Guitar players are usually blown away by the Hendrix-in-a-windtunnel primordial intensity of German guitarist Caspar Brotzmann and his early 90’s trio, Massaker. However, I’d imagine that any Buddyhead reader would appreciate the truly sinister and downright monsterous force that redefined the power trio while incorporating elements of Hendrix and Cream and mixing them with the primal thud of Einsteurzende Neubauten and Swans. Top that all off with the free jazz approach of Caspar’s father, saxophonist Peter Brotzmann (who had played in Last Exit and collaborated with greats like Sonny Sharrock) and it might somewhat describe the lanky guitarist’s nightmarish sounds.

I saw Caspar Brotzmann Massaker live in 1992, the year that the trio’s second album Der Abend Der Schwarzen Folklore (roughly translated as "the Afternoon of Black Folklore") was released and the band was incredible. Brotzmann is tall, skinny and dressed like Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and he played his guitar with much of the same passion (not to mention also being left-handed and playing an upside-down Fender Stratocaster.) The band on the whole was so unbelievably loud it sounded like a jet taking off for much of the set. And, I suspected that the monitors on stage were equally as ear-crushing, because the drummer kept wincing and turning his head away from his monitor and constantly begging in German for them to be turned down. This track, "Schwarze Folklore" is indeed a long one, but listen through the whole thing — the creepy zombie chants and neo-industrial drum breakdowns further bolster the song that sounds simultaneuosly like a Pagan ritual and the raptorous rupture of a factory’s machinery gone haywire.

There’s not much online information available on Brotzmann, but this Trouser Press profile seems to cover his history pretty well.

(Download - "Schwarze Folklore")