Klaus Schulze: Irrlicht (1972)
Klaus Schulze is the kind of artist one automatically assumes would have departed this big blue rock aboard a UFO long ago; yet he remains here on Earth, still churning out adventurous LPs at regular intervals, almost 60 credited to his name or other aliases.
But Schulze’s first, 1972’s Irrlicht (*), arrived 45 years ago this month following his brief passages through Tangerine Dream (in which he played drums) and Ash Ra Tempel, launching Schulze’s solo career with one of the definitive works in proto-ambient music.
And a terrifying one, as well: comprised of three movements (”Satz,” in German) that feature eerie, sometimes spacey droning layers of Schulze’s organ, augmented with processed recordings of a classical symphony and, remarkably, NO synthesizers!
Instead, Klaus employed a busted amplifier to distort and manipulate the ghastly, yet mesmerizing sounds heard over 23 minutes of “Satz: Ebene,” its petit, discordant cousin “Satz: Gewitter (Energy Rise—Energy Collaps)” [SIC], and another foreboding, 21-minute excursion in “Satz: Exil Sils Maria,” which was literally recorded backwards!
All of these exclamation marks are unavoidable because Schulze’s epic orchestrations of atmospheric organ swells and sound effects (which he himself likened to musique concrète) evoke “WOW!” after “WOW!” and, ultimately, deliver a sonic experience that almost makes Dark Side of the Moon sound like child’s play!
There’s another exclamation mark, and here comes one more: long live Klaus Schulze!
* Full title: Irrlicht: Quadrophonische Symphonie für Orchester und E-Maschinen, which translated to English means: Will o’ the Wisp: Quadraphonic Symphony for Orchestra and Electronic Machines.
More Electronic Music: ABC’s How to be a … Zillionaire!, A-Ha’s Hunting High and Low, Alphaville’s Forever Young, Caterina Barbieri's Myuthafoo, David Bowie’s Low, Depeche Mode’s The Singles 81 -> 85, Devo's Freedom of Choice, Brian Eno’s Another Green World, Kraftwerk's The Man-Machine, Klaus Nomi’s Klaus Nomi, Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, Pet Shop Boys’ Please, Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s Flaunt It, Suicide’s Suicide, Tangerine Dream's Rubycon, Tears for Fears’ Songs from the Big Chair, Ultravox’s The Collection, Yves Tumor's Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume, Zero 7’s Simple Things.
