I learned rather quickly during my conversation with CAN founding member Irmin Schmidt that sometimes it's better to shut up and stay out of the way. On June 16, the day of his legendary band's singles compilation release, The Singles, I called Schmidt from his home in the south of France to talk about some of the record's most interesting tracks. After early questions about Damo Suzuki rumors, it became clear that Schmidt is neither interested nor willing to talk about internet stories with no discerning relevance on the legacy of his band. So be it. After letting Schmidt choose five songs to discuss, the discussion quickly turns into a story session, with Schmidt telling some tales and breaking down prevalent influences within the band's phenomenal discography.
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From pioneering krautrock to a growing popularity as their music proliferates throughout popular movies (Almodovar's Broken Embraces (2009) Inherent Vice (2014)), CAN's relevance and influence is as powerful now as when they were as a chart topping band in Germany way back in '71.Oddly enough, CAN as an album band is antithetical to the singles compilation. The music can veer on impenetrable, and the explosiveness of their more pop-oriented work is only amplified by their jam and experimental based roots. The Singles serves to showcase the band in a new light, one which highlights their ear for hooks and grooves, earworm melodies, and funk basslines. So, here's Irmin Schmidt, telling some stories about a few of the record's most popular and underrated tracks.Noisey: Soundtracks is a compilation of music CAN wrote for films. How was the record received upon release?
Irmin Schmidt: At the time it was released it was actually a real disco hit. That was all music we did for films, which doesn't mean it's not music in its own right. It's music in its own ri ght because whatever we did for films we would also consider putting on our records. And so we designed it such that we only would use music for films that we thought could stand alone.So when writing for a film, CAN's songwriting process didn't necessarily change.
The process doesn't change that much. Whatever we did, even the word songwriting, puts too much weight on CAN. The pop signs are there, we play classical music too—centuries of European classical music appear in or music, from the Middle Ages on. There's the whole jazz history, too, especially in Jaki's [Liebezeit, drummer] playing. It's all there. It was essential for the group to put all of these traditions together, from classical to electronic.
"Soul Desert"
Irmin Schmidt: At the time it was released it was actually a real disco hit. That was all music we did for films, which doesn't mean it's not music in its own right. It's music in its own ri ght because whatever we did for films we would also consider putting on our records. And so we designed it such that we only would use music for films that we thought could stand alone.So when writing for a film, CAN's songwriting process didn't necessarily change.
The process doesn't change that much. Whatever we did, even the word songwriting, puts too much weight on CAN. The pop signs are there, we play classical music too—centuries of European classical music appear in or music, from the Middle Ages on. There's the whole jazz history, too, especially in Jaki's [Liebezeit, drummer] playing. It's all there. It was essential for the group to put all of these traditions together, from classical to electronic.
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I wouldn't say we do anything called songwriting. It's inventing pieces, which could be very avant-garde, more conventional, they could be anything. Anything on the Can Singles collection moves away from pop structures. Our process changed from piece to piece. One day we would do a 20-minute long piece, and when we did those it would be very spontaneous and collectively created through improvisation and an open sense of tradition and what the others in the band did. Sometimes the material that appeared would ask for a long piece, and sometimes it asked for being short because it was just an idea that had to be formulated in a short phrase. It was never our intention to make a short piece, it would just sometimes sort of happen.On "Soul Desert,"—
"Soul Desert" is one of the more emotional things we've ever done. Malcolm [Mooney, CAN's first singer] was singing. Because it was extremely emotional, we reacted to it with the most extreme minimalism possible, which made the piece, for me, incredibly interesting. I was talking about tradition—Malcolm definitely had the blues. When we played with Malcolm, it would often be very emotional. His words were very modern and came from a western European tradition. That combined with our minimalism really makes the piece strange and very, very new. Original, too."Spoon" was a single that preceded Ege Bamyasi but was also included on the album. Why did you decide to release it first?
"Spoon" was one of the only pieces that was planned as a single because it was a song we got commissioned for. The song had to be short for that reason. We were actually commissioned to do "Spoon" for a film, so we worked on the material and then we found out that the titled song had to be a short song. The first time we did it Jaki played it on a rhythm box, which made the track very interesting. We used the rhythm box not as it was intended, but using it in a different fashion.
"Soul Desert" is one of the more emotional things we've ever done. Malcolm [Mooney, CAN's first singer] was singing. Because it was extremely emotional, we reacted to it with the most extreme minimalism possible, which made the piece, for me, incredibly interesting. I was talking about tradition—Malcolm definitely had the blues. When we played with Malcolm, it would often be very emotional. His words were very modern and came from a western European tradition. That combined with our minimalism really makes the piece strange and very, very new. Original, too.
"Spoon"
"Spoon" was one of the only pieces that was planned as a single because it was a song we got commissioned for. The song had to be short for that reason. We were actually commissioned to do "Spoon" for a film, so we worked on the material and then we found out that the titled song had to be a short song. The first time we did it Jaki played it on a rhythm box, which made the track very interesting. We used the rhythm box not as it was intended, but using it in a different fashion.
