Schmetterling

from the LP Brösel maschine, Pilz Records, 1971



Have I mentioned lately how much I love hashish? The recent explosion of medical cannabis dispensaries in this area has produced a rather competitive market, benefiting the consumer in numerous ways, one of those being a healthy & burgeoning hash scene, the size and potency of which already eclipses even that of the ‘70s, when white people went to Afghanistan and Pakistan to purchase hash, not to drop bombs. Something about the level to which it stones your whole body, the way one good hit slows & deepens your breathing, even the smell and taste of it for fuck’s sake, some of the purer full-melt bubble not only looking, but smelling & tasting like earthy chocolate wonderfulness; and it packs a wallop my friends, right to the dome. There is nary a better soundtrack for the hashish fiend than Krautrock, its hazy freeform cycles lulling you into a trance, tenderly lifting you out of your mind. Like so many before it, this tune comes to life upon a drone of sitar & tambura, guided by the light tapping of some tablas, but soon an acoustic guitar joins the party and things get both a little folkier and tad bit stonier. I have no idea what the lady is talking about towards the beginning of the track, but the German title of this song means “butterfly”, so the flute solo is entirely apropos; the band’s name loosely translates to “machine crumbs” in English, which is both far out and cool.