Humanum est (Remastered) Aera

• 1 Papa Doing 08:17
• 2 Demmerawäng 07:01
• 3 Hodibbel 05:33
• 4 Sechs Achtel 10:39
• 5 Jonas schläft 04:20
• 6 Alois' Flötending 02:24
• Total Runtime 38:14

Info for Humanum est (Remastered)

Aera Humanum Est is the debut album by German jazz-rock combo Aera, released in 1975 on Erlkönig. The album features six originals composed by guitarist Muck Groh.

Harmonic notes and tuning twang presage “Papa Doing,” which coalesces around a sharp soprano sax riff at 2:00. The riff is intermittently overtaken by the clean leads and jangly plucking of guitarist Groh. The track is paced by thick, fluid bass and cymbal-laden snare rolls.

“Demmerawäng” beacons with a jerky, syncopated bass ostinato engulfed in cymbal spray. The figure is soon overlaid by the clean, fluid plucking of Groh’s guitar and the bold, billowing tone of Kreuzeder’s sax. Midway, the track becomes a minimalist showcase for drummer Wolfgang Teske, who’s ultimately challenged by the thick, gruff basswork of Dieter Bauer. At 4:50, the rest of the band surfaces to reinstate the main theme. The guitar takes a more aggressive, distorted, scaly tone as the song veers towards its climax.

Bauer begins “Hodibbel” with an octave-scaling figure in E. A muted blend of percussion and wah-wah soloing layer onto the mono-chordal framework. At 2:30, a spiky four-bar melody forms between Groh and Kreuzeder as the two mirror in tight unison.

“Jonas Schläft” begins with a chorused poly-chordal descent in Dm. Kreuzeder flutters high and low as the drumming intensifies. A wordless chorus melody forms around sax and rhythm guitar. Suddenly, a bridge appears overlaid with frosty Mellotron. The song picks up speed as the sax billows higher and higher.

Released at the height of maximalist jazz-rock, Aera eschewed the density of their contemporaries. Rather than compete on record with blazing scales and rapidfire rolls, the band favored a leaner, more subtle approach that emphasized slow buildup and refined technical mastery.

Great first album of near Nuremberg (Bavaria, Germany) based band re-released on vinyl for the first time. After he left famous "IHRE KINDER", guitarist Muck Groh looked for new musicians to play his idea of German progressive rock. With sax- and flute player Klaus Kreuzeder he found, after a lot of changing line-ups, a congenial partner to create a sound not only in the tradition of Bavaria jazz-rock oriented bands like Embryo, Out of Focus, Missus Beastly etc. but also with that certain Krautrock feel, that led the music to an unique style, originating as a highly inventive fusion band with strong percussion, driving rhythms and lots of space for solos from guitar, sax and flute (Crack in the cosmic egg). Humanum Est presented a most proficient instrumental band with a strong identity with multi-tracked guitar-riffing and near ever-present wind solos, a real classic of the genre. Long tracks like "Papa Doing", Demmerawang" "Hodibbel" or "Sechs-Achtel" give an idea what the musicians were able too. While there live-performances - they toured near all the time - they often played hour long versions of their classics to their enthusiastic affiliates (comparable to KRAAN).

Wolfgang Teske, drums
Klaus Kreuzeder, saxophone, flute
Dieter Bauer, bass
Muck Groh, guitars
Peter Malinowski, bass (Track 6)

Digitally remastered

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This album contains no booklet.