Klaus Schulze

[Ross]

Go on then, let's discuss Mr. Schulze, he seems popular among a few here. Other than his drumming on TD's Electronic Meditation, the only thing of his I've heard is Irrlicht, which I really, really like. A much more powerful work than its cousin Zeit, especially so given most of it comes from orchestral samples. Fucking evil at times.

I'll be working through his main albums and will probably write my thoughts on each in this thread...

Mirage is his best. Yes, I'm going to go with that. Irrlicht blows me away too. He did some recent-ish stuff with Lisa Gerrard that's worth checking out. Also be sure not to neglect his aliases, especially Richard Wahnfried and the records he did with Din A Testbild.

The Lisa Gerrard albums are otherworldly - there are concert videos too.
I have Dune on vinyl too

i raised a small discussion on KS back in the day when i first took my journey through his catalog

ross i'm pretty surprised your exposure is still so limited
you've got QUITE a ride ahead!

i really love it all....so, so much
kontinuum and in blue are great albums with the more modern sound

KS surely puts out a similar vibe in many of his tunes....but they are "signature KS" in that respect

def listen to the wahnfrieds as you go along!

- there still are about a dozen albums that I haven't hear properly

On a german site that deals mostly with 70ies Prog/Kraut/Electronic stuff the album X became the highest rating, they say it's the best almalgamation of classical and electronic music ever. And Mirage and Timewind should be best places to start with. This is on my to-do-list for ages now, still have to get into Schulze's music, really curious what board members have to say...

[Ross]

ross i'm pretty surprised your exposure is still so limited

There are so many artists out there who I could probably love but haven't taken the time... another 40 - 50 years to go so there's never been a rush.

This hasn't started so well today anyway, as both Cyborg and Blackdance bored me to tears. Couldn't find anything in them to like at all. Hopefully once it starts getting more Berlin School I might find something more to enjoy!

[Ross]

Picture Music was ok but nothing I'd listen to again, began to wonder whether maybe this was going to become futile.

Then Timewind hit. Wow.

yeah the earliest stuff is very classic and timeless etc. but i'm not sure that's my ultimate KS cup of tea either

as with a lot of music you'll likely find these albums grow on you as you absorb more of the full picture

[Ross]

Possibly, I dunno. I liked the first four TD albums on first listen, lots of texture and space in them. Some of the early KS ones seem to be a bit full on for my tastes. Timewind and Moondawn I enjoyed a lot though. Mirage was hypnotic, but a bit overlong for my taste. Although on the whole I'm not the biggest fan of 20 minutes that stick to a particular sound / theme so I might struggle with a fair amount of his stuff!

His approach is a little different from TD's. He doesn't really have the same sensibilities in terms of exploring timbre or ever-shifting synth manipulations in his sequences like TD did. It places you more in a trance. If you like more variation, you'll probably like his next album "X" a lot more.

I'm not the biggest fan of 20 minutes that stick to a particular sound / theme

haha yes this could present a problem as he surely loves doing this
he'll play that out for 15 min or so and then BAM like burst of thunder it's the same theme under a different root chord



PS - EPITOME should be on this train
let's tackle all the KS virgins at once!

[Ross]

X was interesting, I liked the orchestral stuff but the more sequence based stuff really bored me, heh. I am not easy to predict. Dune next.

[Ross]

I enjoyed Dune a lot, particularly the title track... very different, much more in keeping with his early records in sound, but with the melodic elements of the late '70s work. Even the vocals didn't bother me, although I understand they're controversial.

I'm not the biggest fan of 20 minutes that stick to a particular sound / theme

haha yes this could present a problem as he surely loves doing this
he'll play that out for 15 min or so and then BAM like burst of thunder it's the same theme under a different root chord



PS - EPITOME should be on this train
let's tackle all the KS virgins at once!

Yeah, I've been reading these comments and it has got me interested to check it out. Looking at the list of albums is a bit daunting though - I'm still trying to work my way through all the albums I own along with all the new releases from the bands I already listen to. I mean, I got into FSOL and The Orb a few years ago and I'm still not caught up on them yet