Having masterminded the impossibly-influential Can 40 years ago, Irmin Schmidt could be forgiven for mellowing with age but this latest collaboration with British electronic music pioneer Jono Podmore shows his ever-questing spirit alive and kicking. Using the old Can technique of recording for hours then editing down, the pair have created a rich, vibrant, often jaw-dropping, collision between man and machine; some achievement in this age of faceless technological oneupmanship. ‘Kick On The Floods’ announces that this no ordinary album, kicking up a hallucinogenic space-funk shuffle laced, like several tracks, with Ian Dixon’s ghostly trumpet and Paul Frederick’s whispery vocals over a gamut of unearthly melodies and textures from Irmin’s synthesisers. However, some of the most breathtaking moments come from his piano, whether spilling avant-jazz flurries on ‘Drifting Days’, ‘Crime Pays’ or reconstructing classical themes on ‘Etrurian Waltz’. Most exciting excursions for Can-fans will be the incandescent title track and stunningly complex ‘Meteor Infected’, which sound like nothing on this planet, but then when did he ever?
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs