Klaus Schulze, German Genius and Hero: An Early Work Primer

Today I just want to take a moment to talk about one of my musical heroes, Klaus Schulze. For most music nerds, a mere visit to his Wikipedia Page is enough to stop you in your tracks and fall on your knees. Here are some highlights from his early career: Started Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese, founding member of Ash Ra Tempel (the first record from them being my ultimate kraut rock record) with Manuel Gottsching, the father of techno, created over sixty albums over five decades, most of which are pretty good, several of which are considered ambient masterpieces. This resume makes my head spin.

Anyway, I reviewed my favorite of his solo records, Mirage, a few years ago, so I just want to post links to some of my other favorites from him. This is simply a primer to his early work, everything after is hit or miss, as anyone would be over fifty years of making music. I hope you take the time to really dig in. It pays off!

From his debut album, Irrlicht, 1972:



From Cyborg, 1973:



From Blackdance, 1974:



From Picture Music, 1975:





From Timewind, 1975:





From Moondawn, 1976:

 



From the soundtrack to Body Love, 1977:



From Mirage, 1977:

Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Piano Nights (Ipecac, 2014)

One of my favorite bands of all time has returned with their eighth album. Have they changed the formula? Have they reinvented the wheel? Have they altered course for new destinations in uncharted regions? No on all counts. Nothing is different. Their concoction of ambient doom and jazz meets lounge need not change. The adagio / requiem is a perfectly haunting and romantic melancholy to soothe the thinker's soul. With sax, keys, bass and drums so flawlessly executed and painstakingly slow, the patience required to play this music seems an other worldly talent. These German masters win me over yet again. Timeless.

Listen to the full album here or on Spotify below:

Manuel Gottsching - E2-E4 (MG, 1984)

I've been on a music history kick lately and decided to make a few posts about releases that were crucially influential to musicians that followed. I'll begin with one that may be obvious to the electronic aficionado that reads this blog, 'E2-E4'. Simply put, this is the ultimate proto-techno cut. Manuel Gottsching (guitarist for Ash Ra Tempel) released his first solo album with a monument to time's end. The reason for its groundbreaking nature was his lack of submission to the popular idea of melody and development. He just rode a rhythm in repetition for nearly an hour. The trance like space this music occupies set the tone for all dance floor material that came about afterwards. If it sounds mundane and familiar to you, its just because everyone emulated this for the next decade and a half without much alteration. There ya go...Techno 101.




Here's a nice tribute reworking of one track by Ernestus and von Oswald over at the BCD:

Ulrich Schnauss and Jonas Munk - S/T (Pedigree Cuts, 2010)

Since 2001, this enigmatic German producer has been keeping me interested in progressive Shoegaze concepts. Many people are emulating these 90's ideals that we all love but he's one of the few that herald the banner properly. Several records into his discography, there is this from last year; a collaboration that encompasses the entire Shoegaze aesthetic but in a minimal fashion. Alongside Danish Dream Pop producer extraordinaire, Jonas Munk (of Manual), he might have made his boldest and most mature statement yet. This is beautiful music for any occasion.

The guitars on the record are mainly the Fender based including Jonas’s slim line Telecaster and his moded Jazzmaster. Guitars when amped where recorded through a Fender Twin. Ulrich’s synth palette include, for the 70’s influenced tracks, the CP80 and the Korg PS3200 and for the 80’s and 90’s inspired tracks he chose the polyphonic Oberheim OB8 and Oberheim OBX for the basis of the tracks.

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No More - 7 Years (Rustblade, 2010)

No More is yet another German band from the 80's I just discovered that is now blowing my mind.

They were formed in Kriel, Northern Germany in 1979. After their wildly successful 7" single "Suicide Commando", NME was prompted to state that they were "suitable German Electro fashion". The song was so big that a Belgian band named themselves after it.

It was a typical setup of vocals, guitar, bass, synth and drums but they really had their own thing going on. This was an fascinating blend of minimal wave, electro and edgy post-punk with early Cure, Joy Division and Bauhaus all over it. Several of their tracks broke barriers as well, seeping into the techno scene.

Most of their really good material was on on singles so here is a fantastic compilation of their work from 1979 to 1986.

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Sybille Baier - The Colour Green (Orange Twin, 2006 / recorded 1970-73)

Fans of director Wim Wenders' first knew Sybille Baier's face from the 1973 film Alice in the Cities. Her music has been featured in Jochen Richter's Umarmungen und Andere Sachen(1975) and in Wim Wenders' Palermo Shooting(2008).

Much the same as Nick Drake, it was decades after the fact that her music gained general notoriety. With one of the most charming voices I've heard, she sang brave and honest pastoral folk songs that she composed in her dark, bleak manner. I'm reminded of Sylvia Plath every time I listen. Unlike the hippie psych folk popularized by Vashti Bunyan, Baier didn't need any gimmicks, bells or whistles. This fraulein kept it simple but somehow elegant with production akin to the atmosphere of early Leonard Cohen recordings. I only wish there was more.

Brainticket - Celestial Ocean (Hallelujah, 1974)

“Celestial Ocean” is both an adventure and voyage for explorers of the human experience. In other words, the walls are breathing. Or maybe it is the projection of your own vibration as the air comes in and then out again. Either way this album is pure cosmic indulgence on a “space is deep” kind of level. Whoever has taken strong psychedelics will try and convince someone that this or that is the best music to fall into the depths of time and space. But the truth is, any kind of music or sound can seem completely psychedelic when under the influence. And with that said, there is a difference between just any kind of music and musicnauts who actually prepare to take you into the abyss and then do it with grace. Brainticket are one of those musical groups.

