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Monday, November 19th, 2001

Can Guitarist Michael Karoli Dies

Dominique Leone reports:
Michael Karoli was born in 1948, and died Saturday morning, November 17th, 2001 at the age of 53. He was Can's resident human, guitarist, and violinist, and possibly the only reason that band had any kind of link to rock music. He was a visionary artist, and arguably most responsible for setting the legendary German band on its storied journey.

Karoli was the youngest member of Can. He first met bassist Holger Czukay as a guitar student in Switzerland in 1966. Czukay, drummer Jaki Leibezeit and keyboardist Irmin Schmidt were established musicians well before their tenures in Can: Czukay as a composer and teacher, Leibezeit as a free-jazz drummer and Schmidt as a composer and conductor. Karoli and Czukay kept in touch after Czukay left the teaching gig, always with the idea of working together in the future. Schmidt and Czukay, both former students of composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, had also been keen to form a group, though nothing materialized until Karoli turned them on to the revolutionary sounds of the young rock-- the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, the Velvet Underground-- after which point, Can was decided.

Can's early recordings with American vocalist Malcolm Mooney (Delay 1968, Monster Movie and portions of Soundtracks) are a far cry from the impressionist beatscapes made famous on their classic mid-period albums, but are equally peerless. Primal, relentless rock-and-roll-and-pulse, taken beyond the sprawl and circumstance of contemporary VU; with a decidedly exploratory bent, but somehow never pretentious.

Mooney left the band after suffering a nervous breakdown, and street-singer Damo Suzuki was brought in. By most accounts, this change marked the beginning of Can's classic period. Can's albums featuring Suzuki (Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi, Future Days, and portions of Soundtracks) detailed their transition from boisterous trance rockers to sophisticated masters of ambience and texture. Tago Mago balanced lengthy, almost psychedelic sound collage pieces with James Brown-ian funk motion and the archetypical Krautrock groove of tunes like "Oh Yeah" and "Halleluwah." Can further refined their funk on Ege Bamyasi, even incorporating pop elements such the occasional verse/chorus/verse structure and melodic hook.

Future Days witnessed Can's subtle shift from the beat conscious to the beauty-ridden. "Bel Air" was 20 minutes of prime, seemingly formless (though given the band's propensity to edit and arrange music, this was probably not the case) rock ambience. "Moonshake" was their greatest pop song, and the title track almost single-handedly invented electronic trance music as we know it.

Suzuki left the band in 1973, and the band never hired another singer. Karoli again decided the direction Can would take by assuming the role of lead vocalist. Soon Over Babaluma was the band's first album as a quartet, and probably the last of their classic period. By this point, world music was beginning to find a way into Can music, a trend that would continue until their break-up in 1978. However, this album is most famous for the radical, unprecedented closing pieces: "Chain Reaction" and "Quantum Physics." As if the rather mathematical titles weren't hint enough, they showed the band playing music that was at once precise and theoretically chaotic. Leibezeit's monotonous stomp coupled with Czukay's unwavering bass ostinato writes a sizable chunk of techno history all by itself. Karoli weaves in and around the beat and Schmidt's ever-changing synth atmospheres with his guitar, still rooted in the rock that gave Can its first spark, and yet sounding as if beamed in from another planet.

The band's albums afterwards expanded upon ideas approached on these classic albums, though never really succeeding their heights. They decided to call it a day in 1978, after a few underwhelming recordings (many featuring Rosko Gee and Reebop Kwaku Baah, both former members of Traffic). The original lineup, featuring Mooney, reunited in 1986 for sessions that resulted in 1989's "comeback" release, Rite Time. Karoli co-produced this album with Czukay, and although it featured a few moments of brilliance, it wasn't quite the transcendental experience of any of the classic period albums.

Karoli kept busy in the 80s by composing music for his acclaimed solo release, Deluge, with partner/vocalist Polly Eltes. He was also active as a producer, session guitarist and in appearances with most of his former Can bandmates onstage (often collaborating with ex-PIL bassist Jah Wobble). In the 90s, he continued to play and produce, and Deluge was reissued on CD, with bonus tracks featuring Leibezeit adding percussion.

Most recently, he'd planned to participate in a video interview with Czukay documenting much of the history the two men share. According to Czukay's website, Karoli had put it off so as not to appear as recording a "final testament" to his children. Tragically, this interview would never take place, as Czukay reported yesterday that Karoli died at home on Saturday morning.

