Hardcore Can fans of previous albums might be hard-pressed to digest Future Days, since the dynamics of a massive chain reaction have been curbed this time around into a softer experience that tends towards the driving rather than the meditative.
Neophytes might have some difficulty engaging the album since its almost constant plateau of polyrhythms, with the exception of “Moonshake”, might prove a bit tedious if looked at superficially. The record plays out like a good Les Rallizes Dénudés bootleg or Neu!’s first self-titled album and should be listened as such. Put it as background music and it dissolves into the echoes of existence, but place at the forefront of your stereo and it becomes a unique sonic experience rarely delivered with finesse.
Future Days is one of the more rewarding listens in the Can catalog as well as the whole cultural output of krautrock. But it is sadly occluded by the tremendous force of past releases. It's one of those late, great productions that, as its name suggests, aims for the sleekest in sci-fi and plays just as it implies: a perfect combination of design and performance, speed and depth; style and substance.
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