Music/Reise gig review: Unique musical collaboration honours spirit of Krautrock, Glasgow-style

Platform, Glasgow

The brutalist Glaswegian satellite housing estate of Easterhouse conjures thoughts of a train ride into Berlin, just one reason why both cities bear deep similarities for those who are familiar with both.

A small irony, then, that the area’s modern community arts centre Platform (under the direction of music programmer Alun Woodward, of the city’s Chemikal Underground record label) should host this unique musical collaboration, whose title translates as Music/Travel.

Featuring guitarist Stuart Braithwaite and drummer Martin Bulloch of local heroes Mogwai, guitarist Duncan Marquiss and keyboard player Andy Wake of Germanic-influenced Glaswegians the Phantom Band, and special guest Hans Joachim Irmler of early ‘70s era German icons Faust, the intention was to celebrate the defining genre known as Krautrock.

Following a solo set by Irmler, the main body of the show was a 45-minute instrumental sequence composed by the quintet in the days prior to the show. Although Braithwaite’s signature guitar sound drove thoughts of Mogwai to the fore, there were multiple references to the classic Krautrock style, from the surging electronic murmur underpinning everything (to aficionados the sight of a musician playing with wires on a plugboard is borderline fetishistic) to the building, Neu!-like surge towards the end.

Undoubtedly there was a streak of nostalgia at the heart of proceedings, but it shouldn’t have been a surprise that this group of musicians still conjured a journey which was evocative and emotive.