Movies

Oh, thank god! Finally something weird. This 1001 album experiment works best for me when there's something I've never heard, or even better, never heard *of*. The layers, the sampling, the clear influences of people like Zappa, this is fantastic stuff. Instant add to my library.

I'm often a fan of experimental music but this was terrible. Experimental albums usually have their high points and their low points, this was just the latter. Just seems to be rambling, directionless, no emotion/soul behind it.

A release that sounds like what Can would have sounded like in 1979 at there best taking in more disco and fusion elements. I loved it.

In the (technically) solo debut of the leader of the krautrock giant CAN, he follows many of the artsy electronic principles that CAN was so renowned in its innovation, but incorporates that with more accessible genres, including Bowie-esque disco in "Cool in the Pool" or world music in "Persian Love." I like how distinct each of the 4 songs is in style, but I never felt bored or tired of any of them. The jammy space rock "Oh Lord Give Us Money" was both soothing and intriguing to see which direction they'll go. "Holly Symphony", the most intense of the songs, reminded me heavily of afrobeat and disco. The most remarkable aspect is the innovation in sampling, which was still very new in 1979, and yet he spams it all over this record in a way that seems to work from my perspective, likely influencing old school hip hop like Malcolm McLaren.

This was a really fun listen. Pallete cleansing. Loaded with surprises and overflowing with ideas but in a digestible way. Loved this.

Wacky

Groovy

I love Holger, he was the secret sauce in Can; the engineer, the editor, the true experimenter. Here he's using samples in a way that was way ahead of its time. Before even Eno and Byrne made their acclaimed "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" (81). You know Eno listened to this and took notes.

This album must have JUST been added because as I'm writing this there is only one other person who has left a review here. How lucky for me <3 I liked Future Days a ton, and most of Tago Mago. I can see some slight similarity between Can and this guy's solo work, but of course it's not on the same level, as is usual with solo albums from members of awesome bands. I liked the two long tracks well enough. I didn't care for the two shorter ones much. Probably won't return to this one. I'm gonna go listen to some more classic krautrock now

Track 2 is insane. This album is a trip in itself.

I liked basically everything about this recording, from the careening vibe to the great sample work. Let's get cooooool... in the pool

That was really cool

10/10 super funky, super weird, based af

Krautrock tends to cross paths with progressive rock a lot, since they take inspiration from each other at different points in time. So I’m pretty familiar with this kind of music. And Holger Czukay’s previous group Can has ventured into prog territory before, so I went into this album keeping an ear open for it. But I didn’t find much that really “popped” from the album. A lot of meandering, like uninspired jazz, permeated about the record. And while it didn’t sound bad, it didn’t really do much to sound good either. A shame, I guess. Back to “Future Days” for my kraut-prog fix then.

Movies ‘Hello!’ ‘Hello Darling!’ No idea who or what this is, but before I listened I saw the album cover had a sticker on it saying Holger Czukay from Can, so I thought it might be some atmospheric motorik driven krautrock. But although you can see the through line from Can, it feels experimental in a slightly more fun way, kind of signposting stuff that would come in the 80s, like Tom Tom Club, Malcolm McClaren et al, although with less obvious concessions to accessibility. Although my sense is that he's the type of person who thought he was making something very poppy and accessible, it just came out funny. Cool in the Pool is a part Bowie synthy disco, part Can, part Afrobeat, but with added teutonic avant garde noises and oddness, it’s great. Oh Lord, Give Us More Money is maybe the most Can sounding track, but the samples take it somewhere else, occasionally feeling like the theme from a 70s cop show, occasionally feeling like an ominous dream, but always with the insistent drumming and bass. Great track. Persian Love has a great groove and more pleasing oddness, seemingly built from the middle eastern vocal sample, but ending up as a sort of calypso-folk-funk hybrid, and it sounds a lot better than that combination would suggest. I absolutely loved Hollywood Symphony, excellent noises, synths and vocal samples, kind of unfolding itself over an unhurried 15 minutes, seeming to settle on a groove and atmosphere before squelching off into some bit of spacey weirdness. I’ve seen in a few places people say that the album laid the groundwork for My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and it’s really evident on this one, it sounds quite a lot like America is Waiting. Although each track has its own sensibility they are all underpinned by truly excellent percussion, rhythms and drumming and absolutely superb bass playing, slightly reminiscent of Jah Wobble’s playing with PiL. It's alternately groovy, melodic and propulsive, working perfectly with the drums, while all the mad shit happens around it. This was right up my straße, I loved it. It's great when the list throws up something like this that I’ve never heard of making up for all the woeful metal we get. On first listen this was an immediate 4, and it got better and better, I just kept wanting to go round again and have listened to it pretty much non stop for about 5 hours. 5 hours = 5 stars then. 🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥 Playlist submission: Hollywood Symphony

It’s kind of wild to think that Can may have acted as a force to *reign in* Holger Czukay, if the experimental madness on “Movies” is any indication of where he could have gone with them. An absolutely brilliant record.

