Klaus Schulze was a pioneer in electronic music. His long, instrumental pieces barely fit on a record side in the 1970s and were an immense influence on later generations of musicians and producers. His epic soundscapes were hard to overestimate for the development of New Age music as well as later ambient house and techno. It was confirmed on Thursday that he passed away earlier this week at the age of 74.
The once revolutionary way in which Schulze, originally a drummer, developed rhythmic concepts with sequencers and built up a tension in his endless pieces, would later become standard among techno producers and DJs. He left the beat out for minutes, if it came at all.
Electronic music as a basis
Dance culture was still a long way off when the 1947 Berlin-born Schulze took his first steps in music in noisy guitar bands like Psy Free. Like many German musicians and bands (Neu!, Can, Kraftwerk), Schulze was not satisfied with imitating American examples in the early 1970s. This generation wanted to develop their own musical language. Schulze chose electronic music as a basis.
Although Schulze played in the then just-started Berlin Tangerine Dream for eight months in 1969 and was involved in the formation of Krautrock band Ash Ra Tempel a year later, he would only really find his way on the solo albums that he released from Irrlicht (1972) released. Especially the three albums timewind (1975)† moondawn (1976) (on which he first used the Moog synthesizer) and Body Love (1977) proved to be decisive for his own oeuvre. The three are still considered pioneering in the development of electronic music.
Slow build-up
With his abstract work, which was darker than that of his equally influential fellow townspeople Tangerine Dream, Schulze struggled to keep the songs within the ideal 20 minutes for album length. He played happily for half an hour until his band was full. That length and slow build-up were exactly what London DJs needed in their chill-out rooms at the end of the 1980s during (acid) house and techno parties.
Schulze’s records from the 1970s partly formed the basis for the early work of The Orb and other ambient house producers. Electronic music came into fashion in the 1990s. Schulze became hip and started collaborating with like-minded people such as the German Pete Namlook, with whom he recorded eleven albums. Under the title The Dark Side of the Moog they electronically adapted Pink Floyd’s work.
Ode to dune
Another collaboration was with singer Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance), with whom he performed in 2009 in the Amsterdam Melkweg. But as a solo artist, Schulze nevertheless delivered his most beautiful work, which also had a major influence on film composers such as Hans Zimmer. Who borrowed for his soundtrack from the movie dune (2021) an unsolicited bass line from Schulze. He was especially honoured; Schulze himself had a ode to dune -author Frank Herbert brought. Schulze’s latest album, Deus Arrikis, will be released posthumously on June 10.