Letzte Tage - Letzte Nächte

Performer: Popol Vuh
Producer: Florian Fricke
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Popol Vuh: Djong Yun (vocals); Daniel Fischelscher (guitars, percussion); Al Gromer Khan (sitar); Ted de Jong (tamboura); Florian Fricke (piano). As Florian Fricke moved away from an early synthesizer-centered sound and embraced organic instrumentation in his quest to fuse Eastern and Western musical and spiritual traditions, Popol Vuh's rock orientation became more pronounced. That aspect derived largely from the contributions of electric guitarists Conny Veit (on Hosianna Mantra and Seligpreisung) and Daniel Fichelscher (on Seligpreisung, Einsj�ger & Siebenj�ger, and Das Hohelied Salomos). Letzte Tage - Letzte N�chte is the band's boldest foray into rock territory. On Das Hohelied Salomos, Fichelscher's guitar often eclipsed Fricke's piano; here, his presence is even more emphatic. That's not to say that the band has lost its equilibrium -- this is another classic Popol Vuh exercise in balancing and reconciling apparent opposites. An opening pair of instrumentals sets the tone. Buoyed by hard-driving percussion, on "Der Gro�e Krieger" Fichelscher combines muscular riffage with a lightness of touch as he unleashes streams of soaring notes; "Oh Wie Nah Ist der Weg Hinab" builds on an ominous Floydian groove before lilting, interwoven guitar lines lift the song to its conclusion. Elsewhere, vocals play a key role in the dynamics: pounding drums and thick layers of bluesy guitar provide a heavy foundation on "Dort Ist der Weg," while the ethereal voices of Djong Yun and Renate Knaup add an expansive dimension. Their vocals also contribute a pastoral feel, especially on the folky title track and on meditative numbers like the guitar and piano mantra "Haram Dei Raram Dei Haram Dei Ra" and "Kyrie," on which Fricke's arpeggios blend with Ted de Jong's tamboura and Alois Gromer's sitar. Concluding a strong cycle of albums, Letzte Tage - Letzte N�chte continues to encapsulate Popol Vuh's defining characteristics: an ability to create music that's simultaneously delicate and powerful, detailed and expansive, earthbound in its origins and cosmic in its reach. ~ Wilson Neate

With their early experiments in sky-touching electronic music, German group Popol Vuh are sometimes lumped in with the Krautrock bands of the 1970s, but they had been working their own territory from the beginning. Less interested in classical forms and intellectualism, keyboardist/composer Florian Fricke crafted mind-expanding ambient Moog pieces supported by tribal percussion that mimicked Indian ragas, African drum circles, and other ethnic influences. It was one of the first examples of "world fusion," uniting the best aspects of Western technology with second- and third-world sounds and forms. The band pursued this track into the '90s, and released 22 albums, including soundtracks to several Werner Herzog films.

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