Klaus Schulze feat. Lisa Gerrard - Fast & Forward
An Electronic Appetizer - Tour September 2009 filmed by James L. Frachon
KLAUS SCHULZE: 1947 - 2250
What would have become of the drummer Klaus Schulze, if not a certain Bob "Dr. Robert" Moog had built his Moog synthesizers from 1963 on?
The pioneer of electronic music Klaus Schulze, admired as the Pope of Electronics, Godfather of Techno or simply as "KS" all over the world, is never lost for spontaneous and ironical words: "Maybe some church organist? Haha. No, to be serious, before I got my first Moog – and that was like Christmas raised to the power of ten! – I had already stopped playing drums. I had worked on my organ to make it sound different, creating those twitter sounds on 'Irrlicht' [1972] und 'Cyborg' [1973]. I wouldn't have continued playing drums anyway because I didn't enjoyed it anymore at the end of the Sixties. Although in my opinion each musician ought to play drums for several years in order to grasp groove and rhythm also on a purely physical level. Because this is one of the prejudices against electronic music – that it is not physical, not sensual. For me, electronic music is totally sensual."
With which Klaus Schulze would partly have answered an unasked question on the occasion of the re-release of his œuvre of so far more than 50 solo albums (not counting various 10, 20, and 50 CD box sets and numerous side projects!): What is the difference of KS' work with electronic sound generators and the approach of other gurus of electronic music? KS: "My approach is perhaps a little bit more playful, and at any rate very physical. I need this physical element, that the songs have groove and immediately happen! For this reason I decided to play solo and no longer with groups back in 1971. I was annoyed by those discussions in the bands – what do we play now and how do we play it? The discussions often went on longer than we used to play music. That's not my thing!"
Psy Free (1967-1969), Tangerine Dream (1969/70), Ash Ra Tempel (1970/71): this were the first stages of Klaus Schulze's career at which he co-founded the legendary "Berlin School" of electronic music. "When we began to make music in the Berlin underground scene we were striving for a music which had nothing in common with British or American pop music. We wanted to do something different, something new! But we knew that we needed new instruments for a new music – no guitars or drums. So the parallel development of the synthesizer come just at the right time for us. It was the perfect timing, and everything combined: the new technology, a new body of thought in music, and a cultural climate in which one could also create non-commercial music."
"There were no models for what I did solo at the time – after Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel. Actually there was the American composer Morton Subotnik who worked purely with electronics, but I didn't know him then. The only people I knew were the minimalists Terry Riley and Steve Reich, however they were not completely working with electronics. Only their concepts – the repetition and changes of phrases, the work with some kind of sequences – already included the structure of music which I had in mind. But in fact I had started into nowhere, without knowing where my journey would lead me to."
In musical terms, Schulze's journey led him into a cosmos of strictly electronic sounds in which the format of five minute pop singles was obsolete from the very beginning. The compositions of the epic poet Klaus Schulze are lasting. "For me, a piece of music just needs time to start a life. In theory I could of course shorten what you mean by 'epic' to about four or five minutes, which is common in pop. But then the dramaturgy of the songs would brutally break down. Marian Gold, singer of the group Alphaville, once tried to do this when I was doing songs with him. But even he said: 'I have cut these 25 minutes down to 12 minutes. I can't make it shorter because then everything breaks down!' With me it's probably the same as with some authors. An author writes a novel and sometime he notices that the characters in the novel are just doing what they want. Many of my compositions are such things, they have a life on their own. But don't ask me how such things happen! Since my first album I always needed time for my songs."
Regarding his career Schulze's journey first led him abroad. "The reason I had the first big success in France is certainly due to the fact that the French were far more open for experiments at that time. Before the Germans accepted something new there had to be a sticker on the record: 'Hit in USA!' or 'Hit in England!' So I made this roundabout – inevitably. All of us, also Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra, would wind up with some time lag on the English Virgin label. And when our music came out internationally, and even the Americans said: 'Well, that's real cool music – and such stuff comes from Germany?', then the Germans woke up, too, and 'X' entered the German charts. But this was in 1978, and 'X' already was my tenth record!"
A quarter of a century later the contraction "KS" is regarded as synonym for electronic music of the most advanced kind – and in the home land of the prophet, too. Time now to go into retirement in his 6th decade of life?
"Well, what should I do in retirement, Mr. Colleague? I have only just begun, haha! And I do want to know how electronic music evolves. I mean, at the moment there is a bit of stagnation in the scene. When techno became popular there at least was more movement. But now these guys have found their groove, partly they are very successful and they are continuing with their concept. I'm waiting for the next revolution. It will come, I'm really very optimistic here. And then I want to be part of it. Sometime I will surely retire – perhaps in 2250? Not until they carry me out of this studio in a box!"
Albrecht Piltz [Interview with Klaus Schulze in November 2004]
What after November 2004 happened:
The SPV label Revisited Records started early 2005 with re-releases of the Schulze back catalogue, including albums like Timewind, Moondawn, Mirage, Body Love, X., Audentity and many more. Today there are 35 older albums out again as Deluxe Editions with new liner notes, photos and tons of bonus material.
MOONLAKE - 2005
At the end of 2005 Schulze released a new studio work called “Moonlake” and in 2006 he received the french music price "Prix d'honneur", from French organisation Qwartz.
KONTINUUM - 2007
“Kontinuum” includes 3 new Schulze tracks that all fans all over the world will love. The frist track ‘Sequenzer (from 70 to 7) with the Schulze typical Sequenzer sound, will carry the listener back into the good old seventies. With ‘Euro Caravan’ the music is gliding towards the present and with the nearly 32 minute track ‘Thor (Thunder)’ Schulze will take us on a trip into the future. This piece of music shows all facets of his lifework.
KLAUS SCHULZE/ LISA GERRARD – FARSCAPE
- 2008
Klaus Schulze is a visionary. A dreamer. And he is well known for making his dreams come true. For a long time now he has wanted to collaborate with extremely gifted vocalist Lisa Gerrard. In November 2007 he made his wish come true. The result was the double album Farscape.
Gerrard, born in Melbourne, Australia was once a member of the unique duo Dead Can Dance and has since contributed to a host of movie scores such as Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and Whale Rider. She owns one of the most remarkable and expressive voices of modern times.
Klaus Schulze - Rheingold - Feat. Lisa Gerrard - Feb. 2009
On the 18th of July 2008 Klaus Schulze played at the 'Night Of The Prog III' festival, an extraordinary concert on the Open Air Stage 'Loreley' in St. Goarshausen, Germany. For this particular concert Klaus had a very special guest with him, the Australian singer Lisa Gerrard. Lisa refined the tracks 'Loreley' and 'Wellgunde' with her unique voice.
This concert was filmed to became Klaus Schulze first DVD release. The 5.1 surround sound was mixed at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. And the post production process is part of the documentary on the bonus disc. Klaus also did an exclusive interview with Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree, which is also part of the bonus material for the DVD.
to be continued….