Karoli had always been Can's most free spirit. In a group renowned for touching the border of the cosmos, musically, this was indeed an accomplishment. Czukay says that Karoli died only shortly after playing guitar, and though we've lost a visionary musician, how appropriate that he should surrender a grip on the practical and mundane so soon after creating something doubtlessly beautiful. It's just like a Can song, and one can only hope he's as flying as high now.

We'll miss you, Miki.

.: Pitchfork Review: Can: Box Music (Live 1971-1977)
.: Holger Czukay: http://www.czukay.de


Kill Rock Stars Teams Up with Touch and Go
So if you stab Mick Jagger in the throat, can they be held liable?

Jonah Flicker reports:
Beginning January 1st, 2002, Kill Rock Stars will end their relationship with Mordam Records and hand distribution duties over to Touch and Go. KRS joins such indie label luminaries as Atavistic, Drag City, Estrus, Merge, Thrill Jockey, Truckstop, Warm, Emperor Jones, Overcoat, and Trance in the Touch and Go stable. Why, you ask, are KRS, those scrappy Northwest upstarts joining forces with Touch and Go, that Chicago powerhouse of indie rock? Well, according to a statement the label recently made, KRS has "always had a high regard for Touch and Go and their entire family of distributed labels, and it seemed like a natural fit to join their cause." This will most likely ensure that KRS reaches a wider audience, as Touch and Go sells to other distributors such as ADA, Carrot Top, No Idea, Smash, and Revelation, as well as selling direct to 400 wholesale accounts. The first KRS records to go through this new distribution system will be the latest from Comet Gain and Quix*o*tic.

.: Kill Rock Stars: http://www.killrockstars.com
.: Touch and Go: http://www.southern.com/southern/label/TCH/


Rivulets Join Chairkickers' Union
Demand better benefits, higher salaries

Catherine Lewis reports:
Minneapolis slowcore outfit Rivulets have just finished recording their self-titled debut album with Low's Alan Sparhawk in Duluth. It will be released in January on Chairkickers' Union, the label run by Low which, up to this point, has only been used to release Low EPs, singles and side projects. The nine songs on the album feature such notable guest musicians as Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, and LD Beghtol, a prominent guest vocalist on the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs and the mastermind behind the NYC chamber-pop ensemble Flare.

01 Creased
02 Tightrope
03 Swans
04 Four Weeks
05 Past Life
06 Barreling Towards Nowhere Like There's No Tomorrow
07 How Who
08 Stead
09 Lacklustre

.: Rivulets: http://www.rivulets.net
.: Chairkickers' Union: http://www.chairkickers.com


Beware the Ides of Space
The spice, Paul Atreides! The spiiiice!!!!

Michael A. Cavagnaro reports:
According to their label website, the Australian dream-pop band Ides of Space are preparing to head across the seas to tour the United States in January 2002. This will be their first live exposure in the United States, having recently released their debut album, There Are No New Clouds, on Better Looking Records. The sounds on said album-- which are described as 90s UK shoegazerism crossed with today's hippest indie pablum-- were produced by Wayne Connolly of Knievel "fame." Connolly, also partially responsible for unleashing Silverchair on the world, hopes to regain some sort of self-respect through this recording.

But that's not all! In a brazenly corporate move, the Ides' song "This Side of The Screen" was featured on the November 15th episode of WB teenie drama "Dawson's Creek." Remember? It was the song playing "while Pacey and Jen were talking." Oh, Pacey.

.: Better Looking Records: http://www.betterlookingrecords.com

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DAILY NEWS

RATING KEY
10.0: Indispensable, classic
9.5-9.9: Spectacular
9.0-9.4: Amazing
8.5-8.9: Exceptional; will likely rank among writer's top ten albums of the year
8.0-8.4: Very good
7.5-7.9: Above average; enjoyable
7.0-7.4: Not brilliant, but nice enough
6.0-6.9: Has its moments, but isn't strong
5.0-5.9: Mediocre; not good, but not awful
4.0-4.9: Just below average; bad outweighs good by just a little bit
3.0-3.9: Definitely below average, but a few redeeming qualities
2.0-2.9: Heard worse, but still pretty bad
1.0-1.9: Awful; not a single pleasant track
0.0-0.9: Breaks new ground for terrible
OTHER RECENT REVIEWS

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2001, Pitchforkmedia.com.