SAND

e evident within this band. The first—which is shown in the compositions of the trio Ludwig Papenberg, his brother Ullrich Papenberg and Johannes Vester—is avant-gardist, experimental and proto-industrial. The second, when this same trio is augmented with a few extra members, reveals a more emphatically “rock” side, somewhat in the vein of Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, perhaps making it somewhat less personal than the visionary and experimental positions characteristic of Sand, a truly unique entity in the history of music. At that time Klaus Schulze was developing, with engineer Manfred Schunke, a specialised recording process called “Artificial Head Stereo Sound”, which, like “Surround Sound”, created the illusion of the music coming from 360º around the listener. Schulze chose Sand to record in his studio one of a series of records to demonstrate this new technique. Sand’s album Golem was recorded and released on the Delta-Acustic label in 1974. Sand acknowledge that Manfred Schunke and Klaus Schulze were Sand’s most important mentors. Although classed as “Krautrock”, Sand are not really in the Krautrock style, despite being part of this movement of German cosmic/psychedelic bands. Instead they take us on a cerebral/cosmic/strange/dark trip all of their own, with a highly original subtlety, elegance and strength. Trapped in the trip, swallowed up by the quicksands, seduced by the unique and innovative combination of acoustic guitars, synthesisers, sound generators, short-wave radios, factory noises, hammers from the shipyards, agricultural machines, whirls of sand and eerie atmospheres, the listener discovers and lives the story of Sand and his Golem. Julian Cope wrote of Golem in his HeadHeritage’s website’s “Album of the Month” column, “Dig this fu***ng weird Saxony sound and fill your heart”. Rotorelief releases, in 2010, a series of unreleased albums by Sand as well as a reissue of Sand’s only album, the obscure and rare Golem, first released by Delta Acustic in 1974, along with related releases by Nurse with Wound and Current 93. This series of albums from Sand is called “INXOM”, the series title having one letter for each album, explained by Johannes Vester as follows:

“Incoming, Inspiration, (...) In X is OM (Odem) which could mean ‘There is Om/Odem/Atman in the Unknown (X)’ ; this also corresponds to "shem" which is in XOM,—the meaning in the Golem Myth. Last, but not least, for me it sounds like the electronic attitude in symbiosis with Sand's spirit....”


So 4 unreleased albums, and a reissue of Golem, are released by Sand. I - His First Steps represents the movements of the Golem from the gates of the old town of Praha
N - Golem is the creation of the Golem
X - Desert Navigation is the link with the earth, in its primal sense
O - Sylph Ballet is the link with the water
M - North Atlantic Raven is the companion of the Golem, who represents elevation towards the sky and the uttermost state to attain perfection, particularly the perfection of spirit. For this reason, this album is placed in the final position. Two more albums from Nurse with Wound and Current 93, two groups who helped to bring to light the mystery that is Sand and its only album Golem, increase the number of letters in the title. Letter D represents Current 93, and letter E represents Nurse With Wound. With these last two albums the series becomes INXODEM. So finally INXODEM reveals to us the beautiful, obscure story of the Golem, shaped by a creative avant-garde band, who were initially known through just one album, but which was, in fact, a very small part of the whole story:

His First Steps – Golem - Desert Navigation - Sylph Ballet – North Atlantic Raven. And Chromanatron by Nurse With Wound and When the May Rain Comes, which contains cover versions of Sand by Current 93.