Camera are an underground band from Berlin. Literally. Check out You Tube you'll find several videos of the trio entertaining metro passengers.
The motorik beat seems an especially apt musical form for those about to travel and they serve up this classic Krautrock beat with an admirable economy.
Their brand of 'guerilla' gigs go beyond mere busking in underground stations. With a minimalist set up of portable drum kit, guitars, synth and two amps they have been seen around the city gate-crashing high profile film award ceremonies or slumming it at public toilets.
These spontaneous concerts in public spaces have been their way of bringing their music to the people so this debut album was never part of their masterplan.
However, their impromptu shows succeeded in bringing their efforts to the attention of prominent Krautrockers like Michael Rother (Neu!, Harmonia) and Dieter Moebius (Cluster, Harmonia) and Bureau B Records coaxed the boys off the streets into a recording studio.
There, they proceeded to lay down their largely improvised live show onto tape and the result is Radiate! The exclamation mark is presumably there as a kind of 'we did it!' marker.
And very fine it is too. Not the rough and ready energy rush you might imagine but a carefully sequenced package of eight tracks.
Track one - Ego -takes the metaphorical bull by the horns and launches the trip in a brisk fashion and gives the impression that the journey will be on the Autobahn from start to finish.
|
The recording does however show that they know more than how to fashion a killer groove and stay with it.
Villon is a relatively tranquil and a more meditative piece of minimalism while the ten minute plus Lynch also explores ambient textures albeit with a steady drum beat with some nice shapeshifting guitar and synth work at the close. RFID also builds up gradually to take us deep into a space rock zone.
But it is pulsating tracks like Ausland and Utopia Is that make you thankful they bothered to preserve their music for posterity. Both clock in at around six minutes but you'd be happy for them to continue for ten times the length (and I have no doubt they could keep the beat alive for this duration!).
The final couple of tracks - Soldat and Morgen - continue the fluctuating mood that ranges from hard-driving psych-rock to more composed ambience.
This is an album where the energy and directness grabs you and refuses to let go. If you think Krautrock is passé, this is an album that will make you think again.
|
