Streetmark is a tight and imaginative prog-rock based group from Düsseldorf starting from the mid 70s, another hot name from the Rhineland scene. At the time of their debut Nordland, they were a five piece, consisting of guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals. An immediately noticeable aspect of Streetmark is the explosive, soulful wailing of singer Georg Buschmann, often backed by the etherial sustained notes of keyboardist Dorothea Raukes; a dynamic very much reminiscent of Novalis' debut from 3 years prior. Regarding the style of vocals I am also somewhat reminded of Jane. Buschmann is not the best in his non-native speaking English annunciations but makes up for it with his intensity and emotion (also reminiscent of Jane but somewhat more successful).
The album starts with the three-parter titled House of Three Windows, ending with an amazing Beatles cover of Eleanor Rigby; a track where Georg Buschmann's singing really shines. As is evident of any tight, skilled, and experienced band, Streetmark has a certain synergy where all five elements seem to meld together into a single entity. Every instrument very much alive, complimenting eachother and full of complexity. Track 4, Amulet Sage is one of my favorites, with all of its structural complexities, both epic and strange, reminiscent of Eloy. I would also like to reiterate how awesome that organ keyboard sounds. I'm also not sure if Buschmann is successfully hitting all of those notes but I like them anyway. In the later half, the song breaks out into this euphoric section with the lyrics "Sun is shining, there's no cloud around." It is rainbow prog euphoria like Satin Whale but with more of a classical than a blues leaning.
Italian Concert in Rock is a silly little rock n roll Baroque number that I found to be technically proficient but not particularly interesting but it's only 2 minutes in length. The album immediately picks back up with Da Capo. At this point it's readily apparent that the two leads are generally the keyboard and vocals, with guitar solos peppered in here and there. Another short track but it totally rocks.
Next is the start of the next multi-part epic titled Nordland. Section a) Waves and Visions, a communication between guitar and keyboard, combined into a magical soundscape of oceans with their jeweled reflections of the moonlight. Again rather short but sweet. I think it would have been interesting for them to pursue this one a bit further in this case. Section b) Lyster Fjord is another one of their epics and possibly my favorite track on the album. This is a case in which I'm rather frustrated not to have access to a lyric booklet as I am not very good at discerning words in general and they sound rather interesting.
Streetmark is a favorite of the triumphant, and righteous prog epics of krautrock, up there with early Eloy and Novalis. An absolutely smashing debut. 8/10
Peter Michael Hamel, hailing from Munich, Germany is a prolific man, an enthusiast of the Minimalist and the New Simplicity movements, which were perhaps at their most active in the 70s. The aim of New Simplicity was to seek a more direct and immediate approach to their audience, a rejection of the intellectual complexity of the avant-garde and possibly a sort of early anticipation of the ambient music later to come. Hamel was also the founder of the excellent krautrock group Between who made 6 LPs throughout the decade. His solo projects continue to this day. He also was a professor in composition at Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg from 1997 to 2012 and has been involved in numerous operas and orchestral compositions.
1. Storm Over Asia and Calm
2. Baliava 1
3. Baliava 2
4. Fire of Holy Eyes
5. Songs of the Dolphins
6. Sinking Sangsara
7. Aura
8. Gomorrhaga
9. Cathedral On C
His first LP 'Hamel' utilizes as eclectic a range in sound and instrumentation as his group Between. In the opening track we have wind that is followed by the xylophone and prepared piano which become the prominent elements in tracks 2 and 3. The title 'Storm Over Asia and Calm' probably being an homage to Hamel's extensive trips to Asia. Baliava 1 and 2, an interplay between xylophone and prepared piano demonstrate a sense of time that is patient and intimate. The sparse nature of these piece works, due in part to the excellent production, adequately capturing the lush overtones of the two instruments. The raw, tribal sense of rhythm is something I can imagine Mickey Hart of Grateful Dead fame would have really gotten a kick out of. It's a shame the two never collaborated, but I digress (as usual)....
In track 4, Hamel explores the wonders of the early synthesizer, multilayered with combinations of dissonant and melodic. Its title 'Fire of Holy Eyes' is suggestive of the beautiful LP cover. The composition does have some underlying elements of progression, but in terms of notation seems a bit aimless. Not that I really mind too much, because they are interesting sounds. I also dig the wordless vocals that come in later, instigating the holy "OM" vibration. The conjunction with dissonant notes is a bit strange and perhaps gets a tad bit in the way of a hypnotic transcendental state of mind. Another example of how Hamel's aesthetic sense perplexes me (I like being perplexed sometimes).
Songs of the Dolphins gives us some soothing field recordings of water combined with watery sounding synthesizers. A much more melodic and playful piece than the previous track, complete with synthetic 'dolphin' sounds. This very much reminds me of the sounds of Pete Namlook's Fax label, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was heavily inspired by Hamel's work. The resemblance in the sparse sense of time and space with magical abstract overtones is uncanny. Definitely one of my favorite tracks.
