Kalacakra - Crawling to Lhasa

This time around it is an old favorite: Kalacakra's completely cracked krautrock cacophony...what can I say, it's the sort of album that inspires alliteration. 'Lhasa was one of the last major German obscurities I was on the hunt for. Attempts at obtaining various pirate reissues came to naught. Just as well, as the album received the deluxe reissue treatment from the Garden of Delights label.

Kalacakra was a duo of Claus Rauschenbach and Heinz Martin who recorded their sole lp in Duisburg in 1972. Playing over a dozen instruments, the resulting album was a classic blend of eastern flourishes and proto-world music filtered through a mystic haze. Sort of like an Incredible String Band without the scientology.

Crawling to Lhasa is seriously odd and great from beginning to end: from the opening track Naerby Shiras' trance inducing whirl of instruments and sinister whispers to the stunning instrumental Raga No. 11 Native American inspired Arapaho's Circle Dance. Mind you, it's not all strange, September Full Moon is pastorally mellow.

A final word on the two bonus tracks which are dismissed by most reviewers: Vamos and Deja Vu were recorded by Heinz Martin in '93. Well, 1993 is not 1972 and the years brought forth some changes. The two instrumentals are not bad at all and sound mostly like soundtracks for nature documentaries about sea anemones or quasars or some such thing.

Like Wyrd folk? Amon Düül, Third Ear Band or Joanna Newsom? Trust me, you'll enjoy this one.