British music journalists called the experimental wave of psychedelic rock that came out of West Germany in the late sixties and early seventies “krautrock”. Somewhere between the absurdist dissonant drone collages of Amon Duul and the worldbeating robot-pop of Kraftwerk sits “Ege Bamyasi” by Can - an essential slice of futuristic freak-funk fronted by a nomadic Japanese wanderer and recorded in the derelict cinema that doubled as the band’s living space, that perfectly split the difference between commerce and freethinking utopian idealism.
It’s also the 454th Greatest Album of All Time, according to Rolling Stone. This week, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd listened to it, and now they’re going to talk about it. Featuring good shouts and hot takes on everything from motorik, Das Messer, BBC 4, vagabondism, Bauhaus furniture and the Velvet Underground. All that, plus Secret Posho, Tattoo Woohoo/Tattoo Boohoo,