In addition to his prolific recording career, Klaus Schulze (with right-hand man Klaus D Mueller) has also produced a number of albums by others, and for a time ran his own label called Innovative Communication. Tonight I will present two hours of this music consisting mostly of artists who don't show up in the CKCU playlist search history.
| Kokoro Far East Family Band - Parallel World (1976) - Nippon Columbia |
| "Parallel World" also had Gunter Schickert as recording assistance and comes from the pre-Moondawn period where Schulze and Schickert were collaborating.
Next up, an American travels to Germany to learn from the master... |
| Latin Sirens Face the Wall Earthstar - French Skyline (1979) - Sky |
| Now a block of music from the Innovative Communication label.
Mickie D's Unicorn was the project of multi-instrumentalist Michael Duwe, who was a minor player in the German scene, appearing on Agitation Free's "Fragments" and Ash Ra Tempel's "Seven Up". Guest stars on this album include Helmut Hattler of Kraan playing bass on one song, and Michael Shrieve drumming on three. The music is a mix of rock with fantasy themes and electronic music of the period. This was the first release on the IC label. I claimed on the show this was an instrumental track but it turns out I lied... Baffo Banfi was previously the keyboardist of Italian progressive rock group Biglietto per l'Inferno but was operating in a more cosmic mode by the time he got here. This was his second album. Robert Schröder built all of his own synthesizers and played them exclusively on "Harmonic Ascendent". Wolfgang Tiepold plays cello, which accentuates the comparisons to Klaus Schulze's "Dune". This was his first album; he made five in total for IC. |
| A: Elbereth Mickie D's Unicorn - Mickie D's Unicorn (1979) - Innovative Communication |
| Fantasia di un planeta sconosciuto Baffo Banfi - Ma Dolce Vita (1979) - Innovative Communication |
| The Day After X Robert Schröder - Harmonic Ascendant (1979) - Innovative Communication |
| I recently did a show featuring the music of Harald Grosskopf, who hits one of my sweet spots of producing Berlin school music with real (non-programmed) drums. The Wolfgang Bock album is in the same camp, a heavily Klaus Schulze influenced affair (and produced by the man) with drums provided by Brad Howell. A brief Internet search suggests that this was a departure from the norm for Howell, who later surfaced with The Real Milli Vinilli. There's a band that could have used an ARP Odyssey (or in this case a Roland Module System, Bock's instrumental weapon of choice). Bock's preference for Roland was no accident, as he was apparently the product manager for Roland Europe. |
| Cycles Wolfgang Bock - Cycles (1980) - Telefunken |
| Clara Mondshine was the recording name of Walter Bechauer, who produced a more modern slant on electronic music, arguably taking things in a more proto-electronica direction. One of the interesting things about IC is that many of their early releases, although released on 12", were meant to be played at 45 rpm and not 33 rpm; for example the second and third Robert Schröder albums fall in this category, and so did Clara Mondshine. When this fairly rare album was ripped and distributed on the Internet several years ago, the enterprising ripper, not knowing any better, ripped the whole thing at 33 rpm, which caused many people to experience the album not as originally intended.
The fun thing is that the album works either way. At 45 rpm it is a ball of nervous energy; at 33 rpm it takes on a more alien quality, and the slower-moving ambient-ish pieces start to sound like the kind of deep space exploration we hear on Tangerine Dream's "Zeit". Today I am going to play all of Side 1, the first two tracks at the originally intended 45 rpm, before deftly switching to 33 rpm for the final track, so that you, the listener, can experience the album both ways. |
| Die Drachentrommler Clara Mondshine - Luna Africana (1981) - Innovative Communication |
| Lange Melodie Für Den Countdown Clara Mondshine - Luna Africana (1981) - Innovative Communication |
| Fischer Des Meeres Der Stille (33 rpm) Clara Mondshine - Luna Africana (1981) - Innovative Communication |
| Whiteout Conditions The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions - Collected Works 
|
| High Ticket Attractions The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions - Collected Works
|
Subscribe to Electronic Meditation
Getting a much deeper understanding of the Klaus Schulze aesthetic. Drifting nicely. Thanks.
1:02 AM, May 18th, 2017