“I like to make up mix tapes for sitting in the back of the van, looking out the window, to pass the time of watching motorways, hills, mountains, water and service stations going past for hours on end,” says Andy MacFarlane, guitarist for Scottish outfit the Twilight Sad. “I normally make up playlists of classic rock or songs from the Trojan Records box sets or things we grew up listening to annoy the rest of the van with, which doesn’t go down too well sometimes. Here’s a list of some krautrock songs I like that makes good travelling music. There’s was a bit of in-breeding of bands in krautrock (or collaborations, as some people call it). I’ve pointed out a few examples.”
The Twilight Sad is about to tour the U.S. and will release its second album, Forget The Night Ahead (FatCat), September 22. Download or stream one of the band’s own cosmic rock jams below.
“Reflection Of The Television” (download):
Kraftwerk “Trans-Europa Express” and “Ohm Sweet Ohm”
Kraftwerk was started by Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter. Conny Plank produced the early Kraftwerk records.
Neu! “Negativland” and “Isi”
Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother, who formed Neu!, were both in Kraftwerk in the early ’70s. Plank produced all the Neu! records.
La Düsseldorf “Silver Cloud”
After Neu! split up, Dinger started La Düsseldorf, which also featured Neu! collaborators Thomas Dinger (Klaus’ brother) and Hans Lampe. “Dinger” means “things.”
Cluster “Hollywood” and “Sowiesoso”
Cluster was formed by Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius. Plank was a member for the first album and the producer/engineer until ’78. They collaborated with a number of people like Holger Czukay (Can), Asmus Tietchens, Peter Baumann (Tangerine Dream) and Brian Eno.
Hamonia “Sehr Kosmisch” and “Hausmusik”
Harmonia was Rother from Neu! and Moebius and Roedelius from Cluster. Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru) and Eno also joined for a short time.
Can “Mushroom,” Faust “Krautrock” and Amon Düül II “Pale Gallery”
Three more bands that also had a big influence on the early development of krautrock that need to be heard on a traveling mix tape.
