Can – The Singles - a collection of all of the band’s single releases - is out on 16 June 2017 on triple vinyl, download, CD and to stream.  ‘Shikako Maru Ten’ was the B-side to ‘Spoon’, a Top 10 hit in Germany in 1972. The singles on this compilation are all in presented in their original 7” version and ‘Shikako Maru Ten’, which never appeared on a studio album, is available here for the first time on vinyl outside its original release.

This unique document is the first time the singles have been presented together and shows the breadth of their influential career, from well loved tracks like ‘Halleluwah’, ‘Vitamin C’ and ‘I Want More’ to more obscure singles such as ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Turtles Have Short Legs’.

The Barbican, London recently hosted a very special event to mark Can’s 50th anniversary year: Irmin Schmidt conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, presenting the world premiere of an original orchestral work composed by Schmidt and Gregor Schwellenbach, Can Dialog while a specially curated supergroup brought together by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore featuring Can’s first singer Malcolm Mooney performed a set of Can tracks, including ‘She Brings The Rain’ to ‘Yoo Doo Right’ to ‘Mother Sky’.

Can, founded in 1967 released their debut album Monster Movie (1969) which set them apart from the mainstream, carving out a sound that transcended the boundaries of experimental electronic, jazz and modern classical music. Can’s influence extends from post-punk musicians such as Joy Division and Primal Scream, through avant-garde composers including Bernhard Lang, to Radiohead.  Schmidt himself began his musical career as a pupil of Stockhausen and Ligeti, and conducted numerous high-profile orchestras in his native Germany and abroad. Hearing the sounds of Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa in the ‘60s led to the formation of Can but Schmidt never lost touch with his avant-garde classical upbringing, and it is to Schmidt that Can owed much of its musical eclecticism.

In spring 2018, Faber & Faber are publishing a new book devoted to Can, All Gates Open. The special edition will come in two volumes: one will be the first complete, authorised biography of the band written by Rob Young and the second, Can Kiosk by Irmin Schmidt, is a collage of thoughts, visuals and interviews (interviews collated by Max Dax and Robert Defcon).

Can  - The Singles Tracklisting

Soul Desert

She Brings The Rain

Spoon

Shikako Maru Ten

Turtles Have Short Legs

Halleluwah (Edit)

Vitamin C

I’m So Green

Mushroom

Moonshake

Future Days (Edit)

Dizzy Dizzy (Edit)

Splash (Edit)

Hunters And Collectors (Edit)

Vernal Equinox (Edit)

I Want More

...And More

Silent Night

Cascade Waltz

Don’t Say No (Edit)

Return

Can Can 

Hoolah Hoolah (Edit)

Chinese post-punk pioneers Re-Tros play their debut London show at The Old Blue Last at 31st May. Re-TROS (Rebuilding The Rights of Statues) are heavyweights of the Chinese rock revolution. 10 years on from their emergence at the forefront of the Chinese scene, they’re due to release their debut UK album later this year on Modern Sky UK.

The first track from their new album is the 10-minute Steve Reich inspired ‘8 + 2 + 8 II’.   This new transmission from Beijing is coded in thunderous drums and digital conundrums, comprising a blizzard of dots and dashes. This represents the first taster of their debut UK album Before the Applause, due for release later this year, and produced by Hector Castillo (David Bowie, Lou Reed, Bjork, Phillip Glass). 

The spark of a promising indie scene buzzed around the toilet circuits of Beijing began to catch fire around a decade ago, and has flickered to varying degrees of intensity since. Promising acts such as Carsick Cars, Hedgehog, PK14 and the Public Image Limited-indebted Snapline shone brightly, then either split or locked into a ‘more of the same’ groove of sporadic album releases and festival shows. Out of this scene Beijing-based Re-Tros, always felt like the most likely to shove the boundaries forward.  10 years later, they’re ready to go global with a record that’s more eclectic and transcendent than anything the scene has produced to date.