I love this album so much. Holgar Czukay is some kind of mad scientist genius. I'm very stoked and very surprised that this is on this list. The music video for "Cool in the Pool" is one of the best videos ever made IMO as well.

Ok. Not my jam, but well done.

I didn't hate that nearly as much as I thought I was going to. Eclectic and musical enough to be intriguing throughout and not get boring.

What the hell was that?

Meh

Album #983 may be the one that broke me. 900 albums ago, I might've been able to give this more of a chance. But today I was just bored and irritated and had to keep reminding myself that my participation in this listening project is voluntary. 900 albums ago, I had points to give for "uniqueness" but I think I've heard this kind of "uniqueness" before which isn't a great feature of "uniqueness." Is music a thing I used to like? Was it ever anything but an "obligation"? I don't know anymore. Another day, another mood, and maybe I could be more generous. But not today.

Like listening to a bad movie you’ve never seen before

I love experimental music. I love silly music. But when it comes along, it needs to be pushing something truly well produced and unique. I just don't get that from these rambling and silly songs.

Interesting - I suspect drugs were involved

Dat slechte accent! ‘Koelllll in ze poelllll’.

Did he smash his head on the mixing table?

How to make "Movies" by Holger Czukay: 1. Start with a repeating backing track 2. Play every instrument at your disposal but only with your teeth. 3. Mush your face onto a soundboard as much as possible 4. Scream out in pain every once in a while for good measure 5. Enjoy

Kjell Höglund fast på Tyska. Spotify har ingen låttext :( Definitivt sämst hittills.

My kind of weird

Rare funk om mensen even van het ritme te gooien, en ik ben er helemaal bij

Loved that!

This. Was. Awesome. I've listened to it at least three times already. All the different layers and sampling are just so entertaining. It's such an animated collection of songs, songs that are continuously morphing in surprising ways. I'm loving all the world music incorporated as well. Holger Czukay is a founding member of Can. I haven't generated any Can albums yet, but I just recently listened to a couple of them, so this was timely. I definitely declare Movies to be a headphones album. Ahh, I don't think I could ever get bored of this!

Yes. This is what I was hoping this little experiment would deliver—hidden gems that I might not otherwise have discovered.

Slowly realizing that Can and its members might be some of my favorite music. Czukay delivers some wonderfully challenging yet approachable pop music on Movies. Quite the masterpiece.

really interesting album. it's a bit goofy at times (get used to canned sound effects, etc.) but the musicianship here is great and the songs are so interesting to me. none of them are boring and take you every which way, which is what i loved about it.

I can’t believe this was from 1979. So inventive.

Awesome and weird

This is wild.

Where has this been all my life. Spotify kept the higs coming on a Czukay radio afterwards as well.

Weirdly awesome, and awesomely weird! Amazingly mature use of sampling for 1979 - prefigures a whole bunch of genres. The video for "Cool in the Pool" is a true oddity, and well worth seeking out. Turns out I was familiar with that track (and one other from a different album) from the "Morvern Callar" soundtrack. Loved this, and definitely need to dig through the rest of his discography! Fave track - "Cool in the Pool" for something a little poppy, "Oh Lord Give Us More Money" for feeling like a voyage.

For fans of experiment, mash up or, hell, breakcorefans taking opium. This one hell of an album, flirting with everything from pop to classical and even Arabic music.

FIRE 10/10

This album took me a few minutes to get into. To be honest I nearly switched it off for another time as I thought I wasn't in the mood. Then it grabbed me. Not knowing Holger Czukay was from Can, I started to think this was folk music take on Kraut Rock. F'ing mesmerising stuff. I was kind of upset when it ended as only about 28 minutes had passed. Felt like hours but in a good way

hell yeah that's what I'm here for

Wild vibes but sort of a groove

Czukay is weird and a genius, loved his minimal albums with David Sylvian, ant this freaky music also nice. Some songs were stolen from Life In The Bush of Ghosts (Eno/Byrne) I thought and only then found out the album is released years before! More prove this man deserve full marks

What an incredibly cool and fun album! Its so charming and has some gorgeous moments that really are just awe inspiring. Most of it is just background music, but its really chill background music that I can easily sink my teeth into, and Holger Czukay's voice is a little silly, but overall really nice, making for a really great little jam thing with bits of greatness sprinkled in; enough so that I don't have anything but praise for this record. Really surprising, but a welcome surprise nonetheless.

