Holger Czukay | ||
| Allmusic Biography : A founding member of the enormously influential Krautrock group Can, Holger Czukay was one of the pivotal underground figures of his era; over the course of his long, expansive career, Czukay successfully bridged the gap between pop and the avant-garde, pioneering the use of samples and exploring the significance of world music on Western culture. Czukay was born in Gdansk on March 24, 1938. After falling in love with music at a young age, he spent his formative years studying to be a composer and conductor, but his ideas were frequently too radical for mainstream tastes; after being disqualified from one jazz festival for his "unclassifiable music," he was later expelled from Berlins Music Academy for similar artistic insolence. Under the tutelage of avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, Czukay continued to refine his ideas, and soon became a teacher himself; through student Michael Karoli, he gained his first exposure to performers like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Velvet Underground. After picking up the bass, Czukay teamed with Karoli, fellow Stockhausen protégé Irmin Schmidt, drummer Jaki Liebezeit, and American-born vocalist Malcolm Mooney, and in early 1968, the group Inner Space was formed. Quickly renamed Can, they released their debut, Monster Movie, in 1969, the first in a series of visionary albums establishing the band as one of the truly seminal artists of the period. At much the same time, Czukay teamed with Rolf Dammers to release an LP titled Canaxis 5, instituting both primitive sampling techniques (achieved with tape splices) and worldbeat influences; sculpted from thousands of recordings dubbed from short-wave radio broadcasts, the album employed samples from a number of international sources, and consequently positioned Czukay as an early proponent of world music appropriation. After 1976s Flow Motion, Can disbanded, and three years later Czukay issued his debut solo effort, Movies, a marked refinement of his short-wave sonic collage techniques. In addition to critical raves, the record won considerable interest throughout the musical community, and Czukay subsequently began work on a number of outside projects: in addition to playing on Eurythmics 1981 debut, In the Garden, he teamed with Jaki Liebezeit and bassist Jah Wobble for the LP Full Circle and the club hit "How Much Are They." Through Wobble, Czukay also met the Japanese singer Phew, and along with Liebezeit and producer Conny Plank, they recorded the 1982 album Phew. Czukays next official solo release was 1982s On the Way to the Peak of Normal, another collaboration with Wobble assembled from sessions with the Dusseldorf-based band S.Y.P.H., and was followed by 1984s Der Osten Ist Rot and 1987s Rome Remains Rome (featuring the controversial "Blessed Easter," which contained a sample of Pope John Paul II). However, Czukay spent the majority of the mid-decade involved in a variety of production work. In 1988 he teamed with David Sylvian for the lovely Plight and Premonition; after the duo reunited the following year for Flux + Mutability, Czukay re-formed Can to record a new studio LP, Rite Time. Apart from the 1991 solo effort Radio Wave Surfer and 1993s Moving Pictures, Czukay spent much of the 90s removed from performing, focusing instead on production work before releasing Good Morning Story (his first solo album in six years) in 1999. La Luna, featuring Czukays wife, vocalist U-She, followed in 2000, and in 2003 Czukay again collaborated with U-She to release The New Millennium. Czukay was devastated by U-Shes death in July 2017. He died in September of that year at age 79; his body was discovered in his Weilerswist, Germany apartment, a living space that had previously served as Cans Inner Space Studio. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 19 Title: Movies Released: 1979 Tracks: 4 Duration: 40:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Cool in the Pool (04:54) 2 Oh Lord Give Us More Money (13:24) 3 Persian Love (06:25) 4 Hollywood Symphony (15:18) |
