Come February 22, getting to know the nuanced discography of Michael Rother — one of the most influential figures to emerge from the German experimental scene of the 1970s — will become much, much easier. Berlin label Groenland is about to do the God’s work by releasing a long-overdue CD/vinyl box set reissue of the first four solo albums from the guitarist and composer, along with new and unreleased material, remixes, and live tracks.
Having co-founded both Neu! and Harmonia — groups with whom he recorded what’s now considered the pedestal of classic albums of Krautrock — Rother began issuing LP’s under his own name in 1977. The box set collects Flammende Herzen (released that year), as well as Sterntaler (1978), Katzenmusik (1979), and Fernwärme (1982). The box set also includes the soundtracks for Die Raeuber and Houston: two German feature films from 2015 that Rother provided original scores for.
Finally, the box set also contains “an album of two live tracks and two remixes of tracks by British artists Paul Weller and Boxed In.” The first of the live tracks, “Groove 139,” premiered on Pitchfork back in December. The other is “Drone Schlager,” available to stream here today.
The wittily-titled number (schlager refers to Germany’s often-mocked traditional pop song form) is a locomotive-of-a-track, with a groove that starts off slow and heavy, but eventually reaches full speed fueled by Rother’s trademark fuzzy guitar soloing.
While the signed vinyl edition is unfortunately already sold out, use the following link to pre-order the CD box set, and have a listen to to “Drone Schlager” down below:
Flammende Herzen tracklisting:
01. Flammende Herzen
02. Zyklodrom
03. Karussell
04. Feuerland
05. Zeni
Sterntaler tracklisting:
01. Sonnenrad
02. Blauer Regen
03. Stromlinien
04. Sterntaler
05. Fontana Di Luna
06. Orchestrion
Katzenmusik tracklisting:
01. Km 1
02. Km 2
03. Km 3
04. Km 4
05. Km 5
06. Km 6
07. Km 7
08. Km 8
09. Km 9
10. Km 10
11. Km 11
12. Km 12
Fernwärme tracklisting:
01. Silberstreif
02. Elfenbein
03. Erlkönig
04. Fortuna
05. Klangkörper
06. Hohe Luft
07. Fernwärme
More about: Michael Rother
