Die With Dignity - Kraut? (1998)

This came free from Captain Trip when I was ordering the last couple of la! NEU? albums that I didn't have, packed in between the other items sans jewel case.  I knew the story behind Kraut! from Klaus Dinger-related websites describing it as a one-off by a young German band who through Dinger's patronage had their album released on Captain Trip, crediting him as "musical advisor " (which led to the la! NEU? logo confusingly appearing on the cover.)  I also knew the general critical consensus was that it wasn't very good, so popped it in a spare case and ignored it for a few months - hey, it was a freebie, I'll get around to hearing it maybe once.

When I did give Kraut! a listen, it was with pleasant surprise - it's not bad at all.  The five-piece band exist in a kind of semi-improvisational space between krautrock, post-punk and electronic avant-garde.  The album's 16 tracks average about 5 minutes, mostly built on a drum machine base with frequently noisy guitars and electronics over the top, and often distorted, mostly spoken vocals, all in German. 

Highlights include the stiff, robotic wah-wah guitar groove of Magischer Traum, with regular singing and post-2000-Neubaten like electronic squeals; the ill-sounding synths of Kochrezept that follows, and Kommunismusangst-Fantasie with its synth swirls and subtle acoustic guitar flourishes.  The longest track, the 10-minute Ein Wahn, is also worth a mention for its gradually distorting trumpet and mangled vocals.  All in all, a really worthwhile experimental album that with a bit of pruning could've been a minor cult classic.

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