Hasse mich nicht, weil ich elektronisch bin! Moebius-Plank-Neumeier - Zero Set.


The cover of the record says it all. An African woman doing a tribal dance in a cold German underground pathway. You're not convinced yet? I first caught wind of this record back in NYC in the 90's working at Rocks in Your Head record store in Soho. It had just been reissued on CD and we had a promo copy. I popped it into the shop stereo, listened to about two minutes and immediately dismissed it as hippy, raver crap. I'm sure I immediately returned to listening to Mudhoney or Fugazi or something you need to take a bath after listening to. If I could have seen into the future, I would have seen that within a couple years I would be introduced to CAN and would learn that Kraftwerk were not just that 80s band. I hadn't yet connected the dots of house, hip hop and Krautrock.

So here I am a mere 25 years later and it jumps of the shelf asking for one more chance. Moebius & Plank are a German experimental electronic duo with three LPs under the Moebius & Plank name from 1979 to 1986. They also put out two additional collaborations one with Mayo Thompson (Ludwig's Law, 1998) from avant-garde band Red Crayola and one with Mani Neumeier (Zero Set, 1982) free jazz drummer and former member of Krautrock band Guru Guru and sometime collaborator with Acid Mother Temple

The pedigree in Moebius-Plank-Neumeier - Zero Set is a near perfect storm of Krautrock cred. Dieter Moebius (Cluster, Harmonia), Conny Plank, producer and musician extraordinaire (Kluster, Kraan, Guru Guru) and Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru) how could you possibly go wrong?? So here they are three experimental rock and electronic music pioneers from the 60's and 70's stepping off the spaceship together INTO THE Eiiiiggghhhtteeeees! Which is exactly what you get here. Zero Set has one foot in the past and one in the future. You can hear on the 1981 Moebius & Plank LP Material, the set up for what would become Zero Set. They are wearing their Krautrock jeans extra tight and they're riding into the future. The thing that sets Zero Set apart From previous Moebius & Plank records is the addition of Mani Neumeier's drumming. He adds earth to their experiments which makes the whole experience of this record (to me) the proverbial bee's knees.

If you feel like taking a trip down the rabbit hole Du Krautrock, click on the links i've included above. As usual feel free to use the comment section, share and don't forget to follow here or on FB @ The Adventures of Senor El Guapo!!







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