| Movies : Allmusic album Review : Holger Czukays first post-Can solo album finds the bass player exploring prog rock jams with varied instrumentation, song-oriented lyrics, and media samples from film, television, and short-wave. It was the samples that put Czukay in the same category as David Byrne and Brian Eno: an art rocker exploring the early days concurrently with early hip-hop pioneers (or alternately, a white man exploiting the culture of the third world, depending on who you read). On "Persian Love," Czukay backs up clips of an Iranian singer recorded off the short-wave with lilting guitar and keyboard riffs that sparkle like light. The album is all pleasant, playful textures, with little of the darkness that Can dallied with. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 19 Title: How Much Are They? Released: 1981 Tracks: 4 Duration: 20:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 How Much Are They? (04:48) 2 Wheres the Money? (05:02) 3 Trench Warfare (06:45) 4 Twilight World (04:20) |
 | Album: 3 of 19 Title: Full Circle Released: 1982 Tracks: 6 Duration: 40:51 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 How Much Are They? (04:51) 2 Wheres the Money? (05:03) 3 Full Circle R.P.S. (No. 7) (10:57) 4 Mystery R.P.S. (No. 8) (08:47) 5 Trench Warfare (06:50) 6 Twilight World (04:21) |
 | Album: 4 of 19 Title: Snake Charmer Released: 1983 Tracks: 5 Duration: 31:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Snake Charmer (06:12) 2 Hold On to Your Dreams (08:38) 3 It Was a Camel (05:45) 4 Sleazy (03:46) 5 Snake Charmer (reprise) (06:54) |
 | Album: 5 of 19 Title: Der Osten Ist Rot Released: 1984 Tracks: 10 Duration: 39:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Photo Song (03:40) 2 Bankel Rap (05:28) 3 Michy (03:41) 4 Rhonrad (01:36) 5 Collage (03:29) 6 Esperanto Socialiste (01:40) 7 Der Osten ist rot (06:19) 8 Das Massenmedium (03:56) 9 Schaue vertrauensvoll in die Zukunft (02:22) 10 Träum mal wieder (07:25) |
 | Album: 6 of 19 Title: Rome Remains Rome / Der Osten ist rot Released: 1987 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:08:05 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop (Rome Remains Rome) (03:54) 2 Blessed Easter (Rome Remains Rome) (08:55) 3 Sudetenland (Rome Remains Rome) (07:22) 4 Hit Hit Flop Flop (Rome Remains Rome) (03:36) 5 Perfect World (Rome Remains Rome) (10:33) 6 Music in the Air (Rome Remains Rome) (05:16) 7 Der Osten ist rot (Der Osten ist rot) (06:18) 8 Massenmedium (Der Osten ist rot) (03:57) 9 Photo Song (Der Osten ist rot) (03:42) 10 Rhönrad (Der Osten ist rot) (01:38) 11 Michy (Der Osten ist rot) (03:42) 12 Esperanto Socialiste (Der Osten ist rot) (01:39) 13 Träum mal wieder (Der Osten ist rot) (07:28) |
 | Album: 7 of 19 Title: Plight & Premonition Released: 1988-03-21 Tracks: 2 Duration: 34:51 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Plight (The Spiralling of Winter Ghosts) (18:30) 2 Premonition (Giant Empty Iron Vessel) (16:21) |
| Plight & Premonition : Allmusic album Review : This is a collaboration between David Sylvian, frontman for Japan, and Holger Czukay, the bassist for Can. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 19 Title: Flux + Mutability Released: 1989 Tracks: 2 Duration: 37:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Flux (A Big, Bright, Colourful World) (16:57) 2 Mutability (“A New Beginnning Is in the Offing”) (20:59) |
| Flux + Mutability : Allmusic album Review : David Sylvian and Holger Czukay are fairly eclectic and diverse musicians. In the European ambient scene, they are fixtures. Flux + Mutability is an album with two long-form compositions. "Flux" is "a big, bright, colorful world" and "Mutability" is "a new beginning...in the offing." These pieces are deep, expansive atmospheres with eerie samples and vacuous walls of sound. The second piece features only guitars, keyboards, and an African flute. The first piece has a much wider sound. It is a safe bet that it has the only ambient flugelhorn ever (by Markus Stockhausen). The real essence of this disc comes from the sound design, mixing, and processing. Sylvian and Czukay present this collection of atmospheres as a tight and cohesive soundscape. The gentle sway of the ambience is deep and comfortable. There are no dark overtones. Fans of Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Markus Reuter, and Liquid Mind will like this CD. It is an important selection for fans of electronic minimalism. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 19 Title: On the Way to the Peak of Normal Released: 1990 Tracks: 6 Duration: 36:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Ode to Perfume (13:49) 2 Fragrance (04:13) 3 On the Way to the Peak of Normal (07:33) 4 Witches Multiplication Table (04:55) 5 Two Bass Shuffle (02:18) 6 Hiss N Listen (03:51) |
