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Multi-instrumentalist Klaus Schulze was part of the Krautrock phenomenon of the late 60's and 70's and alongside a handful of other German acts he is a pivotal figure in the development of modern electronic music. Today it is interesting to look back on that first wave of German electronic pioneers and compare how they have faired. Kraftwerk, for example, have released little new music since 1986 and have all but disappeared from view save the occasional concert tour. Despite losing all but one key member Tangerine Dream did the opposite, a most unfortunate move that saw them selling out to American new age and releasing one wretched album of bland electropop-rock after another. But to this day Schulze remains active and creative, and he is one of the very few who has collaborated with new-generation ambient techno figures such as Pete Namlook. Schulze's early career included a brief stint as drummer with Tangerine Dream and the several noisy years with the band Ash Ra Tempel which he formed with Manuel Gottsching. However it wasn't long before Schulze turned his attention exclusively to what would become a highly productive solo career. During the 1970's he produced a number of albums that remain monumental in scope and imagination. Mind you, they are also very serious and quintessentially German. It seems Kraftwerk’s wry, self-conscious sense of humour was an almost singular phenomenon. His earliest albums are the sound of Schulze finding his feet amongst a variety of electronic keyboards, studio equipment, acoustic instruments and percussion devices. At times they are a little too grim and suffer from a pronounced heaviness of tone but his debut Irrlicht is classic spacerock nonetheless, somewhat in the vein of Ummagumma-era Pink Floyd. It doesn't actually feature any synthesisers - Schulze plays percussion, organ, guitar and is accompanied by live strings, but using feedback and phasing he creates an unmistakable cosmic electronic feel. Skip a few albums to Timewind and synthesisers and sequencers now form the largest part of his arsenal. It's really Schulze’s first mature album, containing two shimmering, deeply textured compositions. With sustained phrases of electronic strings, mysterious melodies and subtle bass rhythms Schulze creates soundscapes that positively scream "epic". Timewind sounds like a giant sci-fi fantasy novel set to music and that's no coincidence. During this period he often talked about his search for the “music of the future” and one can imagine his albums as soundtracks to innumerable science-fiction films. The blissful Mirage and the Frank Herbert-inspired Dune explore further in the quasi-orchestral style established on Timewind with intelligence, imagination and subtlety. Mirage is perhaps the most beautiful Klaus Schulze album of all. Just two long tracks “Velvet Voyage” and “Crystal Lake” are built upon slowly evolving clusters of melody and mile-long cosmic synth washes. There are some rhythms, but no beats. Drama, but no shocks. This is psychedelic ambient of the most epic kind, the soundtrack to countless sessions on couches around the world where the air is thick with bong smoke, incense and stoned conversations about life, the universe and everything. More demanding but still essential is the double album X. Long pieces of 20 to 30 minutes were the rule on Schulze's albums of this period and on X he uses that format very effectively to showcase his classical influences. Fortunately these influences never overwhelm the contemporary, spacious quality of his music, even in the presence of a live orchestra as on the majestic "Ludwig Von Bayern". The 70's is still widely considered to be Schulze's heyday, even though not all his albums were great records. During most of 1980’s his recordings lurched between conservative and wildly erratic, sometimes reverting to the kind of throwaway electropop and sequencer-driven monotony that came to afflict Tangerine Dream. However by the 1990's he had found solid ground once again. On the double album En-Trance the overtly cosmic flavour of his earlier music has receded against a throbbing, pulsing barrage of rhythms. There's also a distinctly industrial edge and some drum programming that nods towards the explosion in techno and house music that was occurring at the time. In contrast and of more interest to ambient listeners is the equally fine Beyond Recall which re-asserts his more reflective side. But the most notable of his recent albums is the series of collaborations with new-school ambient guru Pete Namlook. There's not a really dud album in the series but a few stand out. Dark Side Of The Moog V finds the pair at their most mystical and trippy and boasts some exquisite passages of ambient trance. Bill Laswell joins them for Dark Side VIII which proves a fine showcase for their more upbeat excursions. Dark Side IX is exquisite tone colour music in the best Berlin-school tradition, muted and gently rhythmic, mournful yet beautiful, perhaps the best album the pair have recorded together. Evolution of Dark Side Of The Moog makes for a good introduction to the series overall, even if a few of the uptempo moments falter with a dated early-90’s dancefloor sound. Far better are the tracks where the beats are less insistent or not there at all. The excerpts from the suites “Psychedelic Brunch” and "Phantom Heart Brother" are stunning exercises in sequencer-driven, layered, euphoric ambient trance with rich space chords and melodies. Schulze fans can argue until the proverbial cows come home over whether his recent work can stand alongside his earlier classics. I believe some of it does. In the very least, his continuing exploration of new technology and a wealth of inspired ideas continues to make his music worthy of attention in the new century. |
