[CP 054 CD] Jürgen Karg, et.al; Elektronische Mythen, Für

2015 reédition, initially slated to simply include the 4:44 track "Karg" from the mythic kind-of-untitled (let's just call it "Für") Wolfgang Dauner, Eberhard Weber, Jürgen Karg, & Fred Braceful Calig LP as a bonus incentive... but in fact now including the entirety of said (a bold move, I know). As this is easily my personal favorite of the initial wave of "Electronic Free Jazz: European Branch" LPs it was something of a no-brainer & should be viewed as such; while Karg first appears on Dauner's 1967 "Free Action" & the "Psalmus Spei For Choir And Jazz Group" side of the Fred Van Hove split, it is across this legendary April 29th, 1969 session at Tonstudio Bauer w/ Dr. Theodor & Christoph Klein where the nascent Electro-Acoustic-meets-Free-Improv-meets-Krautrock aesthetic was first attempted, giving Karg et.al complete freedom to hang themselves on easily the most zorched LP Manfred "ECM" Eicher ever had a hand in. Enjoy the carnage from track 3 onwards, following Karg's lone solo outing from 9 years later (chronology be damned...)

Dark & atonal free-synth Concrète & chiming metallic minimalism from one-time “Ring-Mod Jazz” kingpin Wolfgang Dauner sideman Jürgen Karg; two 20+ minute/side-long suites of:

"4 EMS-Sythesizer (sic) mit Digitalspeicher (Sequencer 256) als zentraler steuereinheit.
5 Tonbandgeräte mit 2-, 4- und 8-känalen, zum teil mit variabler geschwindigkeit.
Peripherie; Steckerfeld, Mischpulte, Filter, Hall etc."

There’s very little jazz-lineage vocabulary herein; much more in common with François Bayle’s 70s work & that of past Creel Pone alums Reinhold Weber, Edward Zajda ... hell even the Krautrock lineage: early Schnitzler, Asmus Tietchens, Seeselberg, etc. Yet another “Unheralded Classic of Electronic Music;” best to dive in headfirst & ignore the consequences.