| On the Way to the Peak of Normal : Allmusic album Review : After setting the template for sampling and exotic cutnpaste recording techniques on his debut 1980 album, Movies, former Can member Holger Czukays second album, On the Way to the Peak of Normal, is the album where his fantastic blend of world music, crackly vocal samples, and incredible improvisational vision came together. However, his sophomore effort carried more avant-garde features than its predecessor, as the album opener and title track demonstrates. The Grönland vinyl issue contains four songs and features the Conny Plank-produced "Witches Multiplication Table," a track whose dark maelstrom of supernatural twitchiness beguiles in a hypnotic manner. This is a must for fans of Can and Czukay. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 19 Title: Radio Wave Surfer Released: 1991 Tracks: 13 Duration: 34:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Rhine Water (01:06) 2 It Aint No Crime (04:26) 3 I Get Weird Dreams (03:39) 4 Saturday Night Movie (02:38) 5 Dr. Oblivion (00:49) 6 We Can Fight All Night (01:23) 7 Get It Sweet (02:13) 8 Ride a Radio Wave (05:36) 9 Atmosphere Tuning (03:20) 10 Voice of Bulgaria (01:50) 11 Late Night Radio (03:42) 12 Through the Freezing Snow (01:42) 13 Encore (02:22) |
 | Album: 11 of 19 Title: Moving Pictures Released: 1993 Tracks: 6 Duration: 44:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Longing for Daydreams (05:23) 2 All Night Long (05:02) 3 Radio in an Hourglass (05:58) 4 Dark Moon (04:51) 5 Float Space (03:18) 6 Rhythms of a Secret Life (20:15) |
| Moving Pictures : Allmusic album Review : Inspired by "non-existing atmospheric disturbance" films, MOTION PICTURES is actually Czukays quasi-sequel to MOVIES, his classic 1979 LP. Long recognized as perhaps the oddest and most adventurously minded member of Can, Czukay has created a broad solo catalogue of unfamiliar, adjunct music with a sorcerers touch. Besides his trusty bass, Czukay has a fascination with--and a masters understanding of--the studio as instrument. His most provocative audio collages are designed via tape splicing, imaginative mixing, and (in the final stage) physical production. While not as cinematic in nature as MOVIES, MOVING PICTURES benefits from the more undeniably ethnic sensibilities of stalwart colleagues Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit, Michael Karoli, and a gaggle of others. Czukay is the master technician, however. The arcane, Middle Eastern patina and atmospheric tones on "Radio in an Hourglass" are unmistakably devised by the same mysterious hand that dabbled with notions of sound on records with David Sylvian, Phew, and the seminal Can. Czukay remains a singular talent. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 19 Title: Clash Released: 1997 Tracks: 9 Duration: 2:24:18 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Silent Planes (19:35) 2 Liquid Skies (13:34) 3 The Wonderful World of Screeches, Racing Cars and Crybats (12:36) 4 Twilight (21:12) 5 Backup Dream (07:48) 1 Monks, Whales and Moonbeams (Over California) (11:40) 2 Anything but the Jungle (20:19) 3 Dawn Across the Street (24:43) 4 Full Circle (12:49) |
| Clash : Allmusic album Review : As a founding member of the legendary German avant-garde ensemble Can, Holger Czukay is widely recognized as a founding father of experimental rock & roll. After his acrimonious split from the band, Czukay swore hed never play live again. But the sounds of jungle, techno, and trip-hop rekindled his interest in the club scene, so when Dr. Walker (of Air Liquide) invited Czukay to join him on-stage during an underground party in Cologne, Germany, he was ready. This impromptu duo performance led to a number of more formal engagements, three of which are partially documented on these two discs. Disc 1 features three tracks from the duos gig at the Liquid Sky club in Cologne. After a long, free-form preface, "Silent Planes" settles into a trance-inducing midtempo groove and stays there for most of the tracks 19 minutes. "Liquid Skies" is more aggressive and also more varied in texture. Czukay makes great use of a radio receiver on "Twilight," from the duos performance at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, while "Backup Dream" is funkier but also more sinister. Disc 2 continues the San Francisco material with the surprisingly abrasive "Monks, Whales and Moonbeams (Over California)" and "Anything But the Jungle." The last two tracks, the 24-minute-long "Dawn Across the Street" and a lovely piece of multicultural big beat entitled "Full Circle," come from a gig in Minneapolis. Excellent. | ||
