Classically trained guitarist Manuel Göttsching started his career under the name Ash Ra Tempel in 1970.
The most shamelessly psychedelic of the Kraütrock bands, their line-up fluctuated until, by the time of their New Age Of Earth album in 1977, there was only Göttsching and a huge bank of machines.
If The Grateful Dead were teenagers in 1970s West Germany, this is how Dark Star would have sounded.
On the eve of a 1981 tour, Göttsching was tooling around in the studio with a piece of music to listen to on the plane. The result – an undulating chug called E2 – E4, adorned with treated guitars, watery plops and chirruping synths – languished in a cupboard for three years before becoming a club favourite and later, thanks to a cover by Italian house heads Sueno Latino, a Cafe Del Mar chill-out anthem.