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"Spoon," all of a sudden—from one moment to the next—made us famous in Germany. It was a hit single. Having a top 10 single all of a sudden in our little village…Everyone in the village looked at us very strangely and then all of a sudden, in this little bourgeois village where we built our studio, we had a hit single. They were very proud of us. No more suspicion.Were you already writing Ege Bamyasi when you released "Spoon?"
"Spoon" was the first thing we produced in the new studio. We were just sort of moving from this castle to a new, big studio that we installed in a former cinema in our village. It was the first piece we made in the new studio. When we started going on Ege Bamyasi, "Spoon" was the first piece for it we had done. And maybe, Ege Bamyasi became more kind of pop focused compared to Tago Mago, and had a more pop feeling, because we started with "Spoon" and that infected the rest of the record, which was good.These are two non-album tracks. Why was it important for these to be included?
"Turtles Have Short Legs" was the a-side and "Shikako Maru Ten" was the b-side. That came out in 1971. "Turtles" is the only piece we ever recorded outside of our own studio. "Spoon" was the first song we did in our new studio, but before we did "Spoon," it was quite a while between the last record and Ege Bamyasi. The record label was getting annoyed. They wanted some product because they wanted to put something out after Soundtracks and Tago Mago. We didn't have anything yet. We were moving from one studio to the other and we weren't quite ready to record, so we went to another studio and funnily enough, there was a grand piano, and the piece was totally improvised. I started on this piano. I played a little riff and everyone just joined in spontaneously. Very quickly we recorded "Turtles Have Short Legs." It happens like this for many of the songs we do.
"Spoon" was the first thing we produced in the new studio. We were just sort of moving from this castle to a new, big studio that we installed in a former cinema in our village. It was the first piece we made in the new studio. When we started going on Ege Bamyasi, "Spoon" was the first piece for it we had done. And maybe, Ege Bamyasi became more kind of pop focused compared to Tago Mago, and had a more pop feeling, because we started with "Spoon" and that infected the rest of the record, which was good.
"Turtles Have Short Legs / Shikako Maru Ten"
"Turtles Have Short Legs" was the a-side and "Shikako Maru Ten" was the b-side. That came out in 1971. "Turtles" is the only piece we ever recorded outside of our own studio. "Spoon" was the first song we did in our new studio, but before we did "Spoon," it was quite a while between the last record and Ege Bamyasi. The record label was getting annoyed. They wanted some product because they wanted to put something out after Soundtracks and Tago Mago. We didn't have anything yet. We were moving from one studio to the other and we weren't quite ready to record, so we went to another studio and funnily enough, there was a grand piano, and the piece was totally improvised. I started on this piano. I played a little riff and everyone just joined in spontaneously. Very quickly we recorded "Turtles Have Short Legs." It happens like this for many of the songs we do.
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Then when we made Ege Bamyasi, we were already sort of on another planet and "Turtles Have Short Legs" didn't quite fit. It was sleeping in the archives until now."Shikako Maru Ten" is the first 7/8 piece we recorded. We eventually developed pieces in seven, five, and nine, which I did a ton of later on. That was the very first piece in the rhythm of seven. An interviewer once asked why the song was a bossanova groove, which we didn't even realize at the time. But it has nothing to do with bossanova, it has more to do with Eastern European—Romanian, Turkish, even Pakistani—rhythms. "Shikako" is such a mixture. It's a Japanese title and the rhythm takes its tradition from Eastern Europe.Let's talk about the history behind this track. It started as film music, right?
"Vitamin C" actually is a title song to a film which Samuel Fuller did for German television. The material for the song was already there before we got the commission. We found out it fit very well with the film, so we did that song for the film and worked out the film music starting with "Vitamin C." "Vitamin C" became, over the course of the last 40 years, our most successful piece of them all. It was never high up in the charts. But in the last 40 years, it was used in numerous films, from Sofia Coppola to The Get Down by Baz Luhrmann. It was re-released and it's still our most famous piece—don't ask me why. Maybe it's because the concept and every single element—the bass, the guitar, the drums—can be taken out of the song and it's already music in its own right. It's such a highly concentrated, definite, concise piece, and yet it's still very lighthearted. Maybe that's why it's so successful.
"Vitamin C"
"Vitamin C" actually is a title song to a film which Samuel Fuller did for German television. The material for the song was already there before we got the commission. We found out it fit very well with the film, so we did that song for the film and worked out the film music starting with "Vitamin C." "Vitamin C" became, over the course of the last 40 years, our most successful piece of them all. It was never high up in the charts. But in the last 40 years, it was used in numerous films, from Sofia Coppola to The Get Down by Baz Luhrmann. It was re-released and it's still our most famous piece—don't ask me why. Maybe it's because the concept and every single element—the bass, the guitar, the drums—can be taken out of the song and it's already music in its own right. It's such a highly concentrated, definite, concise piece, and yet it's still very lighthearted. Maybe that's why it's so successful.
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The drum part is iconic. What was it like playing with someone as superhuman as Jaki?
