While most of this ensemble’s Krautrock contemporaries gradually gravitated towards traditional – so to say – progressive rock, it didn’t take a lot for KRAAN to reveal their true colors and turn into a fusion collective. Five decades further down the line, and the veterans are still pursuing the same jazz-tinged adventurousness, with the original core of guitarist Peter Wolbrandt, bassist Hellmut Hattler and drummer Jan Fride still creating fantastic funky pieces with a lot of gusto. And if the German band’s fans had to wait a whole decade before they delivered a follow-up to 2010’s “Diamonds” in the form of “Sandglass” – the latter seeing keyboard player Ingo Bischof out of the fold – that record’s successor arrived only three years later.
Appearing under the title of “Zoup” and comprising eight new numbers, the platter finds the group downsized to a trio once again, except for “Aus allen Wolken” – one of the three CD-only bonuses – where ivories are handled by Bischof who, sadly, passed away in 2019. If its titular track available for listening below is anything to go by, the album feels fascinating.
Zoup
1. Zoup
2. Rainy May
3. Überstürzter Aufbruch
4. Weit und Breit
5. Twisted
6. Norwegen Dia
7. A Skyful Of Veils
8. Palin Vanilla
9. Bikinian Rhapsody
10. Aus allen Wolken
11. Norwegen Dia (acoustic version)
