Discography → Live at the Electric Eel
Vitals
- Artist: Spacefuzz
- Recorded: August 10, 2019 — the Electric Eel, Karlsruhe, Germany
- Released: May 19, 2021
- Label: StupideIntelligente Phonographes
- Format: Digital, streaming — Bandcamp only, no vinyl pressing
- Genre: Psychedelic / Ambient / Solo Guitar Improvisation
- Concept: A single night of fully improvised solo guitar, loops, and atmosphere, captured live
Overture
Five songs, zero rehearsal, one guitar, and a room full of loop pedals doing their best to keep up. Live at the Electric Eel is exactly what it says: a night of solo guitar invention, entirely improvised, recorded live at a small venue in Karlsruhe, Germany, on a Saturday night in August 2019.
The Long Version
There’s no studio polish here, and none was ever the point. Live at the Electric Eel captures a single night — one guitar, layers of loops, and no map. Nothing on the record was planned in advance; the five tracks are the shape the night happened to take, not songs written beforehand and performed to spec.
The Electric Eel itself became something like a second home for a week that August. Owned by Craig Judkins, the venue is a genuine fixture of the Karlsruhe underground scene — Chris Cacavas and his band Alpha Nord are practically part of the furniture there. Introducing the set that night, Craig told the room that the stage at the Eel had been built for Spacefuzz to perform on. It isn’t on the recording, but it’s the kind of thing that tells you everything about the night: a small venue, a long way from home, and a stage that felt like it had been waiting.
The following night carried the collaboration further: Spacefuzz opened, then joined Alpha Nord outdoors on the Werderplatz for their own improvised set — one night of solo invention leading straight into a night of shared one.
There was even a “Spacefuzz” cocktail served at the Eel that week — invented for the occasion, never written down, and now lost to time. Asked years later, Craig couldn’t recall the recipe. Somehow, that feels right.
The recording itself was captured by Stv Gar of Alpha Nord — a guitarist and engineer who keeps a long beard and a low profile. He’s quite mysterious, and by his own account, has engineering credits that include work with Brian Eno. Proof is in the pudding — this recording sounds amazing.
When the trip wrapped, the Electric Eel posted its own goodbye — thanking him for a week of partying, playing some of the strangest material the venue had ever hosted, and calling it a privilege to have had him there.
Not everyone in the room was on board with the premise. After the set, one visibly frustrated patron cornered him with a question that cuts right to the heart of what this record is: “What about the songs? Where are the songs?” There weren’t any — not in the traditional sense. That’s the whole point.
So he gave the man a song. Pulling out a lyrics sheet, he sat down with an unplugged Fender Starcaster right next to the bar and performed “The Optimist Song” — a tune originally written for his other band, Kiss the Frog. Chris Cacavas joined in on background harmonies. The same patron complained that he’d used a lyrics sheet.
Elsewhere
Visit the Electric Eel — the Karlsruhe venue where this whole thing was recorded.
See the venue’s own farewell post from the week of the show.
The recording was captured by Stv Gar, whose own atmospheric, loop-driven guitar work can be heard at his Bandcamp page, alongside his ongoing improvisational project with Chris Cacavas, Alpha Nord — Karlsruhe locals worth a deep dive of their own.
“Keep Karlsruhe Boring”… indeed.
Track List
- Resonance — 14:51
- Ring — 17:24
- Vibration — 5:17
- Bourbon Boogie — 6:21
- One Logical Conclusion — 7:20
Total runtime: approximately 51 minutes.
Listen / Buy
Stream:
Bandcamp
This is a Bandcamp exclusive — no other streaming platforms, and no vinyl… yet.