Back in time

10 August 2022

Artist: KLAUS SCHULZE
Who: German pioneer of electronic music. He passed away last April at 74. R.I.P.
Active: 1969-2022 / 47 LPs with Deus Arrakis as his most recent one, it was released
2 1/2 months after his death

Anniversary album: IRRLICH
The LP’s full title was a bit longer: Irrlicht: Quadrophonische
Symphonie für Orchester und E-Maschinen

Released: 10 August 1972 – 50 years ago today

Schulze said in a 2005 interview: “Irrlicht still has more connections to Musique
concrète than with today’s electronics. I still never owned a synthesiser at the time.
I was just glad that Irrlicht was released at all. Any other company would have
probably turned me away with this record.”

Schulze mainly used a broken and modified electric organ, a recording of
a classical orchestra rehearsal played backward, and a damaged amplifier
to filter and alter sounds that he mixed on tape into a three-movement
symphony.

AllMusic wrote: “Restless mastermind Klaus Schulze had already done time in early
Krautrock bands Tangerine Dream, Cosmic Jokers, and Ash Ra Tempel by the time of
his 1972 solo debut, Irrlicht. Schulze had worked mainly as a drummer in most of these
bands, but his innovative approach to synthesizers that unfolded over the course of his dense, prolific, and always forward-reaching solo albums throughout the ’70s and ’80s would set the tone for almost every genre affiliated with electronic music. Irrlicht was in some ways even more ahead of its time than his work with electronics, seeing Schulze creating ambient drones and highly experimental cosmic sounds made completely without the use of synths.” Score: 5/5.

Stream album on Spotify

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KLAUS SCHULZE: Bio – Discography

4 August 1947 – 26 April 2022