He was right in this world, with both feet, both hands, sticks, and mind. He had an enormous presence of mind in this world. He was just a fantastic musician. That's the thing about CAN. Everyone was a really extraordinary musician. Jaki's grooves were just amazing. Working with him was sometimes difficult, sometimes I felt lucky just to be playing with him. He was often euphoric when he played with the group because his grooves so often clicked perfectly. He was just pure joy. He's what really made the group morph into one organism. He was the heartbeat of our one organism. Jaki was the Earth, Holger was the fire, Michael [Karoli, founding member] the water, and I was the wind.There are many iconic tracks on Tago Mago . Why did you choose to talk about "Mushroom?"
"Mushroom" is the most concise, most mysterious piece we ever did. It contains, actually, all we wanted to do to unify and bring together the whole history of European music, plus the history of CAN and rock. Everything is clearly thrown into it, and yet the track is still totally concise. It's my favorite piece by CAN, just because we succeeded in defining all of the elements brought together in CAN. We made something new out of it, not saying, 'Look there, you'll recognize the influence of Japanese music, or, recognize the history of jazz in the drums, the history of German classical music all over the piece.' The melody Michael is playing with my organ has twelve tones in it. It's both totally important and wholly unimportant to know that. It's just music. These long, screaming chords Michael and I are playing are highly influenced by my studies of Middle Ages Japanese music, and there's some very sophisticated drumming, too.All of this together, and it's still one of the most important CAN tracks. It contains the past but I'm always told the music is so actual. It defines a moment in '71, but it' still going into the future after 50 years. It's still there. Very often people tell me they'll play our music for their children and their kids go, 'Who's that new group?' So there's a presence of the historical moment with several traditions within it, yet it's still looking towards the future.How involved were you in putting together the singles compilation?
Not at all [laughs]. It was an idea from the folks at Mute, my daughter, and my wife, who directs Spoon Records. It was my daughter's idea with Paul from Mute to put it together. They made it happen. I wasn't involved at all, I just said, 'Well, go ahead!' And it turned out to be a nice idea.Do you have a favorite CAN record?
I love "Mushroom" very much, but I don't have a favorite record. At least all five until Soon over Babaluma (1978). I like the first five equally well, but from then on, there are certain aspects of certain records where I have some issues. Maybe I should answer this negatively. The only record that I don't like is Out of Reach (1978). During that record I think everyone was in a big confusion. That's why Out of Reach has stayed out of reach. We didn't re-release it for many, many years. But because they made so many bootlegs, we decided to put it back in the catalogue. With all of the others, I have pieces I prefer from each record, but I like all of the records.Follow Will Schube on Twitter.
He was right in this world, with both feet, both hands, sticks, and mind. He had an enormous presence of mind in this world. He was just a fantastic musician. That's the thing about CAN. Everyone was a really extraordinary musician. Jaki's grooves were just amazing. Working with him was sometimes difficult, sometimes I felt lucky just to be playing with him. He was often euphoric when he played with the group because his grooves so often clicked perfectly. He was just pure joy. He's what really made the group morph into one organism. He was the heartbeat of our one organism. Jaki was the Earth, Holger was the fire, Michael [Karoli, founding member] the water, and I was the wind.
"Mushroom"
"Mushroom" is the most concise, most mysterious piece we ever did. It contains, actually, all we wanted to do to unify and bring together the whole history of European music, plus the history of CAN and rock. Everything is clearly thrown into it, and yet the track is still totally concise. It's my favorite piece by CAN, just because we succeeded in defining all of the elements brought together in CAN. We made something new out of it, not saying, 'Look there, you'll recognize the influence of Japanese music, or, recognize the history of jazz in the drums, the history of German classical music all over the piece.' The melody Michael is playing with my organ has twelve tones in it. It's both totally important and wholly unimportant to know that. It's just music. These long, screaming chords Michael and I are playing are highly influenced by my studies of Middle Ages Japanese music, and there's some very sophisticated drumming, too.All of this together, and it's still one of the most important CAN tracks. It contains the past but I'm always told the music is so actual. It defines a moment in '71, but it' still going into the future after 50 years. It's still there. Very often people tell me they'll play our music for their children and their kids go, 'Who's that new group?' So there's a presence of the historical moment with several traditions within it, yet it's still looking towards the future.How involved were you in putting together the singles compilation?
Not at all [laughs]. It was an idea from the folks at Mute, my daughter, and my wife, who directs Spoon Records. It was my daughter's idea with Paul from Mute to put it together. They made it happen. I wasn't involved at all, I just said, 'Well, go ahead!' And it turned out to be a nice idea.Do you have a favorite CAN record?
I love "Mushroom" very much, but I don't have a favorite record. At least all five until Soon over Babaluma (1978). I like the first five equally well, but from then on, there are certain aspects of certain records where I have some issues. Maybe I should answer this negatively. The only record that I don't like is Out of Reach (1978). During that record I think everyone was in a big confusion. That's why Out of Reach has stayed out of reach. We didn't re-release it for many, many years. But because they made so many bootlegs, we decided to put it back in the catalogue. With all of the others, I have pieces I prefer from each record, but I like all of the records.Follow Will Schube on Twitter.