Various Artists - Gespensterland (2023)

This is superb - Hamburg’s krautrock caretakers cast a butterfly net over Germany’s Hidden Reverse with grimoire of contemporary, folkwise neo-kraut spells by Brannten Schnüre, Baldruin, Kirschstein, Freundliche Kreisel and Balint Brösel

Over the past decade an occult impetus has spawned a new movement of folk music and unheimlich electronics in the German undergrowth. Comparable to the emergence of post-industrial acts such as NWW, C93 or Coil in early ‘80s UK, via Nico, and more acutely the preceding, seismic shift of original krautrock and kosmiche pioneers in the ‘60s, who were understandably looking to move beyond traditional music tainted by previous generations, this new cohort seeded a peculiar, against-the-grain style of songcraft that runs counter to contemporary german traditions of minimal techno and tweetronica.

‘Gespensterland’ now appears as an excellent stab at summing up this new scene, focusing on its key proponents with a heady, slow burning and psychedelic brew of lysergic folk and spangled, lo-fi, rhythm-driven electronics certain to prompt further research by inquisitive souls. Opening with Freundliche Kreisel’s possessed, dub-webbed cover of a traditional whose name escapes us (my mum will kill me for this), the set sashays spindly lines of inquiry between Baldruin’s oneiric vignette ‘Reich der Illusionen’, Diablo soundtrack-esque ‘Elektrische Kräuter’ and the mushied tingle of ‘In heimlichen Winkeln’. There’s deeply eerie songcraft of Low Company alum, Brannten Schnüre with the hobbled trot of ‘Disco’, and their evocation of entering a fugue state in Aldi on ’Supermarkt’, while Kirschstein also have us by a thread with the definitive ‘Futura Narkotica’, and Freundliche Kreisel impress again with the C93-like ‘Spannung’ and melting music box of ‘Entwirklichun’.

Get the mushies in and make yourself comfortable for a great trip.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Freundliche Kreisel - Gespensterland (2:01)
1.02 - Kirschstein - Komet über Sch(r)attenberg (2:16)
1.03 - Baldruin - Reich der Illusionen (2:10)
1.04 - Kirschstein - Ach, Du große Nachtmusik (3:07)
1.05 - Freundliche Kreisel - Abbild (2:59)
1.06 - Baldruin - Elektrische Kräuter (3:14)
1.07 - Kirschstein - Futura Narkotica (2:34)
1.08 - Brannten Schnüre - Ich versäum‘ doch nichts (1:20)
1.09 - Kirschstein - Mouches Volantes oder die tanzenden Mücken in den kristallischen Gebilden des Menschenauges (2:56)
1.10 - Kirschstein - Gold der Liebe (3:06)
1.11 - Brannten Schnüre - Supermarkt (3:34)
1.12 - Freundliche Kreisel - Spannung (3:13)
1.13 - Baldruin - In heimlichen Winkeln (2:28)
1.14 - Balint Brösel - Disco (3:42)
1.15 - Freundliche Kreisel - Entwirklichung (1:22)