Kalacakra / Crawling To Lhasa (Vinyl LP)

Description

2017 reissue – Limited hand-numbered edition of 1000 / Picture disc – gatefold cover with 8-page insert

1972-Germany

Format: Vinyl LP

#Ref: PDLP-02

Release date: 2017

Release notes

Picture Disc edition with an insert of 8 pages and is also limited to 1000 hand-numbered copies.** Against its remarkable, sprawling, and lasting influence, it is hard to image the 1960’s and 70’s German sonic counterculture as it was – a truly underground music, almost entirely unknown beyond the borders of the country from which it sprang. Across the ensuing decades, this scene – among the most ambitious, rebellious, and experimental of its day, has offered an unparalleled wealth of inspiration for generations of artists following in its wake, laying the blueprint for a bridge between popular music and the approaches of the avant-garde. Despite all the has come to light, the German underground was so prolific, embracing such a diverse range creative approaches, that it continues to yield incredible discoveries from the shadows of time – a task of unveiling that, over the last twenty years, Garden of Delights has faced head on, returning now with a beautiful picture disc reissue of Kalacakra’s Crawling To Lhasa from 1972, an LP which is as legendary as it is sinfully overlooked.
Kalacakra, taking their name from Tantric Buddhism, meaning wheel of time, was a short-lived duo founded by multi-instrumentalists Claus Rauschenbach and Heinz Martin, privately issuing a lone release – Crawling To Lhasa, before drifting from view. Blending repetitive metronomy – a signature feature harnessed by many of their Kosmische / Krautrock peers – Neu!, Can, Kraftwerk. etc, within a territory of acid-folk weirdness which will be familiar to fans of Comus, the album stands a singular document of the darkness and light of the era. Drawing heavily on eastern and raga influences, deploying the sitar, guitar, and percussion against sweeping passages of flute, it’s a stoner, freak-out wonder that pushes rock and folk into wild new realms – framing the dreamy and idyllic, against the sinister and depressed – perfectly capturing the complex dynamic of era defined by incredible social and political upheaval and change, its dreams and loss of innocence realized in sound.

Tracklisting

A1 Nearby Shiras 9:16 / A2 Jaceline 6:15 / A3 Raga No. 11 5:34 / A4 Deja Vu (Bonus Track) 5:38
B1 September Full Moon 9:35 / B2 Arapaho’s Circle Dance 2:28 / B3 Tante Olga 7:31 / B4 Vamos (Bonus Track) 6:48