Name: GOBLYNS
Members: Giovanni Raymer-Votano (guitar), Liam Broek (bass, organ), Francis Broek (drums, vocals)
Interviewee: Francis Broek
Nationality: German
Current release: GOBLYNS' new album Three Sisters is out June 13th 2025 via Crazysane.
Krautrock Recommendations: Japanese band Minami Deutsch are worth diving into! Saw them recently in Berlin and couldn’t wipe the smile of my face. Future Days by CAN is also a great gateway record.

If you enjoyed this GOBLYNS interview and would like to know more about the band and their music, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, and bandcamp.



How would you describe your personal relationship with Krautrock? When and how did it start?

My dad would play CAN and Kraftwerk records at home when I was a kid but it mostly went over my head.

I dug into it more in my later teens, fascinated and hooked by the driving drum beats, lengthy jams and raw psychedelic sounds.

Tell me about one or two of your favourite Krautrock records please.

Tago Mago - (Paperhouse to Halleluwah) is a favourite of mine mostly thanks to the drummer, Jaki Liebezeit. It’s a monster record of grooves I don’t get tired of.  

Another I’d mention is FAUST IV, which has a wide spectrum of sonic experimentation that all blends together gorgeously. I love every song. Just go listen to it.



Krautrock always seemed like a phenomenon connected to a very specific era in German history. What about this music and its time do you connect with?

We connect with the need they felt to offer something new and go against the norm of popular song structures.

We also share in the joy of “writing” from extended jams of pieces that come instinctually and arranging by connecting parts we love to create exciting journeys.

Many of the original Kraut musicians loved blues, rock, and psychedelia; they were intrigued by electronics and improvisation; they rebelled against virtuosity, classical education and the superficiality of Schlager on German radio. How much of that do you recognise in your own creative preferences and interests?

I recognize we, too, have a wide range of musical influences that can can be found listening to our music. We like the idea of not copying, but taking ingredients from sounds we love and combining genres to create fresh, organic music.

It’s also never planned (no recipe) and we love jamming. We start with a new jam every time we get together instinctually that often later becomes a song.

We do recognize as well that we are not so kraut in that we like to polish arrangements for recordings and do structure things to make some sort of sense.

Both in the music and the way it was made, Krautrock was about imagining different worlds. What is the experience of listening to this music like for you and what kinds of worlds is it taking you to? What is your preferred way of listening to it?

Being in a different world is a huge appeal. I only listen to it stoned!

A lot of the Kraut spirit came to life through musicians living in communities, playing and recording together every single day. Have you ever tried working and creating in such a constellation? Is it possible to emulate this process from a home studio?

We haven’t been lucky enough yet to have long periods of time to just write demos other than a weekend at a time on the clock.

We find we prefer to make more songs and fit them onto a record than have just a few very extended pieces.

What, to you, are the main elements that make something “Kraut?” What are the practises of the musicians from the 70s that inspire your own practise today?

In a nutshell, “Kraut” to me, is rock and roll that is not rock ’n roll.

Meditative, repetitive, raw, world inspired, non contrived, unorganized and otherworldly are all important elements that I see in “Kraut”.

I got into Kraut via Tangerine Dream and early Ash Ra and to me, the motoric beat was never quite as important. Today, it seems as though it's the defining element. Are you interested in it? Are you making use if it? What makes it special to you?

It is definitely a part I love and incorporate into songs when it allows. We don’t let it define us though and are also drawn to more bouncy rhythms.

I love that it gives all the space to the guitars and allows me to drift off and just enjoy myself.

Did you ever visit one of the birthplaces of the genre – Berlin, Düsseldorf, Munich – or any spaces related to the history of Kraut? Do you own any paraphernalia from the era?

Our rhythm section lives in Berlin!

Are there approaches, artists, festivals, labels, spaces or anyone/-thing else out there who you feel deserve a shout out for exploring interesting directions for Krautrock?

Crazysane Records <3