Cologne Attacks! A Profile of Can from 1971-1973
Krautrock's Most Inventive Group in Interstellar Overdrive
Jul 12, 2009
Over the course of history, humans have watched the skies for proof that extraterrestrial life exists. However, satellites, probes, and people sitting in fields for hours looking upward for UFOs have yet to produce any definite evidence of aliens, so maybe different methods should be employed. If music is indeed a universal language, it stands to reason that it would be helpful in locating life outside Earth. And it is music, specifically the music of the German band Can; that suggests that aliens have been on this planet for some time.
The term space rock is often applied to music that stretches the parameters of conventional rock and roll. Bands like Pink Floyd and their psychedelic peers used tons of sound effects, odd instrumentation, and a fixation on interstellar matters to convey a sense of the extraterrestrial.
However, they often fell short of title given their music because it was still rooted in recognizable elements for earthly ears. Sure, many bands almost left the planet, but the pull of rock convention was too much for them to blast off and leave Earth’s atmosphere.
Enter Can, a German band formed in the late 1960s. They recorded an album in 1969 with American vocalist Malcolm Mooney. At this time the group was certainly out there, so much so that a psychiatrist recommended that Mooney leave the group for his mental well being, but it would be his replacement Damo Suzuki that would propel Can further into the unknown on 1971’s Tago Mago , 1972’s Ege Bamyasi, and 1973’s Future Days . He would leave the group after Future Days to become a Jehovah's Witness, but these three albums stand as the band's greatest achievements.
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It was Suzuki who would distance Can from any band that considered themselves psychedelic. He was free in more ways than any other vocalist because he wasn’t bound by the conventions of language. A quick listen through Can’s releases during his tenure will reveal him singing in English, Japanese, gibberish, and occasionally backwards in any one of the three. Also, Suzuki didn’t need spacey lyrics to convey a sense of other worldliness; his delivery was enough for the task. Only his warped vocal style could turn “You’re losing your vitamin C” into an urgent threat.
As important as Suzuki was, his contributions are not the entire reason for the band’s untouchable sound. The guitars and keyboards are just as essential as vocals to Can’s work from 1971 to 1973. They left a great deal of space in the music, allowing a crisp mix where no instrument obscured any other.
The cumulative effect of the keys and guitars was to provide an atmospheric touch. This is most notable on “Sing Swan Song” on Ege Bamyasi and the majority of the album Future Days. Brian Eno may have coined the phrase “ambient” in 1979, but Can’s music nailed the concept years earlier.
With Suzuki’s vocals out in the stratosphere and the rest of the band focusing on coloring the music rather than contributing a rhythmic foundation, something would have to create a base for this aural chaos, and that base was provided by drummer Jaki Liebezeit.
His percussion eschewed traditional rock patterns for a more funk-oriented approach, most evident on the highly rhythmic album Tago Mago and songs like “Vitamin C” and “Spoon” on Ege Bamyasi. The drumming on Can’s albums is instantly hypnotic. That metronomic pulse makes for songs that, while often over ten minutes long, seem to pass in an instant.
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It is commonly said that art comes from other art. This is certainly true in rock, as bands almost always have an easily traceable genealogy that links them to their predecessors. However, exceptions to this rule do exist, and Can certainly seems to be one of them. Finding a reference point for the band is a daunting task; the blend of funky percussion, atmospheric instrumentation, and inventive vocals was without precedent in the early 1970s. Even today few artists have attempted to revisit the ground Can broke over thirty years ago. If the quest for Can’s artistic inspiration continues, Earth is not the place to focus. More than likely some distant galaxy is the source of this genre-defying act.
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