"Spoon” notched Can a hit, which led to some cash, which led to a new studio, which led to Ege Bamyasi — and if you want to know what that led to, well, there’s only so much space. So let’s settle for “justifiably revered by anyone who loves avant-rock” and get to the heart of things. Considering the fizzy-buzzing dynamics of that catalytic single (slotted in as the LP’s closer), where the rhythm section of Holger Czukay (bass) and Jaki Liebezeit (drums) bolster the song like granite you can swim in, the album’s expansion of that weighty fluidity pays off in terms both accessibly funky and endlessly surprising. “Vitamin C” gives the drummer some and lets him give it back tenfold, a danceable tension pierced by some of Damo Suzuki’s greatest quiet-verse-loud-chorus whispers and wails. And “I’m So Green” lets guitarist Michael Karoli morph from Leo Nocentelli-caliber riffing to an increasingly slippery improv that turns the floor beneath your feet into quicksand. While it’s shorter than most Can albums on lengthy freeform jams, the two it throws at you — the Electric Miles-adjacent freakout “Pinch” and “Soup”’s rhythmic slow-motion collapse into noise — make Ege Bamyasi the first album you should give to anyone curious about what these guys were capable of.

– Nate Patrin