Various Achtung! German Grooves
It’s hard to imagine that the culture that brought you expressionism could really get funky. […]
It’s hard to imagine that the culture that brought you expressionism could really get funky. But listen to the Volkswagen-chase grooves and Wagnerian wah-wah on Achtung!’s 20 instrumentals from the ’60s and ’70s, and things might fall into place. This isn’t “the good foot”; these are jazz big bands taking on the new breed with the same Teutonic experimental formalism that brought us Kraftwerk. The flutes and break beats of sample-ready ’60s library funk are all there. But so are the Argento-soundtrack synths, the insect-like guitars, and a backwards cover of “House of the Rising Sun.” Like Fritz Lang directing Austin Powers: odd, but you’ll love it.