RIP Klaus Schulze

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Klaus Schulze, German electronic music pioneer, dies aged 74
Multi-instrumentalist who played with Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before admired solo career is hailed for his ‘innovative spirit’
Klaus Schulze performing in 2009.

Klaus Schulze performing in 2009. Photograph: Jakubaszek/Getty Images

Ben Beaumont-Thomas
@ben_bt
Wed 27 Apr 2022 12.05 EDT


19

Klaus Schulze, the German multi-instrumentalist whose work with drones, pulses and synthesisers was hugely influential on generations of electronic music makers, has died aged 74.
Frank Uhle, managing director of Schulze’s label SVP, wrote: “We lose and will miss a good personal friend – one of the most influential and important composers of electronic music – a man of conviction and an exceptional artist. Our thoughts in this hour are with his wife, sons and family. His always cheerful nature, his innovative spirit and his impressive body of work remain indelibly rooted in our memories.”

Schulze, who briefly played with the groups Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before going solo, created work that was pioneering in manifold ways: his epic electronic soundscapes are seen as a foundation of ambient and new age music, while his sense of rhythm, expressed in sequenced electronic phrases, pointed the way to techno, trance and other dance music genres.
Schulze circa 1972.

Schulze circa 1972. Photograph: INTERFOTO/Alamy

Schulze was born in Berlin in 1947, and played a variety of instruments in a variety of local bands, eventually settling as drummer for Tangerine Dream in 1969. Led by Edgar Froese, Schulze played on their debut album, but soon left to form another group, Ash Ra Tempel, with guitarist Manuel Gottsching and bassist Hartmut Enke. This partnership also only lasted one album – their 1971 self-titled debut – before Schulze left to begin a solo career, though he briefly rejoined the band in the 1970s and 2000s.
His first solo release was Irrlicht in 1972, a composition in four parts that involved Schulze manipulating a broken organ, recordings of an orchestra and an amplifier to create a towering wall of sound. He began using synthesisers with his next album, Cyborg, the following year, and went on to build a vast discography that eventually numbered around 50 albums, including live albums and soundtrack recordings.




Key releases include Timewind (1975), which used an early sequencer to create hypnotic repeating patterns – later a key building block of dance music – and 1979’s Dune, inspired by the Frank Herbert sci-fi novel. His fascination with Dune continued well into later life: he collaborated with Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack to Denis Villeneuve’s Oscar-winning 2021 film adaptation, and Schulze’s final album, Deus Arrakis, was also inspired by Dune – it is due for release in June.
He worked as a producer for other artists including Dead Can Dance singer Lisa Gerrard – the pair also recorded live albums together – and pop band Alphaville. He also collaborated on an 11-album series with musician Pete Namlook, based around the Moog synthesiser, using the punning title Dark Side of the Moog. In the mid-1970s, he recorded two studio albums with a supergroup, Go, that also featured bandleader Stomu Yamashta alongside Steve Winwood, Al Di Meola and Michael Shrieve.
Schulze is survived by his wife, two sons and four grandchildren.
 
Klaus Schulze, German electronic music pioneer, dies aged 74
Multi-instrumentalist who played with Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before admired solo career is hailed for his ‘innovative spirit’
Klaus Schulze performing in 2009.

Klaus Schulze performing in 2009. Photograph: Jakubaszek/Getty Images

Ben Beaumont-Thomas
@ben_bt
Wed 27 Apr 2022 12.05 EDT

19
Klaus Schulze, the German multi-instrumentalist whose work with drones, pulses and synthesisers was hugely influential on generations of electronic music makers, has died aged 74.
Frank Uhle, managing director of Schulze’s label SVP, wrote: “We lose and will miss a good personal friend – one of the most influential and important composers of electronic music – a man of conviction and an exceptional artist. Our thoughts in this hour are with his wife, sons and family. His always cheerful nature, his innovative spirit and his impressive body of work remain indelibly rooted in our memories.”

Schulze, who briefly played with the groups Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before going solo, created work that was pioneering in manifold ways: his epic electronic soundscapes are seen as a foundation of ambient and new age music, while his sense of rhythm, expressed in sequenced electronic phrases, pointed the way to techno, trance and other dance music genres.
Schulze circa 1972.

