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Schroeder is one of Krautrock's forgotten heroes, perhaps because he started releasing music towards the end of German electronica's first wave rather than near its beginning. Stylistically he is close to the Berlin school of ambient trance and psy-rock which includes Tangerine Dream, Ashra and Klaus Schulze among others, yet today he rarely rates a mention in such exalted company. Schroeder deserves better. His classic albums from the late 70's and early 80's compare favourably to the music of his peers. They are also blessed with the childlike curiosity of a musician who loves to custom-build his electronic instruments. Upon hearing his early demos Schulze called him a "contemporary romantic" and his music "naive and beautiful", taking the youngster under his wing and producing his first four albums. The "naive" reference was no doubt meant only in spirit because Schroeder's lovely debut Harmonic Ascendant is the sound of an artist arriving already fully formed. His style proves less epic and more intimate than Schulze, a trait preserved on most of his subsequent releases. The 22-minute title track is like Mike Oldfield on a trip to Germany, combining an ensemble playing bright piano, acoustic guitar and cello with the celestial synths and chugging sequencers of vintage Berlin ambient. "Future Passing By" builds its repeated motif very slowly with odd vocoder mumblings skimming the surface, eventually swimming in an incredibly lush male choral sound. Although rich, the sound of Harmonic Ascendant is never overly dense, Schroeder perhaps learning something from the less successful outings of his more famous mentor. Floating Music drops the classical leanings in favour of more electronics but also loosens the grooves with live drumming on several tracks. Strongly melodic, colourful in texture and varied in tempos, its synthetic sounds are subtlety different from any other music of the era. Different again is Mosaique (not yet issued on CD) which positively rocks in places. A core group of bass/drums/electric guitar backs Schroeder's inventive keyboard bleeps, washes and cosmic chords. This is proper electro-rock fusion, its brilliant innovations devoid of bombast. The focus is very much on tight arrangements and the art of composing, with no empty displays of virtuosity ala Rick Wakeman or Emerson Lake & Palmer. The closing track "Computervoice" sits apart from the others, a deeply beautiful and melancholic piece of layered ambient trance. Galaxie Cygnus-A (again, unavailable on CD) brings the words "lost classic" to mind. Having left the live rock ensemble behind, this is Schroeder's enduring contribution to synthesised spacemusic and an essential listen for anyone with an ear for the genre's awe-inspring magic. The continuous 6-part suite ranges from non-musical metallic clangs, groans and radio transmitter noise to bleepy melodic waltzes and lovely celestial glides. It morphs from one movement to the next with remarkable grace and its classical avant-garde tendencies towards atonal noise are integrated in a surprisingly musical way. Schroeder's first four albums are classics; all original, adventurous and distinctive from his peers and from each other. After the early 80's he embraced shiny new synth sounds in a big way and instrumental electropop became his dominant style. Thanks to Kraftwerk it became just about everyone else's too. His latterday albums are sometimes cheesy, sometimes pleasant, and occasionally outstanding even if lacking the originality of his early work. At least three of them are well worth searching out. The first half of Paradise is five connected tracks of busy, bright and euphoric synthpop constructed with the sure hand of an expert craftsman. The second half stumbles on a piece of dated 80's disco pop with horrible drum sounds but quickly regains its footing with the stark downtempo groove of "Time Machine" and an exceptionally pretty closing track with arcing keyboard sighs and glittering guitar. Brain Voyager is a film score for keyboards and synths with occasional acoustic guitar lines. It's a solid collection of ambient-leaning pop-friendly tunes; full-blooded arrangements and clean sounds but understated and reflective too, just like Tangerine Dream's best 80's soundtracks. Pegasus is atypical of Schroeder's latterday work, in fact it's not quite like any of his work. Recorded as a separate project in 1982 and released some years later, it was originally issued in 1990 without his permission. But it's out there now and a wonderful thing it is too - a 40 minute futuristic epic with long drones, bubbling sequencer passages and slowly developing themes. It's as if Schroeder is paying tribute to early 80's Tangerine Dream, a task for which he is better qualified than most. |
