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According to our friends over at Wikipedia, krautrock<\/em> <\/a>is defined as \u201ca form of rock and electronic music that originated in Germany in the late 1960s, with a tendency towards improvisation around minimalistic arrangements.\u201d Though the style had its adherents in the 1970s \u2013 famed tastemaker\/DJ John Peel<\/strong> among the most well-known of them \u2013 the style never caught on in a commercial sense outside Germany.<\/p>\n But the style \u2013 hypnotic, pulsing, almost tone-poem music \u2013 never went away. Julian Cope<\/strong> went so far as to write a book about it, 1995’s Krautrocksampler: One Head’s Guide to the Great Kosmische Musik – 1968 Onwards<\/em>. And thanks in no small part of Cope’s championing of the music made by groups such as Amon D\u00fc\u00fcl II<\/strong> and Faust<\/strong>, krautrock has persisted right into the 21st<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n The music of Nik Turner<\/strong><\/a> (late of Hawkwind<\/strong>) lends itself especially well to a krautrock approach, especially in a live setting. So it’s no surprise that beginning around 2013, Turner enlisted the able aid of an outfit naming themselves after a city halfway between Hanover and Berlin. Hedersleben<\/strong> features the guitar work of Nicky Garratt<\/strong>, the British musician best known for his work in seminal punk group UK Subs<\/strong>. American drummer Jason Willer<\/strong> also played in UK Subs with Garratt, and Bryce Shelton<\/strong> (from San Francisco) plays bass with Hedersleben. Keyboardist Kephera Moon<\/strong> is also from San Francisco. All of this may make you wonder what exactly is the German connection to this band. Good question; the answer lies within their music and their overall sonic approach.<\/p>\n The band does a bit of shape-shifting: when they record or perform with Turner, they’re sometimes billed As Nik Turner’s Hawkwind<\/strong>. When backing Swiss musician Joel Vandroogenbroeck<\/strong>, they’re the current-day lineup of psychedelic band Brainticket<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n But when they play their own music \u2013 the largely instrumental examples of which are showcased on Die Neuen Welten<\/em> (The New Worlds<\/em>), Hedersleben have a personality all of their own. With Moon’s Ray Manzarek<\/strong><\/a>-like organ work out front, the dreamscapes of tunes like \u201cZu Den Neuen Welten\u201d and \u201cXO5B\u201d take their time to unfold. The densely-layered music floats along; Shelton’s bass lines weave their way under the textures in a way that sometimes feels like Gary Wright<\/strong><\/a>‘s Moog bass circa The Dream Weaver<\/em>. Garratt’s often heavily-treated guitar soars above the mix in a decidedly non-punky fashion, and Willer’s spellbinding drum patterns evoke warm memories of Nick Mason<\/strong><\/a> circa A Saucerful of Secrets<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Kephera Moon makes extensive use of synthesizers: Mellotron-sounding samples recall early Tangerine Dream<\/strong><\/a>, and gurgling analog synth sounds show that she understand the intelligent uses to which synths can be applied; the synthesizers are never used as mere \u201csound effects.\u201d<\/p>\n Garratt’s lead guitar is a highlight of \u201cOn the Ground (Safe and Sound),\u201d in which he solos over a chugging one-chord vamp. As with most of the band’s work, vocals (here little more than the whispered\/chanted recitation of the song’s title) are mostly used as a textural element, rather than to convey anything like a story. That role is left to the music.<\/p>\n Garratt’s acoustic guitar underpins some stinging lead guitar overdubs on \u201cNomad World (Dreamstate).\u201d It’s the gentlest tune on the disc, and some chanted ahhh<\/em>-style vocalizing from Kati Knox<\/strong> adds to the dreamy vibe made explicit by the title. The faraway-sounding \u201cXO5B\u201d feels like a Pink Floyd<\/strong><\/a> jam from the More\/Obscured by Clouds<\/em> era; Garratt’s fret-buzzing guitar and Moon’s celestial organ work are the track’s highlights.<\/p>\n The five-track album closes with \u201cTiny Flowers\/Little Moon,\u201d at once the most conventional and most accessible tune on Die Neuen Welten<\/em>. With standard signing (again courtesy Knox) and recognizable lyrics, here Hedersleben sounds of a piece with bands like The Black Angels<\/strong><\/a>. A vaguely sunshine-pop texture lends the tune an air not unlike the rare pop-leaning moments of The Velvet Underground and Nico<\/strong>. Moon’s delicate piano work \u2013 occasionally punctuated by guitar stabs from Garratt \u2013 ends the album on an extended, reflective note.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/nik_turner02.jpg\")
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