As the last surviving core member of krautrock outliers Can and curator of their still potent musical legacy, Irmin Schmidt has hand-selected a CD of riches and rarities from the band’s vast archives exclusively for MOJO.
In the pantheon of great musical cults, few are more potent and enduring than Can. An avant-garde groove machine. A radical rethink of what a rock band could be. A group of fiercely independent talents who could switch from expansive psychedelic jams to magically skewed pop music on a whim. Holger Czukay. Jaki Liebezeit. Michael Karoli. Irmin Schmidt. Malcolm Mooney and Damo Suzuki.
…Replay 1968-2026 brings together riches and rarities from the band’s life and afterlife.
Tag Archive: Irmin Schmidt
Can & Irmin Schmidt – »Replay« 1968-2026 (15 Gems and Rarities Compiled Exclusively for Mojo) (2026)
Released a month before the composer’s 89th birthday, Irmin Schmidt‘s Requiem is a meditative work reflecting on loss and commemoration, as well as nature and the environment. The slowly unfolding composition, divided into two parts, is intended for deep listening. Schmidt gathered natural sounds such as rushing water and the calls of birds, frogs, and insects, hearing music within them, and decided to incorporate them into his own music. The beginning of Requiem features abstract piano notes laid over a bed of chirps and croaks, largely undisturbed, until some strange thrusting movements emerge after five minutes, resembling some sort of vehicle like a tractor manipulated into a rhythm. Dripping water periodically works its way into the rhythm as well,…