YAYAYAYAYYA I LOVED IT 5/5 Fave Tracks: all of them

This is why I’m doing this. Very interesting music from an interesting guy. Recommend reading the wiki about him

Cool in the Pool pour moi c'est du génie débile a la Phillipe Katerine avec une compo contemporaine super réussie a la fois groovy et super pérchée et la combinaison est explosivo-débilo. Le reste de l'album j'ai pas reussi a me concentrer dessus. Jsuis conscient que ça raconte surement quelque chose de beau et de profond mais c'est pas la musique que j'ecouterai de maniere passive. (sauf persian love qui me fait actuellement bouger mon gros boulard)

I like CAN, I like german „Krautrock“ - 5 stars from me for Holger

Loved it

like the first 3 songs, last one was hard to get through

cool

Wow! I really liked this. It's refreshingly strange and vintage-y. This dude Holger was kinda ahead of his time. This stuff evolved further in the 80's but built up that indelible 80's stank that you can't get rid of.

I was prepared to not like this album because I don't usually listen to this genre. I had heard some tracks from his former band Can and I was not impressed. Was I wrong. Every track on this album is amazing. It is the perfect marriage of experimentation and pop music.

Really enjoyed this - lighthearted and innovative at the same time. I love the idea that he was improvising scores for his amusement as he watched movies. I think "Cool in the Pool" is my new favorite song.

Intricately layered bonkers mad shit. Jazz funk prog proto-electronica. Sharp and clean but packed with detailed flourishes. Loving it.

This was so strange... but I had so much fun with it! A total discovery for me! I mean, this project is becoming a big part of my working days, because I'm listening to so many albums I didn't know anything about! And then I get to revisit the ones I've always liked ;-)

This was cool. I love it when I get something completely from left field. Never heard of this in any way, and was fully engaged for the duration. Felt like it was probably breaking a lot of ground on the sampling front, so I can see how it may hold some important significance. Regardless, worthy!

Great album! I loved his work with Can. So, I was really awesome to hear some of his solo work. “Cool In The Pool” had a cool, mad scientist on vacation vibe. “Persian Love” was also interesting. I listened to this album on the way to work. I think next time I listen to this, I need to be sitting in my chair with the volume turned up just to catch everything this album has to offer

Feels like the list got it right today - loads of fun discovering this.

Very interesting and adventurous. This kind of thing definitely looks forward to like, Talk Talk’s evolution and otherwise dreamy, progressive pop composition. Some bits I did not like — for instance, the first song. The rest of it I thought was very listenable, and I’ll be going back to it. If it’s a must listen it’s #79 lol

I liked this, it seemed cool

Kinda bonkers in a cool way. Bumping it up one pioneer point for early sampling and radio-as-instrument use. Probably still gonna go to Can when I want something bonkers in this particular way, but glad to have listened. music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)

This was a ride. Maybe it’s because it’s been a kind of bad stretch on here these last couple weeks, but I felt very In To This. Cool in the Pool was vaguely city poppish, right? Pretty interesting. I’d go back to this one.

Enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. Not a big fan of Can, generally.

A lot going on here. I really liked the first 3 tracks, they had a great combination of samples, whimsy, and little interesting call and response riffs, all being kind of chaotic but still cohesive. The 4th track didn't do as much for me and seemed a little too meandering, but overall this was a pretty fun record. 3.5/5

Was really surprised by this one. I like it a lot. I listened to it like 8-9 times already. 4.25/5

Pretty solid. B-

Whoa, that was crazy. But was it cool? I don’t know. Not as cool as Can, anyway. But I love getting an experimental and controversial album I didn’t even know existed.

This was super interesting the whole way through. Cool In The Pool sounded like Talking Heads. The sound collages seem like what The Avalanches or MF DOOM would be doing twenty years later. I will definitely be listening to more from this guy. Favorite songs were Cool In The Pool, Oh Lord, Give Us More Money, and Hollywood Symphony.

Interesting

Fantastic stuff. A true musical innovator

This is pretty good. I feel like I prefer the first disc of Tago Mago (which I got yesterday) to this, but there’s a good amount of not great stuff on that album, so this has it beat.

What in the experimental, sample heaven hell is this? I've barely scratched the surface of CAN as a band; I don't know if I'm ready for Czukay's full control over the music. I think if you're willing to accept it, this record has a lot to offer. But it is not entirely accessible. It's very silly firstly. With sound bytes and random left turns consuming the vast majority of tunes, you're not listening to gain a feel for the groove so much as you are just along for the ride, waiting to see what could possibly happen next. And I suppose that's the point. Not in a hurry to revisit this, but it was a total blast; weird, trippy and everything in between.

