When I was at Bard one of our film professors, Peggy Ahwesh, spent a few classes playing sounds for us, everything from Fluxus to obscure German musicians whose names I will never recall, who curated all kinds of unexpected sounds into works of art for your ears (maybe CAN was even one of them? Only Peggy has that answer…) That combined with listening to punk bands from all corners of the world makes one appreciate The Lost Tapes from CAN. The track above, Millionenspiel, is an edited version of the original track that opens the three CD box set of unreleased material and live sets Mute Records is putting out in the US on June 19th (June 18th for Europe). The album which I got in the mail last week reminds me of early Velvet Underground and Stiff Little Fingers and later local bands who we listened to in high school and the more I listen to it the more I am almost positive they must have been those “obscure German musicians” Peggy played for us. How many could there have been? The fact that CAN was around in the 60’s & 70’s along with VU & SLF also makes me think that it was those later bands we listened to who got some of their inspiration from CAN. The new album is curated by Irmin Schmidt and Daniel Miller, compiled by Irmin Schmidt and Jono Podmore, and edited by Jono Podmore. If you aren’t coming to Coachella and will be in NY April 17th you can check out Irmin Schmdit and Jono Podmore at Le Poisson Rouge where they will present “The Music Of Can: An Evening of Unreleased Music and Discussion.” Tickets on sale here…