Brainticket is a collection of middle European musicians, primarily consisting of German and Swiss descent. The band started releasing albums in the early seventies. The two albums that precede “Celestial Ocean” were “Cottonwood Hill”(1971) and “Psychonaut”(1972). These albums gave guidance to what would be expected. Which means it is not safe to expect something in particular of the sound of Brainticket. Just know that the 1974 release of “Celestial Ocean” expanded the already vastness of life and all perceptions of it. The album tells a story of an ancient Egyptian king traveling on a ship that courses though the afterlife, inspired by the Egyptian book of the dead. One thing should be understood, Brainticket takes themselves seriously when presenting the subject matter of other and ancient worlds with space ships and dreams. Some people get turned off when musicians and artists wholeheartedly believe in what they feel no matter how unreal it may seem. Most roll the psychedelic mumbo jumbo off as being playful and goofy, like a “arn't I just the strangest thing” sorta way, not Brainticket.

Kaleidoscopic sounds twist around synthesized rhythms that continually grow and decay while creating a unknown landscape as a cacophony of voices clutter and vanish in the same breath. Yeah, it's really like that. The album is presented in a book end form, opening with “Egyptian Kings” and closing with a reprise of the beginning track, titled “Visions”. Everything in between is an absolute pleasure. At times it creates a yoga or meditation environment. Nobody thinks flutes are cool anymore. Well, they have their place along side with such complementary instruments as organs, zithers and odd sound generators. O.K. This review was my own indulgence in describing the pure psychedelic force that is Brainticket. All I really had to say was that the band is called Brainticket and don't take more than you can handle. But seriously, this should get the party started if the kind of party you like is the one where everyone lies naked on the floor and forget they have bodies and lose all concepts of reality. Just moans of ecstasy and fear as the collective consciousness merrily drifts up and down the celestial ocean. Yo! I said it. Yo! Buy the ticket, take the ride.

--Sean Dail

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La Dusseldorf - Viva (Radar, 1978)

O.K, I really love the post WW2 rock that came out of Germany. I mean these kids had to reinvent their image to the world after the Nazis tainted the national identity of the German people. Think about it, the older generation was wiped out from war and the kids had very little musical role models outside of the U.K and the states. They knew they wanted to sound distinct from other cultural movements in the late sixties, not just the folk based psych rock that was on the rise. So these young cabbage heads looked to themselves and in the industrial remains of their home, they formed what would later be known as KrautRock.

“Viva” by La Dusseldorf is classic kraut in it's true nature. La Dusseldorf carries a steady punk rhythm that has the likeness of Neu! Primarily because both bands had the privilege of sharing vocalist/guitarist Klaus Dinger. Although Neu! called it quits in 75', Klaus carried on to form La Dusseldorf. “Viva” was their most popular album with key tracks such as “Rheinita” and “Cha Cha 2000”. Both tracks were singles from the album. With the punk pulse synthesized into a dream chant, “Viva” is continuously being played on my stereo. This album carries a sense of hope throughout it, by yelling positive anthem lines about how people need to pick themselves up and create a healthier world rather than constantly poisoning it. Besides, any album that blurs sounds to point were it is hard to tell if what you are hearing is guitar fuzz, screaming or some kind of early synth pad, it will always be inviting the listener to engage themselves as to what is really going on. Auf Weidersehen

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Sean Dail came to the world first as a thought and then in the flesh. He enjoys music and other creations of humanity that display the spectrum of emotion and thought. With an understanding of the dichotomy of reality, Dail is willing and able to convey works that share both the world of idea's and the struggle to survive. He also enjoys waking up in the mornings and thinking about how he should eat more oat meal.

Frumpy - Frumpy 2 - 1971

This is 70's German Progressive Hard Rock at its finest. That statement may not mean much to some of you reading this but there was an extraordinary amount of creativity manifested in that scene. Check out the German television program "Die Deutschrock Nacht" and you'll understand.

Frumpy’s second album consists of four lengthy tracks, ripe with swirling and busy keyboard wizardry, guitar that is sporadically interspersed to be a mere additive, strong bass playing obviously influenced by Holger Czukay, and tasteful subtle driving drumming matched with the oddly charming sound of Inga Rumpf’s raspy and hoarse singing.

This album is is an example of the impact American and British Hard Rock had on Germany and how this band managed to utilize that influence while incorporating their own distinct Krautrock originality. Jeff Beck, Jefferson Airplane and Grand Funk join forces with Can, Neu and early Kraftwerk.

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ZDL. - In Der Maschinenhalle - 198?

This early 80's tape of a live show the band did is outstanding. A noisy atonal lo-fi No Wave washed out beauty. I know nothing about this visionary German band except there are some tapes floating around. Dying to here more. I had a dream that Warsaw and Einsturzende Neubauten had a bastard child and then it showed up on this tape. Seriously comparable to those groups. A beautiful hybrid here. Tracks that have driving pounding tribal drum rhythms with crunchy flanging guitars alternating with tracks that are industrial soundscapes with ritual chanting. Just fucking lovely. Das ist eine gute.

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