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Agitation Free is a German experimental krautrock band, formed in 1967 by Michael "Fame" Günther (bass guitar), Lutz "Lüül" Ulbrich (guitar), Lutz Ludwig Kramer (guitar) and Christopher Franke (drums). (Agitation Free website)
Agitation Free's music is psychedelic, experimental krautrock with elements of spaced-out ambient, experimental electronic and drone. The music for the most part consists of driving organ-patterned drone-like rock; seamless psychedelic cosmic musical textures with intricate musicianship and musical variety; hard, driving rock similar to Amon Düül II; and jamming that occasionally invokes the interplay and styles of Garcia, Weir and Lesh of The Grateful Dead and hints at a blues rock base not unlike The Allman Brothers Band. Many of their songs have a trance-inducing, psychedelic feel with sections of driving rock fueled by fiery and melodic moving guitar lines and solid, propelling and intricate drumming and a prominent bass line. All of Agitation Free's songs are instrumental apart from some recitation on "Haunted Island".
Their first album Malesch is cosmic, aggressive, psychedelic, creative, ethnically flavored (mainly by short interludes of recordings from Egypt), mysterious and densely packed with ideas whereas their second, titled 2nd is more laid-back and upbeat, with longer structure, much more of an emphasis on traditional styled jamming à la the Grateful Dead and a warmer and more straightforward sound. On Malesch the songs blend together to make a seamlessly flowing, tangential and uninterrupted musical journey, whereas on 2nd songs are more predictably structured, more varied in their sound and stand more as independent works.
Their sound is similar to, but fairly distinguishable from, other contemporary Krautrock bands such as Ash Ra Tempel, Amon Düül II, Guru Guru, Brainticket, Yatha Sidhra and Kalacakra, as well as the mixed-influence blues-based jam rock of The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers noticeable on 2nd, and slightly later and more symphonic bands like Asia Minor and Anyone's Daughter.
Review by
evenless
PROG REVIEWER
The 2004 re-issue of this 2002 album "A Gaze Between The Past And The Future"
contains the bonus track "Hold Me Now".Since I'm really into progressive Rock music for a few years now and I have a Brazilian wife I though I should explore more Brazilian Prog-Rock bands and till now I'm not disappointed at all! Even though Progressive Rock is probably one of Brazil smallest musical genres, all instrumentation is great! Those guys really know how to play prog- rock like they invented it. Let me review this album track by track.
1. Exit from Calcutta (10:43)
Great instrumental opening containing many instruments like guitars, bass guitar, drums, mandolin and flutes! The flutes remind me of the Dutch band FOCUS a bit. Vocals are all sung in English and voice is easy to listen to. This is probably one of the best (and one of the longest) tracks of the album. 5 stars.
2. You Want The Real Me (6:32)
Again all instruments are represented on this track along with the flutes. After the first two verses there's a great drum section followed by the chorus and flutes. 4 stars.
3. Fragments from Dies Irae (5:30)
Soft piano intro followed by great electrical lead guitars accompanied by bass and drum. The guitar is played like it is "singing" the chorus already. Vocals are a bit more "rough" than on the previous tracks. Is this also Valdir Zamboni singing or is it one of his fellow band members who's normally one of the backing vocalists? If it is Valdir he really knows how to change his voice! Instrumentation on this track is all superb again! 5 star track.
4. Blue Light (5:42)
Soft acoustic guitar intro followed by flutes. Not a very long track, but probably track with the most lyrics of this album. Vocals are sung again "normal". This is a very soft track, almost a ballad. I must say I enjoy their somewhat heavier and complex tracks more. Nevertheless a nice track to take a breath. 3 stars.
5. The Raft of Medusa (12:36)
According to Greek Mythology Medusa used to be a beautiful girl, who lived in a country where the sun wasn't shining. She begged Athena to let her sail to a sunny continent. But when Athena refused, Medusa said this was only because the she would not be the most beautiful woman anymore when people would see her! Great instrumentation on this track capturing the dramatic mood of the story. 5 stars.
6. Hold Me Now* (6:32)
Starting out as a softer track in the same style of "Blue Light". Acoustic guitars, flutes accompanied by soft vocals. Later on the song gets more up-tempo ending and slipping away softly. 4 stars.
All instruments are played really well by TARKUS especially the flutes. The flutes are really nice on the entire album and almost a "Tarkus trademark" like they used to be a trademark of FOCUS. All and all a very nice album indeed.
My rating: 5 + 4 + 5 + 3 + 5 + 4 = 26/6 = 4,3 stars.
Gnosis is the fourth album by the British progressive rock band, Gnidrolog. The album's title, Gnosis, means divine or spiritual knowledge and understanding. It is their third studio album and the first to be recorded in 27 years. The album was mostly recorded at Select Sound Studios, Cairns, Australia, where it was engineered and produced by Nigel Pegrum. "Repent Harlequin", "Two Helens" and the title track were all recorded at Music City Studios, London, engineered by Joe Suarez and produced by Nessa Glen, in courtesy of Sarastro Music. The album was mostly published by Kempyre Music, except "Two Helens", which was published by Sarastro Music. Chris Copping of Procol Harum played his Hammond B3 Organ for a couple of tracks, which were recorded in Woodstock Studios, Melbourne and engineered by Tim Dudfield. Post production is credited to David J Burrows and Stewart Goldring. The album was mastered by David J Burrows at Disques rue Bis. The album is noted to be eclectic not only for its transcontinental recording but also for the use of traditional instruments such as the Australian aboriginal, didgeridoos. The album marks the band's comeback, which had also prompted the release of the Live 1972 album. In order to release some of the Goldring brothers' original material, the album was a renewed cooperation with the other 1970s Gnidrolog members, with the addition of Rick Kemp of Steeleye Span and Nessa Glen.
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