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Dave Cromwell Writes About New TLA Episode!

The wonderful New York based music writer, Dave Cromwell, has written a lovely piece about the new TLA episode, "Krautwerk Umarmt Liverpool" as part of his latest July feature for his brilliant, DaveCromwellWritesBlog Here's the link to his full feature DCWJulyFeatureWithTLA which is definitely worth a read! Below is the excerpt from the whole piece of the terrific Translove write up he did! Thanks so much, Dave!



By Dave Cromwell

Documentary filmmaker Matthew Levin recently shared a new episode of his “Translove Airwaves” series titled “Krautwerk Umarmt Liverpool” in a limited run preview setting. With the ultimate goal of producing a full season of shows, this follow-up episode to the initial pilot expands the production exponentially. At the end of 2018, this site featured a live show and source material review of Matthew's initial episode, which can be read and viewed here. The psychedelia motivated producer is now back with an immersive look into two German musical pioneers who have teamed up under the moniker “Krautwerk.”



Traveling to Liverpool, England for that city's International Festival of Psychedelia, Matthew interviewed and captured live performances from two legendary “Krautrock” musicians who had recently teamed up - Eberhard Kranemann and Harald Grosskopf.  Although both men have a long history of influence within the very beginnings of Krautrock's late 60's – early 70's birth (detailed in an excellent piece here on the Translove Airwaves site), the pair did not actually meet until 2016.



While the above-linked piece goes into greater detail on Kranemann and Grosskopf's history, a quick namecheck of seminal bands Kraftwerk, Neu! (who's Hallogallo2010 live show was covered on this site here), Ash Ra Tempel and Tangerine Dream all figure prominently in these two artists backstory.



As one might expect, the two-man electronic band's set up relied on an array of tone generators, effects units, laptops, mixing boards and more, laid out on tabletop stands, next to each other. Visual projections of sweeping vistas and dreamlike states rolled behind each artist throughout the performance. While looping automation was certainly employed, a distinct live-in-the-moment element was clear with Kranemann adding rhythmic vocal thrusts and Grosskopf playing digital drum pads. At times there are zany elements of noise (both vocal scat style and instrumental) added on to the rhythmic undercurrent, bringing to mind the frequent offbeat lunacy of a band like Ozric Tentacles.



Although Kranemann may have begun his musical education studying classical double bass, his subsequent discovery of and love for free improvisational jazz being created by greats like John Coltrane is apparent. During the set he picks up an electronic stringed instrument and takes off on a spontaneous jam while Grosskopf continues to loop rhythms and add percussion.


Check out the trailer for this feature here:



About DaveCromwell Dave Cromwell has been writing about music since the dawn of the internet age. In addition to the steady flow of features here on this site, he has been a regular contributor to The Deli Magazine (both Print and Web) since 2010. With numerous Print Issue cover features and weekly contributions on the Deli website, scores of artists have received the Cromwell point of view. Along with ongoing contributions to this site and The Deli Magazine, Dave has written for Dingus, My Social List, The Waster and Soma website magazines. View my complete profile


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On Instagram and Twitter its @davecromwell

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About Me DaveCromwell Dave Cromwell has been writing about music since the dawn of the internet age. In addition to the steady flow of features here on this site, he has been a regular contributor to The Deli Magazine (both Print and Web) since 2010. With numerous Print Issue cover features and weekly contributions on the Deli website, scores of artists have received the Cromwell point of view. Along with ongoing contributions to this site and The Deli Magazine, Dave has written for Dingus, My Social List, The Waster and Soma website magazines. View my complete profile Recent Visitors Live Blog Stats 2


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