An ecology-inspired Krautrock album (1971) from a short-lived group comprised of German school-chums, some of whom had recorded an LP as Trikolon.

An ecology-inspired Krautrock album (1971) from a short-lived group comprised of German school-chums, some of whom had recorded an LP as Trikolon. Tetragon did not conform to any predetermined musical style: they played whatever they pleased, as long as it included groovy Hammond organ and very trippy, flanged wah-wah guitar, in various taut jamming modes that favored jazz/rock fusion à la Miles Davis with a small dose of classical music (adapting a Bach fugue along the way). The result is a bouquet of lush instrumentals, with elements of Egg or the Nice, and quite a bit of T2 to boot. The album was recorded in a converted barn, using a Revox A77 two-track tape recorder and seven microphones placed judiciously to best capture the sound of each instrument. Re-recording wasn’t possible, as the record was mixed live. Yet these challenging conditions inspired the band to great heights: Hendrik Schaper played organ and clavinet simultaneously, with one hand on each keyboard; meanwhile, Jürgen Jaehner unleashed rampaging electric guitar solos, then, in an instant, switched to acoustic guitar for the next musical passage; Schaper didn’t own a piano, so he used a pre-amp with a wah-wah pedal to imitate that instrument’s sound. A virtuoso effort, from start to finish! Tetragon didn’t bother contacting any record labels; they didn’t their music would interest anyone. A mere 400 copies of the album were released on a private label, named Soma after the drug-induced effect described in Alduous Huxley’s Brave New World. Our edition includes all of the original pro-environment, anti-industrial pollution gatefold album art, a detailed band history, band photos, and a nearly fifteen-minute bonus track, recorded live in Georgsmarienhütte in 1972.