germans used by their enemies in the world wars, I should think it would be obvious why. I’ll stick to ‘kosmiche’ instead, for now, even though that’s in danger of getting nearly as overused as ‘psychedelic.’ Genre labels, eh? Can’t live with ’em.
Now, I wonder how the Germans actually feel about the word? I mean, one of Sula’s projects is called Krautzone. Perhaps they’ve decided not to be offended, simply decided to use/reclaim the word and let things be. Maybe the word was never offensive to start with and we weren’t imaginative enough to come up with a more offensive insult. Any Germans out there like to offer me their thoughts? There is always the distinct possibility that I’m being an over-sensitive, privileged middle class wanker here by trying to impose a ‘thou-shalt-not’ that isn’t actually necessary. But there’s always the possibility that I’m not.
Rant over.
Soundbergs 