 | Album: 13 of 19 Title: Good Morning Story Released: 1999-08-24 Tracks: 6 Duration: 46:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Invisible Man (04:55) 2 Good Morning Story (03:52) 3 Dancing in Wide Circles (05:27) 4 World of the Universe (03:23) 5 Atlantis (06:19) 6 Mirage (22:34) |
| Good Morning Story : Allmusic album Review : If you know his name at all, its as one of the founding members of the legendary experimental German rock group Can. But hes been mighty busy on his own over the last few decades, collaborating with the likes of David Sylvian, Brian Eno, and Jah Wobble; hes been remixed by the Orb and U.N.K.L.E.; and hes probably the first musician ever to have applied Edgard Vareses principles of musique concrete to rock & roll (though hes certainly not the last). So with such an impressive resume, what does his first solo album in six years sound like? Well, lots of things. The first four tracks are spoken-word compositions with funky, multi-layered backing; the words that are spoken can sometimes get embarrassing in an English-as-a-second-language sort of way ("The invisible man is all around me!"), but the music is mostly very compelling. "Dancing in Wild Circles" is especially cool, with its busy percussion, "forged ethno samples" and David Byrne-esque guitar. "Atlantis" betrays a clear drumnbass influence, but is much more sonically and rhythmically complex. Fully half of the program is contained in "Mirage," a 22-minute long composition that sounds like equal parts Jon Hassell and African Head Charge -- that is, until it bogs down into drones about halfway through and stays bogged down for the remaining ten minutes. Still, youll have lots of fun before getting to that soggy place. Recommended. | ||
 | Album: 14 of 19 Title: La Luna Released: 2000 Tracks: 1 Duration: 47:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 La Luna (An Electronic Night Ceremony) (47:17) |
| La Luna : Allmusic album Review : Best known for his founding role in the historical experimental outfit Can, Holger Czukay spent a great deal of the 80s and 90s out of the spotlight, engaged in a series of collaborations. With his signing to the Tone Casualties label and the release of 1999s Good Morning Story, he resumed his solo career proper. Czukay is no stranger to the extended composition -- Cans "Yoo Doo Right," "Halleluhwah," and "Bel Air" and Czukays own "Canaxis" and "Mirage" all clocked in around the 20-minute mark. La Luna (2000) takes things one step further, developing its ideas over the course of one 47-minute composition. The music on this disc marries the electronic/ambient sounds of the late 90s with the electro-acoustic practices that provided Czukay with early sonic inspiration. Slow burning is the operative phrase here. Starting from a low, mechanical din, Czukay slowly shifts the direction through undercurrents of estranged voices, string drones, glockenspiel chatter, slippery electro beats, and detached rhythmic patterns that seep into the sound field. All the while, the ominous tone of some ambient factory speaks of an eventual, chilling payoff. Halfway in, you are still heading for some uncertain conclusion, drifting about the musics dark fog. As you search your memory for a turnoff you may have missed, a soft, female voice whispers "La Luna...goddess of the moon," entering into an ode to the power of the songs subject. The music never recovers, becoming fragmented and tripping up before receding into the mist once again. The text, while significant to the concept, seems out of character in this setting, distracting from the music Czukay has so carefully crafted. Thankfully, the spoken word only takes up a small portion, allowing the listener to focus on a musical construction worth revisiting. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 19 Title: The New Millennium Released: 2003 Tracks: 9 Duration: 57:35 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 La Secondaire (Remix of "La Premiere" by Terre Thaemlitz and Holger) (08:18) 2 Millennium (04:30) 3 Supernova (07:11) 4 Chittagong (05:18) 5 Cinderella (09:01) 6 Metropolis (06:32) 7 Rosebud (06:10) 8 Djinni (05:35) 9 Echogirl Rmx (Remix by Frank Moreno & Marco Dionigi) (05:00) |