The epic 20 minute track Aura is a gorgeous proto-ambient piece, anticipatory of the sounds of Iasos 8 years later (another uncanny resemblance here). Here is where I eat my words regarding Hamel's lack of skill in melody (although I didn't want to suggest it was bad, just nothing special) for Aura is full of such beautiful harmonizations. A sustained trance-inducing synth pad overlaid by arpeggiations, reminiscent of rolling hills and mountains against a colorful horizon. By around the 8:30 mark we go into a darker territory. The clear skies are engulfed by a dark tempest complete with a synthetic wind. But through the mystic powers of divine magic, we come back to our clear horizons.
The second to last track is like a continuation of the synthetic organ sounds of Aura. It is perhaps his most compositionally dense, with few other distractions reminiscent of Klaus Schulze's 'Cyborg'. There's nothing I can really fault the track for, but I found it to be one of the more difficult pieces for me to get through, since Hamel's sense of notation doesn't move me all that much. There is a more linear, grid-like sense of rhythm unlike the intricacies of Baliava 1+2. The same goes for the closing track 'Cathedral On C', although the higher abundance of sustained drones in it make the piece more accessible for me. They don't seem like very well thought out compositions and I feel he should have either condensed these ideas or spent more time on a meaningful progression. At the same time, I feel bad for faulting anyone's sheer passion in their technology, and I can imagine how such an interest would compel someone to not mind these things as much (I'm sure there are some people out there would would enjoy 2 hours of randomly generated synth notes if it was technology they had a passion for). However, that passion doesn't seem to fully translate to the subjective ears of the listener (that being myself). BUT I digress. The album ends with the classic pitching down novelty that seems to have been popular in the 70s.
Did I mention how amazing the album art is?
Hamel's debut LP is a treat for the open minded listener who craves a sense of playful experimentation and diversity. His compositions are not dense, putting a direct emphasis on whatever elements that are currently being presented and wants the listener to meditate on their textures without distraction. The album also suggests an advanced technological ability, for the production is superb, but his sense of notation is nothing special (except maybe with Aura). I wouldn't call it an LP that ties together a theme so much as a collection of experiments. In any case, it's a worthy relic of an exciting time in proto-ambient avant-garde minimalism if you have the patience for it. Not something I would recommend to less devoted listeners unless they had those specific interests in mind. 7/10
EDIT: Upon further reflection, I feel like it's not my place to simply say "these are just a bunch of random notes, he is not very skilled in notation." because I understand what it's like as an artist to have meticulously put a lot of thought into a composition and get criticized for not putting in very much effort. I acknowledge that it's very well possible that Hamel invested plenty of personal meaning into tracks 8 and 9, but whatever meaning they might have had to the artist did not translate to my own understanding. This brings to mind arguments made by some modern classical composers like Iannis Xenakis who say that their compositions cannot fully be appreciated without understanding the math behind them. I would say that whether or not something that can't be absorbed without prior knowledge behind its logic is valid, is largely a matter of personal preference, and not necessarily something that I myself am opposed to. All I know is that, judging by my lack of further information behind the pieces, they didn't particularly grab me. I would like to be more careful in making such qualitative judgments about notation in the future. (03-25-16)
With their self-titled debut, I wouldn't consider Cravinkel to be very krautrock or prog rock. The songs are fairly straightforward in structure reminiscent of earlier 60s Psych Rock. One could argue that it's not pushing any boundaries, but oh do they dominate the classic 60s sound. They are a 4 piece, founded by guitarist Claw Krawinkel (the Discogs profile claims him to be Gert Krawinkel but the German wikipedia says Claw), with second guitarist Klaus George Meier, Rolf Kaiser on bass, and George B. Miller on drums. I think I'm being a tad bit misleading when I say that this album is relatively more straightforward and less experimental. Their songs are actually pretty intricate. Lots of sections, amazing vocal harmonies. The production is also totally solid, each instrument popping out with clarity. The 4th track 'Heaven' explores a bit of a folk vibe with some beautiful sounding hand drums. Other songs rock out with nice overdrive guitar tones reminiscent of Cream or Blue Cheer. They have been described as having some folk elements, but I don't really see it. As I stated earlier this is more classic Psych Rock with a heavy hard edge to it (Hard Rock was getting started around this time). I can imagine this kind of music having been cranked up to 11. I would also like to remark on the upbeat simplicity of the opening track 'Get a Feeling Going Round.' It makes for a great hard psych rock anthem to the spread of good vibes all round. This album sort of creeped up on me in how I didn't initially think much of it. But I found myself always coming back to it. I think that getting into this LP helped me get more into classic 60s Psych Rock like Traffic, The Zombies or The Seeds. The performances are tight. The guitarist give off that effortless impression of having played these riffs hundreds of times. Going back to those fantastic vocal harmonies I mentioned earlier, I have to say they are some of the best and most memorable I've ever heard, the seventh track 'Lonesome Road' especially. Across the board solid performance and imaginative melodies and song writing, each track being pretty unique from each other. It's no wonder why I keep coming back to this record. The only less than stellar thing I would have to say about it is that the drums and the bass merely provide a good solid foundational groove, but that's sort of to be expected with the 60s Psych Rock emphasis on vocal and guitar melodies. Cravinkel did make a more krautrock oriented record the following year after this one, but I wasn't quite as moved by it as this one. I think they shine the most with this style of songwriting. It's a shame they didn't do more of it. Maybe someday a forgotten tape reel will emerge from the depths of the past. 9/10
