Album Details

• Artist: Camera
• Album: Radiate
• Label: Bureau B
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2012-07-17

It isn't a rule that German rock bands necessarily owe anything to Krautrock, but Berlin's Camera flaunts the legacy. Calling themselves "Krautrock Guerillas"-for their sound as much as their penchant for unannounced public shows-- the trio offers their debut, "Radiate." On its eight tracks the band certainly nods to its predecessors, but its own grit and smarts are what really makes this a solid release.

"Ego" is hypnotic and finds a groove in the interplay between guitar and synth that gives off  a psych Velvet's vibe, complete with growing abrasive power. It is followed by the haunting, Eastern-infused "Villon," a spare, dreamlike drum and minimal melody epic.

Adding to the band's seemingly bottomless store of sounds, "Ausland" rocks like an Industrial 60s punk cover; the ten minute "Lynch" is noisy, soaring and sweeping, a hypnotic track named after a certain director who would appreciate the restrained passion. The elegiac closer, "Morgen," features muted percussion and a simple melody, a sound that creates feelings of both hope and resignation.

As trippy and caustic as the best music of their countrymen, but with their own invention and desire to move beyond comparisons clearly evident, Camera debut with an often stunning foray into volume and psychedelic pulse. "Radiate" does radiate, with warmth and distracted menace sharing the same endless moments, moments where any spontaneous reaction is right.

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