| The New Millennium : Allmusic album Review : If anyone can actually be allowed to call an album The New Millennium, Holger Czukay is the one. A man who felt too constrained even within the framework of Can, one of the best avant-garde bands ever, and who kept up his maverick sound-pioneering spirit throughout his subsequent solo albums. But beware -- this guy also has a lot of humor, and on this musics evidence, that title does seem more on the tongue-in-cheek side. No earth-shattering breakthroughs here; the track "Millennium" even sounds pretty reminiscent of the 80s. Often carried along by nervous electronic percussion, these tracks tend to lack Holger Czukays characteristic gift of melding disparate elements into satisfying compositions. No doubt, as always, he keeps sprinkling lots of ideas throughout the tracks, but only on "Rosebud does everything come together to add stronger melodic sense to the drive of the rhythm. His sound universe however does gain by the vocals of his new partner, U-She. Her lyrical interjections fit his style well, and the resemblance of her voice to Nico is a further asset. Holger Czukay certainly knows a thing or two about sound textures, so, on that level, the album is a treat for the ears as usual, but the content is a bit too aimless and cool this time around. Which, as he has stated, might well be the last time around on a commercially available recording. The last two albums were already only offered through his website. Although he let himself be talked into releasing this album conventionally, for Czukay the Internet remains the place for all things cutting-edge, so for him (no wonder) that definitely is the place to be, whatever further explorations into sound he may yet come up with. | ||
 | Album: 16 of 19 Title: Linear City Released: 2006-10-27 Tracks: 4 Duration: 1:01:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Africana Smooth (11:15) 2 Echogirl (11:45) 3 Ten Steps to Heaven (22:34) 4 Africana Suselita (16:12) |
| Linear City : Allmusic album Review : Well, even former members of Can are allowed to make the occasional dud, it seems. Recorded in 2001 and originally available only on Holger Czukays website, Linear City is a formless, terribly dull album with little of interest to recommend it. Its not even really a Czukay album, which is a huge part of the problem: basically, a BBC producer handed Czukay some African music tapes to remix, and he farmed out the work to visitors at his website, whose first passes at the raw tapes Czukay then edited into four lengthy suites. Despite the 23 names listed in the credits for mixing, vocals and various instruments, the extended, noodly pieces sound like they could have been penciled in during a slow afternoon in Czukays demo studio. Snatches of the original African percussive grooves meander along, percolating underneath found-sound speech, softly murmured female vocals, and other remix clichés, with little evident care taken on Czukays part to make things cohesive or in any way interesting. This aint My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, in other words. | ||
 | Album: 17 of 19 Title: 21st Century Released: 2007-07-04 Tracks: 10 Duration: 44:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 New Day (06:11) 2 Echogirl 21 (03:41) 3 Jungle (02:54) 4 21st Century (04:03) 5 No. 1 (06:04) 6 Lazy Girl (03:13) 7 Dreamer (02:27) 8 Crazy Day (05:17) 9 Easy Street (05:58) 10 Emotion (04:22) |
 | Album: 18 of 19 Title: Cinema Released: 2018-03-23 Tracks: 34 Duration: 3:47:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Konfigurationen (02:09) 2 Canaxis (20:15) 3 Ho - Mai - Nhi (Boat Woman Song) (17:27) 4 Ho Renomo (05:10) 1 Oh Lord, Give Us More Money (13:13) 2 Persian Love (06:25) 3 Cool in the Pool (04:54) 4 Hollywood Symphony (15:18) 5 Biomutanten (04:04) 1 Menetekel (03:41) 2 Signal (04:28) 3 Witches Multiplication Table (04:52) 4 On the Way to the Peak of Normal (07:33) 5 Ode to Perfume (13:49) 6 Two Bass Shuffle (02:18) 7 How Much Are They? (04:48) 1 Trench Warfare (06:45) 2 Full Circle R.P.S. (No. 7) (10:57) 3 Twilight World (04:20) 4 The Photo Song (03:40) 5 Der Osten Ist Rot (05:55) 6 Das Massenmedium (03:56) 7 Träum mal wieder (07:25) 8 Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop (03:53) 9 Hit Hit Flop Flop (03:34) 1 Perfect World (10:34) 2 Music in the Air (05:13) 3 Ride a Radio Wave (05:35) 4 We Can Fight All Night (01:23) 5 Through the Freezing Snow (01:42) 6 Breath Taking (10:40) 7 La Premiere (04:29) 8 21st Century (04:03) 9 Mandy (03:30) |
 | Album: 19 of 19 Title: Plight & Premonition Flux & Mutability Released: 2018-06-22 Tracks: 4 Duration: 1:11:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Plight (The Spiralling of Winter Ghosts) (16:31) 2 Premonition (Giant Empty Iron Vessel) (16:34) 1 Flux (A Big, Bright, Colourful World) (16:57) 2 Mutability (“A New Beginnning Is in the Offing”) (20:59) |