A La Ping Pong

Featured in the “Psychedelic” section of Chee Shimizu’s Obscure Sound disc guide, Phase II – Go Go Pongs is the second and last album by amateur guitarist Klaus Bloch’s A La Ping Pong project. “A La Ping Pong” was what Bloch called his tape delay system which was a variation on Robert Fripp’s Frippertronics, an early looping system based around two reel-to-reel tape decks. The works can very much be compared to the atmospheric looping guitar of Fripp & Eno, Manuel Göttsching, Harmonia, as well as Kraftwerk’s electro-pop. Similarly, these tracks seem to at times predict genres that don’t exist yet – check the almost dancehall drum machine jam A2 Go Go Pongs (head to Red Light Records for a clip).

– Phil Cho

Recommended – Full listen