Soundman Holger Czukay of CAN, Dead at 79

Soundman Holger Czukay of CAN, Dead at 79

By: Ghost Writer

Rock N Roll Animal

Jaki Liebezeit died a couple of months ago, in January this year, Liebezeit, a formidable drummer (or should we say human drum machine or funky cerebral human machine?), was the beating heart of legendary krautrock band CAN, a seminal German band, an experimental outfit as few have ever had the chance to hear, not exactly world famous or commercially successful, CAN were as non-conformist and as fiercely independent as band could be, they were one of my all-time favorite bands, but the sad stories continue now with the passing of the great Holger Czukay, bassist, soundman and brain (along Irmin Schmidt) of CAN, and one of the main influences on the band's unique sonic approach, he was Brian Eno (of Roxy Music), John Cale (of the Velvet Underground) and Teo Macero (Miles Davis producer) all rolled up in one single man, who along with Schmidt, was CAN's main connection with the true avant garde, as a once Karlheinz Stockhausen student, sonic provocateur and main element of the cut and paste (predecessor of sampling) studio approach of the group and as a pioneer (just as Brian Eno) of ambient and world music.

Czukay was no John Patitucci or Billy Sheehan when it came to bass playing, although his style was an intricate one in total synchrony with Liebezeit, a central and pivotal piece to the always flexible and outstanding rhythmic nature of the band perfectly represented on classic albums by the band like Monster Movie (on the garage rock roaring stomp of Father Cannot Yell), the seminal Tago Mago (and the monumentally pulverizing Halleluwah), the dynamic Ege Bamyasi (with his outstanding bass playing on the astonishing Vitamin C) and the challenging Future Days (that would prove formidably influential for a band like Radiohead), records that are essential to the development of avant garde within a pop or rock music context, records that showed that Stockhausen and The Beatles had places in common, records that were an inspiration of a whole bunch of bands going from punks, post punks, new wave and electronic experimentalists, and even dance bands, Czukay was not only in command of the bass, but also in command of the mixing board on the legendary long improvising sessions by the band, that included hours and hours of recordings and the detailed job of editing them and putting them seamlessly together in order to construct the pieces.

But the Czukay story must not be only remembered by his participation with CAN, as there is also an interesting collaboration with legendary German producer Conny Plank on a short lived band called Les Vampyrettes (on the scary and futuristic, at the same time, Biomutanten record), his deeper incursions on world music with the always surprising Jah Wobble, with the mysterious Japanese chanteuse (and former punk rocker) Phew, with the always interesting and disruptive singer David Sylvian and with major arena rock star The Edge (of U2), Czukay was always into music, into the unknown and unexpected, and the musical legacy he leaves behind is one of relentless experimentalism always pushing to the limit the boundaries of rock music, in a way other same minded artists like James Brown, The Velvet Undergruound or Fela Kuti did.