Can announce ‘Live in Arles 1975’, out 25 September via Mute
Can release “Live in Arles 1975” on 25 September 2026 via Mute and Spoon Records, the seventh archival album in the band’s live series.
Can (Live in Arles 1975) (Courtesy of Spoon Records)
Can “Live in Arles 1975” is a new live album from the German group Can, set for release on 25 September 2026 through Mute and the band’s own Spoon Records. The record documents a 1975 concert at the Théâtre Antique d’Arles in the South of France and arrives on double LP, CD and digital. It continues the archival live series overseen by founding keyboardist Irmin Schmidt.
The recording originates from a fan tape and captures the band’s core four-piece line-up of Irmin Schmidt, Jaki Liebezeit, Michael Karoli and Holger Czukay, performing on a summer night in August 1975. Mute and Spoon Records released the excerpt “Arles 75 Drei” alongside the announcement.
Table of contents
Inside Can ‘Live in Arles 1975’
The album collects six untitled improvisations, numbered in German and credited to the date and place of the performance: “Arles 75 Eins”, “Arles 75 Zwei”, “Arles 75 Drei”, “Arles 75 Vier”, “Arles 75 Fünf” and “Arles 75 Sechs”. The set comes from the instrumental period that followed the departure of vocalist Damo Suzuki, with the four members improvising as a unit.
Schmidt recalled the night of the concert. “I remember a very beautiful atmosphere,” he stated. “It was a summer night in the South of France, everybody was stoned and the atmosphere was very special.”
“Live in Arles 1975” is available to pre-order through Mute, with the first excerpt streaming as Can – “Arles 75 Drei” (Excerpt).
The Can live series
“Live in Arles 1975” is the seventh release in the live series that Mute and Spoon Records began earlier this decade, drawing on concert recordings held in the band’s archive. Schmidt had previously considered the run complete before returning to the tapes for this edition.
Earlier installments include Can Live in Brighton 1975, Can Live in Cuxhaven, 1976 and Can Live in Paris 1973. Each draws on a single concert and presents the performance as continuous, numbered pieces rather than studio compositions.
About Can
Can formed in 1968 in Cologne, West Germany, around Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay, who had both studied under Karlheinz Stockhausen, together with guitarist Michael Karoli and drummer Jaki Liebezeit. The group recorded first with American vocalist Malcolm Mooney and then with Japanese singer Damo Suzuki, releasing “Monster Movie” in 1969, “Tago Mago” in 1971, “Ege Bamyasi” in 1972 and “Future Days” in 1973. Their rhythmic, improvisation-based approach shaped later post-punk, industrial and electronic music.
After the group disbanded, its members continued in production, soundtrack and solo work. Michael Karoli died in 2001, and both Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit died in 2017, leaving Schmidt as the last surviving member. Schmidt has continued to release new music, including the album Requiem in 2026, and has overseen the live series through Mute and Spoon Records. “Live in Arles 1975” adds a 1975 French concert to that ongoing archival project.
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