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Vibravoid — An Introduction to Vibravoid
(Fruits de Mer intro 7, 2024, 2CD)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2024-11-26

An Introduction to Vibravoid Cover art

The last Fruits de Mer Records retrospective release for 2024 is the double CD An Introduction to Vibravoid. Over the last 35 years Vibravoid has released 22 studio albums, countless live albums, single, and EPs, many of them on Fruits de Mer. In point of fact, when searching for Vibravoid releases 15 years I discovered Fruits de Mer, which was in its infancy at that time. For this retrospective, Christian Koch, Vibravoid founder and band leader, went back over his original recordings and remastered them for CD1 and then added CD2 as a bonus containing four previously unreleased live recordings and three cover songs from two of his non-FdM releases: “Incense and Peppermints” and “Oscillations” from The Politics of Ecstasy (2008) and “Magic Mirror” from Delirio dei Sensi (2013). CD1 kicks off with three cover tracks from Vibravoid’s first FdM 7 inch EP release, The Krautrock Sensation (2009), Can’s “Mother Sky,” Kraftwerk’s “Ruckzuck,” and Amon Düül II’s “Eye-Shaking King.” Track four is an extremely cosmic cover of Pink Floyd’s classic “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” from the 2009 FdM member freebie cassette We Come Bearing Gifts. Tracks five and six are from Vibravoid’s 2010 7-inch What Colour Is Pink?, “Let There Be More Light” and “A Saucerful of Secrets.” Track seven changes things up a bit with an Eddie Cochran cover “Shotgun Wedding Theme” from the 2010 Eddie Cochran Instrumental EP. Next is their cover of the obscure proto-motorik “No Silver Bird” by the Hooterville Trolley from the compilation Roqueting Through Space (2010), followed by the surreal and dreamy cover of Kalacakra’s “Nearby Shiras” from Head Music (2012). Then jumping to the other side of the world, Vibravoid presents their cover Tyrnaround’s “Colour Your Mind” from the Colour Your Mind EP (2013), followed by a cover of the Human Expression’s “Optical Sound” from the same EP. Then Vibravoid presents three covers from their Stepping Stone EP (2015): a cover of Boyce and Hart’s “Stepping Stone,” Dave Mason’s “Hole in My Shoe,” and H.P. Lovecraft’s “The White Ship.” Closing out CD1 is Vibravoid’s cover of Iron Butterfly’s iconic “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” from their 2016 FdM 7-inch with the same title. Whew! And that was just the first disc. Vibrabvoid takes all of these classic songs and owns them, except for “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” which falls a little flat for me.

In contrast to the fifteen songs on CD1, CD2 only contains a mere seven tracks, four of which are previously unreleased extended live performances: “Colour Your Mind” recorded live at the Cavern Club, Exeter in 2016, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” recorded live at the Film Museum, Dusseldorf in 2017, “Mother Sky” recorded at the Cavern Club, Exeter in 2016, and “No Silver Bird” recorded at the Burg Herzberg Festival in 2011. In addition to their studio recordings, Vibravoid excels as a live band and their “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” is far superior to their 2016 EP. And the final three tracks are the three mentioned above from their non-FdM albums, covers or Strawberry Alarm Clock, Aphrodite’s Child, and Silver Apples. Thanks to Fruits de Mer Records and Vibravoid to curate all of these tracks, most of which are sold out, all into one package that is a wonderful introduction to this excellent German neo-psych, neo-Krautrock band.

Filed under: Archives, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Vibravoid

More info
http://fruitsdemerrecords.com/vibravoidintro.html

 

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