Auspiciously avant-garde, Czukay offers four fleeting glimpses into wonderfully strange worlds that blur the lines between music, found audio, and sound art.

4.5 stars. it sounds completely unique . I cant imagine what effort it took doing it all analogue. Half a star off because I dont know if i will ever listen to it again.

7.5/10 Extremely interesting, and an incredible turnaround after the first track, which was really, really terrible. After that I thought this was a certain one star. Then the rest of the album was brilliant. Avant art pop, music concrete, samples and textures. Extremely well done, even if the (non sampled) vocals were a weak point. Best: Persian Love

Very cool album. Wacky yet groovy songs that explored a lot of different places but never got tiring

This is a pretty good album, but like many avant-garde and experimental records, it took me about three listens to fully take it in. The atmosphere is surreal and dreamlike, with layered sounds and unconventional structures blending krautrock, world music samples, electronic, and ambient elements. The album balances a subtle quirkiness—thanks to its playful samples and unexpected transitions—with a more serious and self-aware tone. While it has an ambient feel overall, there are also funk-inspired basslines and spoken word sections that add variety. What really stood out to me was the sense of space and the innovative use of tape looping, sampling, and production techniques throughout the album. It’s a record that grew on me, and it’s one I’ll definitely revisit in the future.

Good songs to vibe out to. Don't have to think too hard. Just go with the flow.

Incredible. A lot of the things I love about Radiohead—pushing it but keeping it melodic and often beautiful. Right now I’m thinking 4.2 but this is the kind of music that has room to grow.

Very fun, very cool in the pool. The drumming is impeccable on this album. I didn’t care for Oh Lord Give Us More Money.

weird but i like it :-)

Évoque parfois les débuts de la musique de jeux vidéo ; précurseur de l'électronique

A bit of a funky thing. Pretty solid listen.

Bam, first a Can album and then a Holger Czukay (strong contender for best named artist so far) right after. Movies is much more accessible than Tago Mago and equal parts more enjoyable, while being incredibly ahead of its' time. 'Cool in the Pool' might be one of the most uncool things I have ever heard - I dig.

This album is weird. But it’s also cool. It’s like a 3.5 - no real complaints. I don’t think I’ll revisit, but I probably wouldn’t mind if I had to.

Meandering in a somewhat freeing way. I'd love to know how some of these instrumentations were captured. A lot of sampling? The Brian Eno collaborations make me think so. Another product of its geopolitical position. Again wish I could do half stars

Hell, I really enjoyed this and the fact that I had no idea of where it was going next. Listened to it 4 times in total and still have no idea. Fun, experimental and just the tonic when it all gets a bit "samey"

This was great! What a fun discovery. I loved Cool In The Pool. Such a funky, jazzy, interesting little tune to start off my day. The remaining three tracks were top-notch as well. I've saved another Czukay album to listen to another day. A very solid 4 from me.

First listen through I thought it was decent, if a bit mad at times. By my second listen I was convinced this is really good and definitely worthy of a few chances. Gets better each time, especially given at first I thought there’s no way this would get released if he wasnt in Can. Persian Love and Hollywood Symphony were the highlights for me, but Cool in the Pool gets better each listen

Not really sure what it was all about, but it is albums like this that belong on the list in my opinion. Really different and creative. Not too sure I'd go back for the full album, but I was humming along to Persian Love.

If every British New Wave record on this list got replaced by a weird fucking album like this, we could have had world peace back in 2008 (the year of the green wolf). Noticed that Czukay's voice sounds awfully similar to Kevin Barnes from "Of Montreal". More CAN is always a good thing. Awesome.

A pretty interesting album but no song fully stood out.

Unique combination of traditional "rhythmic" music mixed with experimental and found sounds. Enjoyable while still being "out there" a bit.

Looking at the cover made me think this was likely some country/folk album, but then i click onto the wikipedia. "Experimental rock", the guy is from germany and it's the 70s, "his first solo album since leaving Can". Ah ok, so turns out this is going to be some super interesting weird shit instead. Delightful.

Dreamy. Proggy. Jammy. Synthy. Groovy. Edgy. Pokemony. MF-Doomy. This is just straight up cool. Spotify says 2015, but this was released in 1976, post-Can. Led me to Kraut-Rock, and I wonder which Kraut album will feature on this list. This album is fucking awesome. Made my body move in its own way. Felt like a slinky trapped in a hamster ball floating down a lazy river of rainbow water. A little tiny gem for sure. Fav track: Hollywood Symphony