Can: Future Days (Gold) LP

Can was founded in 1968 by Irmin Schmidt, Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit who formed a group which would utilize and transcend all boundaries of ethnic, electronic experimental and modern classical music. Throughout the changing eras of the band, they enlisted the talents of different powerful singers like Malcom Mooney and Damo Suzuki and collaborators such as Reebob Kwaku and Rosko Gee.

Can's wide-reaching influence has never diminished, and their indelible mark is apparent in subsequent acts who freely acknowledge their importance – from Portishead, James Murphy, New Order, Factory Floor, Public Image Ltd, Mogwai, Kanye West and Radiohead to John Lydon, The Fall, Ariel Pink, Fuck Buttons, Sonic Youth, Factory Floor and Queens Of The Stone Age.

Originally issued in 1973, Future Days is the fifth studio album from Can and follow-up to their transitioning 1972 effort Ege Bamyasi. On Future Days the band employs much more of an ambient sound than on their previous records and this is the last album to feature vocalist and self-defined "20th century nomad," Damo Suzuki. On Future Days, the band explored the ambient direction they had introduced into their sound on the previous year's Ege Bamyasi creating a landmark in European electronic music. Future Days is fiercely progressive, calming, complex, intense, and beautiful all at once.