Der Petunienmann von Metaluna Vier

Avant-Kraut-Electronica, Krautrock, Electronica, Kosmische Musik (Germany)

Only Krautrock can be that strange. It starts with motor skills in the best Harmonia tradition, then synthymes, reminiscent of the synthetic score of "Clockwork Orange", later an astral enumeration and "Planetengesänge". The heart of this weird, fascinating tonal narrative, is the Krautfunk with gimmicks and "Cosmic Riff" (by Ax Genrich / Guru Guru) from "Rolf Ulrich Kaiser": yes the famous courier !

Original samples and analogue bubbling are the wet dream of the 70s.

Weisser Alarm is an album between Faust and early Cluster. A serious joke. Or only the "Prüfung der Lautsprecherpolung"?

Given that they hail from Kraftwerk’s own Dusseldorf, Der Petunienmann von Metaluna Vier couldn’t fail to absorb some of the pulsing industrial rhythms and quirky electronic trimmings of krautrock. Weisser Alarm isn’t a retrogressive record, but the spirit of those early 70s experiments bubbles beneath the surface of these delightfully peculiar missives from the robotic void.

Featherlight, deadpan vocals and the alluring repetition of Neu!-like live drums are the principal, tangible elements bridging humanity and blank-eyed mechanical repetition on the wonderfully sparse Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser, and Mahlstrom’s beguiling guitar solo nods sleepily towards the Cosmic Jokers and Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain.

Fizzing drum machines and untethered bleeps give Jumping Beans a surreal edge, melodramatic synths collide with proto-metal shredding on the unhinged Mezzoforte.

A flagrant nod to King Crimson’s Larks’ Tongues In Aspic underpins the fuzzy thrust of Ralph, on this bewildering, oddly cohesive sprawl of cut’n’paste sound effects, electronically mangled voices and mischievous avant-rock fidgeting.

Jochen Oberlack is also a Member of

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