One of many compilations gathering highlights from the vast back catalog of reissue-heavy German label
Bureau B,
Silberland, Vol. 2: The Driving Side of Kosmische Musik 1974-1984 focuses on more rhythmic, beat-driven material. Chronologically, the road begins with
Autobahn, and the final destination is the release of
E2-E4 as well as the advent of Detroit techno. Half of the tracks on the unmixed collection are edited, providing a tight flow and a sense of continuity and fitting as many selections as possible within 80 minutes. The tracks veer between futuristic explorations, prog-rock shorn of its excesses, and proto-synth pop, drawing from a time period when the rules of electronic music were still being written.
Harald Grosskopf's "Eve on the Hill," which opens the set, has a real-time looseness to its unsteady kicks, sparkling sequencers, and gradual changes, and it's carried by its exuberance and sense of discovery. A surprisingly funky and playful
Cluster tune leads into
Conrad Schnitzler's off-the-wall "Elektroklang," with its angular rhythms, robotic vocals, and flashing synths bouncing off mirrored walls.
You's "Son of a True Star" is a mesmerizing space journey, while other upbeat cuts by the likes of
Tyndall and
Pyrolator are more like caffeinated daytime sprints.
Asmus Tietchens' "Bockwurst a la Maitresse" is a murky, queasy bad trip, while
Heiko Maile's clean, precise "Beat for Ikutaro (Tape 52)" predicts the scientific electro of acts like
Dopplereffekt. The unhinged space boogie of
Faust's "Juggernaut" and the fuzz-heavy rumbling of
Moebius & Plank's "Feedback 66" are two of the only tracks present that seem to have any obvious roots in rock & roll, and even then it's a severely mutated version. Existing on a plane of its own is
Guenter Schickert's "Puls," the dubby, aquatic opening piece from 1979's
Ueberfaellig, possibly the best Krautrock album that isn't by one of the genre's major names like
Can,
Neu!, or
Kraftwerk. The compilation ends on the highest note possible, with the ecstatic, hopeful "Auf Engelsfluegeln" from another must-hear album that
Bureau B reissued, the self-titled 1981 effort by
Deutsche Wertarbeit (
Dorothea Raukes of
Streetmark). If you've never listened to a
Bureau B release before, start with this one. ~ Paul Simpson
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