ep // A Tribute To Michael Karoli
Can's Michael Karoli
passed away on the 17 November 2001, losing a fight against cancer
at the age of 53. I distinctly remember being sufficiently moved
by his death to start writing an obituary for a predecessor of this
site at the time, but never quite finished it. Partly this was because
the piece effectively contrasted the career of Karoli with that
of another guitarist who died at around the same time, The Beatles'
George Harrison, whose passing also affected me, though I've never
really been into The Beatles, and consequently my text didn't afford
as much air time to Karoli as it rightly should; the other reason
was that I didn't finish it was because at that time I didn't have
a lot of Can music in my collection and I didn't really feel like
I had any sort of right to comment on his death, even though I was
saddened by it. I still don't think that I have enough Can music
today, but I am at least better able to appreciate his contribution
to leftfield music than I was ten years ago.
Mercifully, anyone looking for a quick way to gain
a cursory overview of Karoli's work as a guitarist, occasional violinist
and sometime vocalist with Can is able to download a free five-track
EP from the Spoon Records website which allows
a reasonable, if naturally incomplete, perspective on why Karoli
is so highly regarded.
This brief survey of Karoli's musicianship includes
his contribution to Irmin Schmidt's strange alternative
Euro-pop of 'Le Weekend' (from 1991's Impossible Holidays)
and the incendiary and garagey post-punk-anticipating 'Mother Sky'
by Can, wherein Karoli's white-hot guitar burns wildly above the
solid bass pulse and skeletal 4/4 drums rhythm of Holger
Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit. Also included
are two tracks from Can's eighth album Flow Motion, wherein
Karoli provides tender Nico-esque vocals and reggae guitar syncopations
to the beatific cruise ship ballad 'Cascade Waltz', while adding
backing vocals and scorching frazzled blues riffs to the dubby title
track from that 1976 LP. Rounding off the EP is a track taken from
Karoli's 1995 album with Polly Eltes, Delusion,
matching sometime Eno collaborator Eltes' joyous vocals with whining
guitar fuzz from Karoli.
Five tracks, clearly, is far too scant an opportunity
to cover Karoli's legacy, but it's good enough to serve as the briefest
of introductions to this sadly overlooked musician, whose early
association with Czukay (his former guitar teacher) in 1966 gave
rise to the incredible music that is Can's inestimable body of work.
I feel better able to write those words with complete conviction,
ten years on. The mournful artwork for the digital-only EP was provided
by Tamara and Angie Karoli.
i:
1. Irmin Schmidt 'Le Weekend'
2. Can 'Mother Sky'
3. Can 'Cascade Waltz'
4. Can 'Flow Motion'
5. Michael Karoli & Polly Eltes 'Home Truths'
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