After kraut-psych outliers Ash Ra Tempel fizzled out in the early 70s, guitarist Manuel Göttsching focused his attentions more and more on electronic music. Released under the name Ashra, the clean lines and utopian optimism of 1977’s New Age Of Earth (not to mention its title) might lead some to dismiss it as merely light-weight, ‘new age’ ambient for long hairs to get stoned to, yet the glistening jet streams of sound and propulsive rhythms Göttsching fashions on tracks such as Deep Distance and Sunrain find him running in a streamlined parallel to fellow electronic visionaries Kraftwerk (the minimalist aesthetic of Neu!’s Michael Rother is an audible influence here, too). Much more than simply music to tune in and drop out to, as Brian Eno and future generations of ambient and techno musicians would go on to discover.