Os Mundi are one of the most important key bands of the early Berlin Krautrock scene. They were rooted in the bands: Safebreakers (1962+) and Orange Surprise (featuring Steve Jolliffe), changing into Os Mundi circa 1969/70. The band's initials OS gave rise to the name Os Mundi, Latin for "The World" - apt when their debut LP was called "A Latin Mass".
Os Mundi played heavy psychedelic prog moving onto more fusion realms with their second LP. A third album was never properly completed, although the band did exist on and off until 1980. In addition to 2 classic LP's and an archive CD, unreleased live recordings also exist from 1972 and 1979.
Undocumented members include: Ute Kannenberg from Metropolis, and Agitation Free main-man Michael Günther was in a later incarnation.
Source: Discogs
70s Prog / Kraut Rock with lyrics in Latin - interesting concept, sounds like you’d think that would sound. I’d gladly put on this vinyl on, get inebriated, and go to church.
Good add to the collection.
Os Mundi delivers a strange combination of krautrock and latin lyrics. Too bad the songs just are not as good as I would like. It's a decent effort anyway.
New winner of "Most obscure album on the list"?
This is some weird shit. Krautrock with latin chanting. Some songs are almost avant-proggy. Not sure if I'd ever want to return to this, but points for creativity.
This fucking rocked, great to hear some classic German kraut with some King Crimson-like twists thrown in. Felt much easier to trace the influence of this LP than those by CAN/other Kraut titans down to similar artists of today such as King Gizz and Oh Sees for some reason – may be the less-crowded compositions or general uptempo feel, but in any case this was a fun listen that put a smile on my face!
I really enjoyed this- so evocative of it's time.
Good for a play late at night with the incense smoking on the table and a bottle of the finest closeby.
I've been drowning in pop music this last week, so I'm very grateful for this avant-garde latin-chant krautrock thing turning up. As can sometimes happen in that sphere, the noodling gets grating sometimes, but it's a small price to pay for how interesting the rest of it is
It's definitely easy to see how this band was a critical ingredient in the stew that became Krautrock. This is certainly much more of a psychedelic band, but there are clear elements of Krautrock here as well. Honestly, it helps put where Krautrock started in a lot of context, since this album's influences don't seem as mysterious as those of the genre it helped spawn. Lots of heavy ass distorted guitar, which is always a nice feature in such an early album
4/5 Clearly a very influential album that is fun to listen to in its own right
What a bizarre mashup. A West Berlin early krautrock band decides to do Latin American music. Surprisingly not that memorable though, just felt like a normal krautrock album tbh.
I was primed to dislike this (Kraut rock with only a German language Wiki page, clearly some deep cut business in a genre that often irritates me). But it had a playful sensibility that tempered the usual heavy execution. Some of the mix, very lopsided on the high end, made it tough listening at times. I never know how much of that thing is really down to the particular set of software and electronics I'm consuming it through.
I thought Overture was interesting. But then the rest of album fell pretty flat. I didn't like the vocals. But still a unique album. I felt like I couldn't give it a 2.
Certainly an interesting little album. I read a bit about the history of the band since they are from Berlin, where I live, which was kinda neat to read about the history of music in this city in the 60s.
Musically, it's fine. An interesting historical mix but I don't think very essential.
My personal rating: 3/5
My rating relative to the list: 3/5
Should this have been included on the original list? No.
There's a fine line between being wildly creative and being straight up annoying. Os Mundi gleefully hopscotches over that line repeatedly on this album. I always appreciate hearing bold, unusual sounds, but this one grated on me. 3 stars for being really unique and busting up the monotony of these user submitted albums, but just barely.
Fave Song: Kyrie
Hailing from the German prog/krautrock scene of the '60s and '70s, Os Mundi derive great inspiration from Catholic themes and imagery for their heavy psychedelic rock sound. Not afraid to get weird with it either, with the occasional dissonant organ sounds and freeform improvisational bits before shifting back into a groove. Like if the lads from King Crimson grew up as alter boys and were also German. And they sing in Latin!
Very cool and unique record for this time period. The Electric Prunes (who you may remember from the original list) would go on to make something similar with regards to psychedelic rock and Christian themes. This album captures a cool niche that the Prunes helped pioneer, so I appreciate being exposed to something like this.
CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: A little too niche for the list maybe, though it would be cool if the original list shifted from the Electric Prunes s/t to their third album Mass in F Minor.
Pretty weird and rocking German psych. To make a solely Krautrock based comparison, it’s a bit like if Florian Fricke (Popol Vuh) wrote a concept album, but gave it to Guru Guru to perform.
Overall, an enjoyable psych record.
At first I thought this was the same band that did “A Minha Menina”, but that’s Os Mutantes not Os Mundi. Then I went through roughly half the album believing that this was another Brazilian band with a similar band and thought, “I usually like Brazilian experimental psychedelic rock, why is this falling so flat and coming out boring?”. This is when I realized that they were fucking Germans. Ugh! And they’re blatantly ripping off the flute stylings of Hermeto Pascoal. There was an interesting bit at the start of “Agnus Dei” in the first ten seconds that almost sounded Arcade Fire-ish, but then shifted to boring again for the rest of the song. I’m not impressed. I would not write home. I was fully in my seat and did not once even start to approach the edge of it. Sorry, kids. It was good instrumentation and solid production. I guess it just ain’t my thang. 3/5
Mezcla de folk, rock instrumental, rock un tanto psicodélico, experimental,... Muy del estilo de la época. Sin llegar a entusiasmar, para ciertos momentos (y para variar un poco) se puede escuchar.
A true Ronseal album, in that it sounds exactly what you’d expect a krautrock rendition of a Latin mass to sound like. Blurry and warbling synths, a tight as heck rhythm section, and a pretty decent choral setting. Unfortunately it does get very repetitive as they basically approach each movement in exactly the same way, even making both Credos almost indistinguishable. A really interesting concept that never quite gets out of first gear, like driving an ‘09 Fiesta on the Autobahn
I went in blind. For some reason I assumed Os Mundi was Latin American...until I saw other albums...and went "but that's German", then I was confused. It all makes sense now. Prog-rock, german 70's band, singing about Latin Mass. Weird pick.
Sunday service came early with this one. Not sure I ever needed to hear the Latin mass in a rhythmic style but some of the prog rock guitar work was solid. Overall it was a pretty unique album that I won’t be revisiting outside of the typical service. 4.3/10
I may have had more patience for this on the original list, but to indicate that this is some lost treasure that would need to be added? I'm not giving credit for historical importance at this point... 70's experimental prog with latin lyrics... 10-15 minutes tops... that would be enough for a lifetime. When reincarnated, my next two lives should hopefully get a pass on Os Mundi.
Jazz, church music, wailing. Who thought this was a good idea?
Do people suggest albums that they like, or that they think other people should hear but that doesn’t make them good?
Some people just want to watch the world burn I suppose.
Progressive rock full Catholic mass from a forgotten German group? I guess that’s what this user list is made for - and I didn’t hate it.
I didn’t really like it, but I didn’t hate it.