Camera is a young trio which has been stamped with the approval of veterans Michael Rother and Dieter Moebius. With Radiate they expand the abandon and spontaneity of their live performance which have been dubbed "Krautrock Guerilla."
 
The Berlin-based group has a reputation which, up until now, has been based upon their gate-crashing gigs in gentlemen's toilets, subway stations, underpasses, and at award shows. Such appearances are made possible by the speedy set up of a couple of amps, guitars and synthesizer, and a minimal drum kit of snare, floor tom, cymbals, and headless tambourines. Appearances with the aforementioned (pioneering members of Neu, Cluster, and Harmonia) Moebius and Rother hasn't done them any harm either.
Some of the fierce, hypnotic flavor of these non-concert hall shows can easily be viewed on the web and it would be terrific to get off a train or go for a pee and happen upon one of them in real life. Yet, as exciting and intriguing as the web-based clips seem, the sound quality is lacking and I find the sonic mix a little too "democratic," or somewhat cluttered by the percussion. As the saying goes: a little tambourine goes a long way.
The eight pieces on Radiate benefit from the studio setting and show a great improvement in both structure and audio quality. Apparently, after some planning, the group approached these sessions very much like a live performance. The hypnotic elements are not lost and neither is the feeling of improvised surfing on a flow of cosmic sound. As expected, the album is blend of spaciness and propulsion as Camera create both languid atmospheres as on "Villon" and bristling passages laden with fuzzed-out guitar and synth, such as "E-go." All this perhaps coalesces best on "Utopia Is," which includes some wordless voices. There is also some speaking on "Rfid." The track "Soldat," which translates as "Soldier," has a more brutal, depressed, mechanical rhythm in contrast with the lighter piece "Morgen."
The original wave of Krautrock represented an outburst of creative expression derived from the desire of young Germans to be free of the sins of the past and in the process shed the received limits of both national history and musical structure. Camera fits right in with that ethos. Their approach also results in music of a similar tone to that of the somewhat neglected UK band Appliance—another good thing.
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