Camera – Remember I Was Carbon Dioxide

The live-recorded, improvised psychedelic workouts of Camera's debut Radiate! saw them championed by Michael Rother of Neu! and Kluster's Dieter Moebius. The band gained notoriety on the Berlin scene playing guerilla gigs in public spaces. They continue to infect krautrock with kosmiche spirit of adventure and hypnotic, tribal rhythms on Remember I Was Carbon Dioxide, but the spirit of punk is also present, perhaps lurking around the corner with a straight-razor.

It's hard to argue with Parhelion's yearning guitar lines and echoing synths; or with Synchron's fuzzy, motorik progression. But Roehre, with its howling, Jon Zorn-like saxophone and squalling, feedback-drenched guitar feels genuinely dangerous, psychotic and swaggering. The sparse, claustrophobic dub of Haeata is a masterpiece of suspense, and the urgent, driving pulse of Trophaee feels like it's been ripped from some lost Lynchian road movie. More widescreen, more adventurous than their debut, this is a convincing sophomore effort, rich and strange. [Bram E. Gieben]