Schulze circa 1972. Photograph: INTERFOTO/Alamy

Schulze was born in Berlin in 1947, and played a variety of instruments in a variety of local bands, eventually settling as drummer for Tangerine Dream in 1969. Led by Edgar Froese, Schulze played on their debut album, but soon left to form another group, Ash Ra Tempel, with guitarist Manuel Gottsching and bassist Hartmut Enke. This partnership also only lasted one album – their 1971 self-titled debut – before Schulze left to begin a solo career, though he briefly rejoined the band in the 1970s and 2000s.
His first solo release was Irrlicht in 1972, a composition in four parts that involved Schulze manipulating a broken organ, recordings of an orchestra and an amplifier to create a towering wall of sound. He began using synthesisers with his next album, Cyborg, the following year, and went on to build a vast discography that eventually numbered around 50 albums, including live albums and soundtrack recordings.




Key releases include Timewind (1975), which used an early sequencer to create hypnotic repeating patterns – later a key building block of dance music – and 1979’s Dune, inspired by the Frank Herbert sci-fi novel. His fascination with Dune continued well into later life: he collaborated with Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack to Denis Villeneuve’s Oscar-winning 2021 film adaptation, and Schulze’s final album, Deus Arrakis, was also inspired by Dune – it is due for release in June.
He worked as a producer for other artists including Dead Can Dance singer Lisa Gerrard – the pair also recorded live albums together – and pop band Alphaville. He also collaborated on an 11-album series with musician Pete Namlook, based around the Moog synthesiser, using the punning title Dark Side of the Moog. In the mid-1970s, he recorded two studio albums with a supergroup, Go, that also featured bandleader Stomu Yamashta alongside Steve Winwood, Al Di Meola and Michael Shrieve.
Schulze is survived by his wife, two sons and four grandchildren.
A true talent. May he rest in peace.
 
Good catch! Didn't notice the headphones but you are right.

So how many quad albums of Schulze are there? Besides Irrlicht and maybe Cyborg?
Was Picture Music a hidden SQ quad?
 
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Sad, very sad. Still hoped that there will be a collaboration with Steven Wilson one day. The conversation of KS and SW in the Secret World Studios that was recorded during the mixing sessions of the DVD "Klaus Schulze Feat. Lisa Gerrard ‎– Rheingold (Live At The Loreley)" is worth to watch.

I'm listening now to my Penteo Upmix of the CD Version. RIP Klaus.

Klaus_Schulze_X_2LP.jpg
 
So how many quad albums of Schulze are there? Besides Irrlicht and maybe Cyborg?
Was Picture Music a hidden SQ quad?
I'm not aware of other Schulze quad lps besides those and appearances on Cosmic Jokers(3 album + multiple compilation), S. Golowin Lord Krishna Von Goloka, and some of the Ash Ra Tempel(S/T & Join Inn + multiple compilations), self-titled album is said not to be true quad.
 
I suppose not a big surprise as it was known his health hadn't been great the last few years, but a great loss. I've followed his stuff from the 70's right up to current though my collection is selective and very far from complete.

The recordings with Lisa Gerrard are all super-fantastic and very recommended - I never would have thought to pair them as I imagined they lived in different worlds/circles but I'm so glad they got together and blessed us with their collabs.

One of my faves is the duo with Rainer Bloss...the "Dziekuje Poland Live '83" set is fantastic - the duo get a little more aggressive at times and play off each other really well. It'd be a great candidate for surround what with these 2 guys with walls of synths and sequencers going headlong into space....
 
Heartening to see many of you acknowledging KS here. He was very influential and prolific. He never fussed over great detail in the studio or performance, and it was the sometimes the rough hewn nature of improvising and ad hoc experimenting that seemed to drive his output. The mark of quality comes when you can put on an album 40 years after it was made, and enjoy it as much as you did when you first heard it. I feel a radio tribute coming on...
 
Do any of the live DVDs have a good surround mix?

Absolutely! Rheingold from 2008. You'd be forgiven for thinking the 5.1 mix was by Steven Wilson, as I initially did. Wilson even interviews Klaus Schulze on the 2nd DVD. I've never watched it and I really should. According to another QQ stream poster, Klaus Schulze reveals he deletes the files once the album has been released:

*When Klaus says that he deletes almost everything after the album is out Steven almost looks like he's going to have to pick his jaw up off the floor heheh. "what, so no going back to to do 5.1 mixes..." * (Klaus Schulze & Lisa Gerrard (Steven Wilson content too!))

The DVD set is readily available via Discogs at a reasonable price.
 
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