Do you ever find yourself staring at a blank canvas, a blank page, or an empty screen, desperately searching for that spark of creativity? We’ve all been there. The creative process can be both thrilling and maddening, with inspiration often eluding us when we need it the most. But fear not, over the past few weeks I’ve been putting together a playlist of instrumentals that have helped open up my mind and relax me when writing or drawing. “Mind-Enhancing Instrumentals to Listen to Whilst Creating” is a meticulously curated 100-song playlist designed to be a creative companion. It’s a musical ..read more

In order to fully grasp the significance of Krautrock in the 21st century, it is imperative to dive deeper into its rich history and understand its origins. Krautrock, also known as kosmische musik emerged during a time when Germany was reshaping its identity after the devastation of World War II. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a new breed of musicians in Germany sought to break free from the constraints of mainstream popular music, which they viewed as stagnant and formulaic. Drawing inspiration from diverse sources such as American psychedelic rock, avant-garde classical music, and the ..read more

I’m absolutely loving this new track from L.A. trio Automatic. New Beginning‘s cool as you like motorik groove pulses and struts, throwing in deliciously harsh synth bursts here and there, whilst sounding like the offspring of Can and Broadcast. I’ve played it six times in a row and I’m excited about the seventh! Check out the video below ..read more

Modern Nature is a brand new project put together by Jack Cooper (ex Ultimate Painting and Mazes) and Will Young of Beak>. They’re signed to Bella Union and the project also features Aaron Neveu of Woods and Sunwatchers’ Jeff Tobias on saxophone. Their name is taken from the title of Derek Jarman’s garden diaries and their expansive sound pulls in everything from the krautrock grooves and hypnotic experimentation of bands like Can and Faust, through to the psychedelic folk of Fairport Convention and the propulsive jazz of Alice Coltrane. I’m a fan of Ultimate Painting, Mazes, Beak and ..read more

One of my favourite albums of the past couple of months is PZ1 by London three-piece, Pozi. Armed with a kaleidoscopic sprawl of post-punk stompers and experimental krautrock-esque mini-anthems, the band suck in influences as wide reaching as, PiL, Wire, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Robert Wyatt, Devo, Can and Faust, to create something utterly fresh and compelling. They’ve got something to say too, with songs that address issues as diverse as the Grenfell Tower tragedy, Chinese human rights and mental health. Lyrically they have the kind of songs that leave you itching for another lis ..read more

Time to parp forth another five cracking new tunes that have been impressing me over the last week or two. I’ll avoid the obvious choices like Pixies, Bill Callahan, Crumb and Kevin Morby, and instead concentrate on some less listened to nuggets. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve already posted new videos by Bibio, (Sandy) Alex G, Weval, Purple Mountains, Ty Segall and Bon Iver, so they won’t be popping up either. Instead, dip into some new stuff below, and send me your thoughts and recommendations… Pram – Doll’s Eyes: Psychedelic soundtrack to a made up 1980’s movie made by curio ..read more

Here at Slacker Shack we love championing the finest music the world has to offer. We’re a bit slack and can only cover stuff that truly tickles our pickles but we love nothing better that stumbling upon some stonking new sounds that hardly anyone’s had the pleasure to behold. With that in mind this post is a shoutout for bands, artists, rappers, musical oddballs, electronic soothsayers and the like to get in touch and drop us some links to your music. We love all things slacker rock and psychedelic, but we’ve also got a heavy fondness for alternative hip hop, oddball electronica, krautrock ..read more

Flying Horseman is the brainchild of Bert Dockx and his band’s latest album, Rooms / Ruins, is one of 2018’s highlights. I came late to the party and only discovered the band via Spotify a couple of months ago. Ask me to name some other Belgian bands and I’d ignorantly probably just come back with dEUS and The Radios, but the Antwerp music scene has been thriving for decades and Flying Horseman are leading the pack. Rooms / Ruins is a charmingly tricky album to pin down as it slinks across a number of genres and styles. Tracks like The Key, Reverie and Bee Season have a proggy-folk air to the ..read more

Last night ‘krautrock’ masters, Kraftwerk began an eight-night residency at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The band played hits from their 1974 album Autobahn and also threw in some of their greatest including amongst others, The Model, Trans-Europe Express, The Robots and Tour de France. The performance also included a backdrop filled with 3D visuals. Check out a short video below uploaded onto YouTube today by WNYC Radio – the clip includes interviews with fans and clips of last night’s show ..read more

Legendary krautrock band Can will release a new album of unreleased material via Mute records on the 18th June. The Lost Tapes will be a three x CD box set of unheard studio tracks, live recordings and unused soundtrack material. Over thirty hours of music was recently discovered at Can‘s old studio in Weilerswist, Germany, when it was moved to the German Rock N’ Pop Museum in Gronau. The tracks range from 1968-1977 and feature Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli, Jaki Liebezeit, Irmin Schmidt (who compiled the album), and both Malcolm Mooney and Damo Su ..read more