Qvasi Möd- Xhol

 

 

Qvasi Möd- Xhol!

 

Achtung Krautrock heads! An obscure Berlin pseudo-heavy freak-out rock band (formed 1968) with the accent on percussion, of whom we know very little, except having heard their contribution on the ‘BERLIN GEH WEG’ compilation on the ‘Kerching Gottsching’record label. Previously unreleased live recordings by this way-out-there, pioneering German band. Under-appreciated at the time, possibly due to their connections with  the Vandrugen Cotton Wool appreciation society.

 

Highly obscure live recordings from the psychedelic ghetto repressed on this limited edition clear vinyl 7” EP for Germany’s Record Bailout Day. ‘Qvasi Möd- Xhol’, who started life playing Music Cement as ‘Hands Und Fuss’, in the late sixties and then mutated into Mucky Grohl (and finally, just Xhol) as their sound developed to encompass hippified commune ‘pongfusion’ and post-"Soddom and Gomorrha" psychedelic dustbin man sound collages, on albums like "Galactic Cabbage" and the wonderfully titled "Ash Tray Tempel" (that one a classic krautrock freakfest document indeed, hence this new live collection's title of ‘Live’).

 

Four live cuts over two sides of one 7” disc (littered with spacey breakdowns from 1968 and '69, including a lengthy version of Eamon Dull's "Collapsing: Snivelling Warthogs" interpolated into Xhol's freeform "Burial Chamber Lanyard"). A second 10-minute cut, called "Hot Buttered Xhol", that features Wolfgang Minibus Moebius, utilising a drum machine and Douglas Baader-Meinhof Amps is a sonic rollercoaster of repetitive riffs and satirical freak outs. These archival recordings are great (‘Dr Schwitter’s Mitternacht’ - was originally for a radio broadcast but got stolen by the Stasi and used as an implement of torture), plus the sleevenotes on the back are full of Dr Hanz Geschieden’s case notes after lead singer Rafe Brandgeruch was committed to the Zoo Station Asylum in early 1970.

 

‘Tanz Der Phallus’ completes the four live cuts with its anarchist/socio-political bent as Brandgeruch yells over the proto-punk psyche wall of sound about his love of commune life, space-folk wispiness and teabags. ‘’All proper tea is theft’’, he shrieks repetitively over the sprawling psychedelic mess of a free form improv song which gradually meanders its way to a close encompassing the sound of a Suzuki being canned. Essential krautrock. In fact, one of the most interesting of its genre.