Can fans already have plenty to look forward to, since the beloved Krautrockers will be receiving an extensive vinyl reissue campaign while founding member Irmin Schmidt will be treated to a solo compilation. It turns out that even more reissues from the Can family are on the way, courtesy of Grönland Records, which will revisit bass player/soundscapist Holger Czukay's post-Can work.
This campaign includes Czukay's project Les Vampyrettes, which featured fellow German experimentalist and famed producer Conny Plank (Kraftwerk, Cluster, Neu!). Their self-titled 12-inch will be reissued on December 10. An announcement notes that this record was only ever self-released in an original vinyl run of 1,000 copies back in 1980; this pressing is on blue vinyl and comes with a fold-out poster.
The record will also be available in a limited deluxe box set edition with three 10-inch records. It will be hand-numbered.
Also on December 10, Grönland will issue Czukay's 1981 solo album On the Way to the Peak of Normal, the first of many upcoming reissues the label has planned for his solo work. Some copies will come on picture disc, while the rest are on white vinyl. Plank is also featured on the release.
In a statement, Czukay has offered the following words about his studio partner, Conny Plank, who died in 1987:
Conny Plank was certainly one of the most unusual producers that I ever met and it took some years till we stood vis-a-vie. He told me how much he had laughed about an article I had published in a technical magazine for musicians where I maintained how to fire a tone engineer in order to save money. Conny said, "you are right." It was the beginning of a close friendship. At that time 'Conny's Studio,' together with the Can studio (former Inner Space Studio) became the No. 1 addresses among bands and musicians who wanted to reach out for unknown horizons. There was no problem for versatile Conny working with artists from the past like Duke Ellington & His Orchestra or Bert Kempfert as well as with younger groups like Killing Joke, Ultravox, Devo, Eurythmics, Brian Eno, D.A.F. and Scorpions. They often took the chance to experience the difference between both studios especially when Conny rolled on with his mobile equipment in order to integrate them into one functioning unit.
One day he left his 'driving' chair and came to the can studio with his trumpet. Together with Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit and Tommy Engel from Cologne group Black Föss he gave groove support to dancing metal clothes artist Pop Top from New York presenting some of his Coca-Cola snap collections. A row of additional artists became present on our studio. Collaboration list like David Sylvian (Japan), Jah Wobble (Public Image Ltd), Arno (TC Matic), Trio and S.Y.P.H. Often Conny's kitchen became the meeting point of musicians who had never met before. I remember one lousy afternoon in November when I suggested to Conny a new series of special singles called 'horror with comfort.' We immediately started working on some lyrics when a gentleman from New York dropped in who had played in the 'Bread & Puppet Theater.' "Biomutanten" was born where a car driver got a motor problem next to a slimy garbage place from where he got attacked by yet unknown monsters.
I never met such a creative partner like Conny Plank again.
Both the upcoming releases continue on with Grönland's celebration of Krautrock's deep and rich history, with the label recently giving much love to the Neu! catalogue, as well as the works of Conny Plank.
Les Vampyrettes:
A1. Biomutanten
B1. Menetekel
C1. Witches Multiplication Table (deluxe edition only)
On the Way to the Peak of Normal:
A1. On the Way to the Peak of Normal
B1. Ode to Perfume
B2. Fragrance
This campaign includes Czukay's project Les Vampyrettes, which featured fellow German experimentalist and famed producer Conny Plank (Kraftwerk, Cluster, Neu!). Their self-titled 12-inch will be reissued on December 10. An announcement notes that this record was only ever self-released in an original vinyl run of 1,000 copies back in 1980; this pressing is on blue vinyl and comes with a fold-out poster.
The record will also be available in a limited deluxe box set edition with three 10-inch records. It will be hand-numbered.
Also on December 10, Grönland will issue Czukay's 1981 solo album On the Way to the Peak of Normal, the first of many upcoming reissues the label has planned for his solo work. Some copies will come on picture disc, while the rest are on white vinyl. Plank is also featured on the release.
In a statement, Czukay has offered the following words about his studio partner, Conny Plank, who died in 1987:
Conny Plank was certainly one of the most unusual producers that I ever met and it took some years till we stood vis-a-vie. He told me how much he had laughed about an article I had published in a technical magazine for musicians where I maintained how to fire a tone engineer in order to save money. Conny said, "you are right." It was the beginning of a close friendship. At that time 'Conny's Studio,' together with the Can studio (former Inner Space Studio) became the No. 1 addresses among bands and musicians who wanted to reach out for unknown horizons. There was no problem for versatile Conny working with artists from the past like Duke Ellington & His Orchestra or Bert Kempfert as well as with younger groups like Killing Joke, Ultravox, Devo, Eurythmics, Brian Eno, D.A.F. and Scorpions. They often took the chance to experience the difference between both studios especially when Conny rolled on with his mobile equipment in order to integrate them into one functioning unit.
One day he left his 'driving' chair and came to the can studio with his trumpet. Together with Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit and Tommy Engel from Cologne group Black Föss he gave groove support to dancing metal clothes artist Pop Top from New York presenting some of his Coca-Cola snap collections. A row of additional artists became present on our studio. Collaboration list like David Sylvian (Japan), Jah Wobble (Public Image Ltd), Arno (TC Matic), Trio and S.Y.P.H. Often Conny's kitchen became the meeting point of musicians who had never met before. I remember one lousy afternoon in November when I suggested to Conny a new series of special singles called 'horror with comfort.' We immediately started working on some lyrics when a gentleman from New York dropped in who had played in the 'Bread & Puppet Theater.' "Biomutanten" was born where a car driver got a motor problem next to a slimy garbage place from where he got attacked by yet unknown monsters.
I never met such a creative partner like Conny Plank again.
Both the upcoming releases continue on with Grönland's celebration of Krautrock's deep and rich history, with the label recently giving much love to the Neu! catalogue, as well as the works of Conny Plank.
Les Vampyrettes:
A1. Biomutanten
B1. Menetekel
C1. Witches Multiplication Table (deluxe edition only)
On the Way to the Peak of Normal:
A1. On the Way to the Peak of Normal
B1. Ode to Perfume
B2. Fragrance