Reviewed by Nathan Ford
Johannes Schulz A.K.A Vintage Cucumber is a ridiculously productive musician by any standards, but particularly considering the haze of dope smoke that his music seems to be wafting out from. This certainly goes some way to breaking the stereotype that stoners are unmotivated wastrels.
His latest release is a three track E.P (although at around thirty minutes it could pass for an album) based around the lunar and solar cycles - heady stuff.
For those that haven't heard his stuff yet (his last album "McGoyl Style" is great, check it here) you can expect to find within these grooves (or whatever the binary equivalent is) some of the trippiest instrumental psychedelia you've ever heard.
Opener "Sonnenmond" is a mammoth, eighteen minute piece of moody Krautrock that sets an ominous tone from the outset, with a slow, rigid tempo that makes it the aural equivalent of wading through molasses.
It casts a wonderfully hypnotic spell that is so strong that it's hard to adjust to the slightly more upbeat "Mondsonnen", which is built upon some lovely, relaxed tribal percussion with layers of underwater guitar and some beautiful organ work weaving in and out of the mix.
"Der Mond ist des Sonnes Freund" is a Floydian masterwork with a bassline straight out of the late sixties Roger Waters songbook and plenty of tasteful, lyrical guitar work.
This is very deliberately paced music for the patient among us who favor atmosphere and carefully layered embellishments over hooks, although there's plenty of memorable melodies to be found here also.
And it's a name your price download from Bandcamp!
Highly recommended to all you mind travelers.
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