Delia Gonzalez and Gavin RussomThe Days of Mars

Not content with re-appropriating some of Can’s finer moments with LCD Soundsystem, DFA boss James Murphy has obviously decided that the label could do with some more groovy proto-krautrock, which is where Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom come in.

While LCD have become the sound of now (well, the sound of ten months ago anyway), ‘The Days Of Mars’ could have crept out on an obscure German label at any point during the past twenty years.

‘The Days Of Mars’ is one of those records that breaks free of such petty notions as trend, fashion or era. Much like an updated take on Tangerine Dream or a subdued Kraftwerk, its minimalist bleeps, looping motorik and melancholy soul mean that this record will still sound fresh this time next year and that’s not something that could be said about everyone on the DFA roster.

CanUnlimited Edition

Quick wake up call for anyone that thought Krautrock started with Kraftwerk. It didn’t.

Can formed back in the late ‘60s and, along with the likes of Tangerine Dream, laid down the original blueprint that was merely updated by Kraftwerk a few years later. Originally released in 1976, Can’s eighth album, ‘Unlimited Edition’, was compiled from a series of recordings made over the previous eight years, and runs the gamut from nasty hippy music to juddering and heavily syncopated motorik.

Despite the vintage of ‘Unlimited Edition’, it’s obvious how influential Can still are. Just a single listen to ‘Connection’, recorded in 1969, shows that, at least in spirit if not actually in person, LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy really was there.