Customer Reviews

Therra Amphibia Deep I

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He looks back on an illustrious career. In the Sixties Mani Neumeier was one of the founders of Guru Guru - like Can, Amon Düül II or Faust one of the most influential groups of Krautrock. Guru Guru is still active, albeit their sound and concept has changed over the years: nowadays the band plays a highly developed kind of Ethno-Ambient-Rock.
But Guru Guru is not the whole musical life of Mani Neumeier. A real World music man through and through, he is also a passionate globetrotter. On his extensive trips through all continents he explores even the remotest corners of nature, hunting for new sounds. In his baggage he always carries small percussion instruments but he also loves to try native instruments. On these travels Mani chooses not only human beings as his session partners, but also birds and others animals, in one case even a herd of monkeys!
First Mani collected the recordings from his travels just for his private fun. In 1990 he finally developed the idea to turn these recordings into actual CD releases. Now the third part of his "Terra Amphibia" series is completed and released on "Prudence".
"The great advantage of animal musicians is their inability to think. They don't have the reactions of a potential listener in mind", muses Mani Neumeier. "Thus their music has nothing speculative. It is pure expression." Very consciously the high class drummer has avoided the use of a conventional drum-kit for the tracks on "Terra Amphibia (Deep In The Jungle)". He also used electronics only very cautiously : "I wanted to keep the natural gentleness and warmth of this music unharmed by sounds that are too brillant or thundering." Neumeier hopes the listeners will use this totally original music (which doesn't try to hook up with any current trends) for their relaxation, to get happy or become one with the universe. But he also wants them to understand it as an invitation to or even stimulation to detect and live their own musicality.

Haven't heard a release on the Prudence label for awhile now - but like Mani's 'Birthday' and 'Sketches' discs, this CD offers the listener(s) something rather nice to absorb. Tracks that displayed the most promise were "Nightmarket", "Auen" {with sound effects of running water and good flute work} and "Magic Journey". Do keep in mind that to properly enjoy this experimental effort, one really should be in the 'right frame' of mind. Enjoy.