Klaus Schulze - Classic or Dud?

Irrlicht is such an elusive album. I've heard so many times that it is a work of genius, but so far I can only really get into the first track (which is massive) and even then, it sometimes escapes me. It's one of those pieces that goes from fascinating and wonderful to boring and unimaginative depending on your mood. I recently picked up Cyborg and can't make heads or tails out of it. It's essentially 90 minutes of synth drone that alternates between classic and dud depending on how "out there" I'm feeling. RYM tells me he has like 30 albums - is this early stuff his legacy, or are there later albums worth checking out? Now I'm trying to get into Schulze AND Tangerine Dream at the same time, is one clearly better than the other?

Why don't people talk more about Klaus Schulze?

why don't they, frogbs? why don't they?

you tell me! i did read that thread though

Just keep going, pretty much all the 70s stuff is awesome. I even have a soft spot for the cheesier 80s stuff. "maxxi", from one of those 30 disc box sets is a great airwolf-esque poppy tune.

If I only had to do with one KS album I'd stick with X. Long spacey tracks, an marathoner's approach to drumming and a sweet dedication to "my precious synthesizers" make it a classic in my book.

Wait, I have heard X before. I remember the track "Ludwig von Bayern" very well. Had real strings didn't it? Really liked that stuff.

That's the one. Body Love is also v. good. I've never heard any of his stuff past X though.

Get Timewind frogbs, it's sheer genius.

shot in the dark here, but does anyone know how to contact Klaus Schulze?

http://www.klaus-schulze.com/contact/welcome.htm

<3 that site.

Yeah it looks terrifically 1995 <5

<5 even :)

I was half expecting an animated construction worker and sirens with the headline "UNDER CONSTRUCTION"

man it must be freaky to go through photos of yourself every year from 1969 to now

the guy who rans the site will send you a 200+page full discography printed directly from his computer!! (upon request)

seriously :) :) :)

How do I know about a new album of Klaus Schulze?

thanks, just got in touch!

Welcome!

He's easy to approach :)

man, there are so many artists that I wish someone put a site like that together for

listening to "Picture Music" now - does every "bonus track" on these album run like 40 minutes long? holy cow

Digging Blackdance a lot ATM - I think this one is way easier to get into than the first two albums, not that there's an awful lot going on here, but it does seem a lot less static

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vegtmfcGbKE

Seems really ahead of its time to me right now.

https://www.facebook.com/ecki.stieg/posts/10222551633552973

Appears to have passed away, sadly. RIP.

He'd apparently been in declining health for the last several years.

Great run, hell of an impact.

Oh no! RIP KS.

If the funeral service is anything like his music it's going to be a long one!

Although I have a yearly ritual of playing X and seeing if I can finish doing my taxes by the time it finishes, I feel like his earlier, more abstract records like Irrlicht are a little more listenable at extended durations.

Great drummer. RIP.

The truly epic mid '70s jams on La Vie Electronique vols 2-6 were my entry point, and I can still pretty much slap on any one of those discs (they're 3CD sets) and drift blissfully for an hour or so. Interviewing him for The Wire in 2018, even via email, was a genuine thrill.

Last (I guess) album out in June, a Dune tribute -- worth a read of the liner notes, goes into the collaboration for the film more:

https://klausschulze.bandcamp.com/album/deus-arrakis

damn. heard he was sick too so I kind of figured this was coming. what a body of work this guy had. more music than anyone could possibly listen to, though I'm sure a few have tried. I got into him through X and it felt like there were just entire worlds out there waiting to be discovered.

coincidentally it was just a couple days ago I heard a clip from his new album (due out in a few weeks) - it sounds pretty nice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5dpZ_z1uQg

rip, pretty much the goat

i'm a huge fan of his horror film scores e.g. angst and next of kin, also imagine manhunter having 1/10th of its mood without the presence of "freeze"

this is from the Japanese version of the Big In Japan DVD - you could see he wasn't feeling well (hiccups) earlier and he left during for a while during this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvhxqZkZdJo

I thought that was on purpose? Like “check it out I built all this up now I can leave and the music still plays”

Idk I’ve seen a few recent live videos and I like his stage presence, very much a “grandpa showing you his trains in the basement” sort of vibe. Feels like this is what he’d be doing even if nobody showed up

(European version, sorry) xpost

I discovered him via Krautrocksampler, and first heard him not on synths or organ but playing absolutely ferocious drums on Ash Ra Tempel’s eponymous debut. It was only much later that I discovered his mid-70s synth noodle classics, Moondawn, Mirage and X (and Body Love, which surely has to rank among the best/worst porn music ever). RIP.

Tbh I think I thought he was already dead, but RIP my cosmic dude.

i also only managed as far as LVE VI and no more, but given they are 4 hours each, that's still a solid day of music. had a quick(!) listen to Cyborg tonight, goes nowhere really for 2.5 hours, is nice.

Steve Roach with the honors

https://www.facebook.com/SteveRoachMusic/posts/567005998116558

When I interviewed him for The Wire he mentioned having renal problems which necessitated dialysis and inhibited touring. Kind of amazing that AFAIK he never came to the US to play, ever.

I've honestly never delved in to his solo work beyond the first six albums, but that's a hell of a run even if he never released anything else, even aside from his other contributions.

the various FB groups I'm in have filled like half my feed with tributes to him. sometimes Facebook ain't so bad.

Klaus was cool. He did alot of things first. Master of the early sequencer. You can tell he is a drummer in his music.

If you think about it, Klaus Schulze was like the total opposite of Florian Fricke, yet kinda doing the same thing. You add in Kraftwerk, Jarre and Tangerine Dream and you got like the Dreamteam '92 of European early synth music. If not Dreamteam, then surely like the thrash big 4.

He ended up owning Florian Fricke's moog, I believe? Cluster? Vangelis? I think of Jarre as being slightly later.

More from Steve Roach, sharing out his interview he did with Klaus in 1978.

*diddy voice* smoke weed listen to klaus schulze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPooZOSwzxY

first track on this, "nowhere - now here," incredible journey through space

Brad Rose put together a three hour plus mix in tribute via his Patreon and that was a perfect zone-out soundtrack for yesterday afternoon.

I love this dancey song “maxxi” he did in the 80s. Would have made a good theme song for a knight rider/airwolf type show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGxh1SSWOY4

Here's a good tribute mix from low light mixes.

Space Requiem - A Tribute to Klaus Schulze

Previously unreleased live album, Bon Voyage, coming out in April. It's from 1981 and features Manuel Göttsching on guest guitar/guitar synth.

I need to check to make sure, but I think some of this material was released on one of the La Vie Electronique comps

Possibly on one of his 80 CD box sets

It's definitely never been released in full, and the whole thing is 90 minutes long, so a 2CD set.

Listening to Live while I wait for Bon Voyage to get here, goddamn this guy is a magician. "Sense" is so transportive.

got Bon Voyage on now...man that cover is funny..."Bon Temple" really cooks huh?

never actually listened to any of his live stuff, doesn't seem too much unlike his regular music