Deutsche Elektronische Musik, Vol. 2

Not quite as heavy on early-'70s material as the first volume of Deutsche Elektronische Musik, this sequel from Soul Jazz offers another wide-ranging mix of experimental music from Germany. It too is fairly balanced between the obscure and the relatively well-known, with no artist appearing more than twice. Between the extremes of Hans-Joachim Roedelius' tranquil piano-and-bird-sounds piece "Le Jardin" and D.A.F.'s jagged and confrontational "Co Co Pino," there are the likes of Michael Rother's dazed "Karrussell," Eno, Moebius & Roedelius' burbling "Base & Apex," and Can's tumbling "Halleluwuah" (included as five-minute edit, different from the one on the band's Anthology). This time, succinct electronic explorations such as Pyrolator's "Danger Cruising," Asmus Tietchens' "Zeebrugge," and Michael Hoenig's "Sun and Moon" (taken from the onetime Tangerine Dream member's 1978 album, released in the U.S. on Warner), are more common than guitar-driven trance jams. Once again, there's no Kraftwerk, but that doesn't thwart the set from providing another smart sampling that, depending on the listener's level of knowledge, can function either as an entry point or as a gap filler; most of the parent albums are within a range of good to tremendous. David Stubbs' lengthy sleeve notes here are typically informative and illuminating. Forgive the label for identifying an image of Kurt Dahlke as "Pyrolater." ~ Andy Kellman