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Sunday, August 23, 2009

Klaus Schulze : Dig It ( originally released in 1980 ) - ( digital recording 2005 )


In 1969, Klaus Schulze was the drummer of one of the early incarnations of Tangerine Dream ( A German Ellectronic group ) for their debut album Electronic Meditation. In 1970 he left this group to form Ash Ra Tempel with Manuel Göttsching. In 1971, he chose again to leave a newly-formed group after only one album, this time to mount a solo career. In 1972, Schulze released his debut album Irrlicht with organ and a recording of an orchestra filtered almost beyond recognition. Despite the lack of synthesizers, this proto-ambient work is regarded as a milestone in electronic music. The follow up, Cyborg, was similar but added the EMS Synthi A synthesizer.


Since this point, Schulze's career has been most prolific, and he can now claim more than 40 original albums to his name since Irrlicht. Highlights of these include 1976's Moondawn (his first album to feature the Moog modular synthesizer), 1979's Dune, and 1995's double-album In Blue (which featured one long track with electric guitar contributions from his friend Manuel Göttsching of Ash Ra Tempel). Schulze often takes German events as a starting point for his compositions, a notable example being on his 1978 album "X" (the title signifying it was his tenth album), subtitled "Six Musical Biographies", a reference to such notables as Ludwig II of Bavaria, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. His use of the pseudonym Richard Wahnfried is indicative of his interest in Richard Wagner, a clear influence on other albums, such as Timewind.


Throughout the 1970s he followed closely in the footsteps of Tangerine Dream, albeit with far lighter sequencer lines and a more reflective, dreamy edge, not unlike the ambient music of his contemporary Brian Eno. It is to be noted that some of his lighter albums are appreciated by new age music fans, despite the fact that Schulze has always denied connections to this genre.

Klaus Schulze had a more organic sound than other electronic artists of the time. Often he would throw in decidedly non-electronic sounds such as acoustic guitar and a male operatic voice in Blackdance, or a cello in Dune and Trancefer. Schulze developed a Minimoog technique that sounds uncannily like an electric guitar, which is quite impressive in concert.



In the 1980s Schulze moved from analog to digital instruments, and his work accordingly became less experimental and more accessible. Although the switch to purely digital recording and instruments is evident in the style of Dig It (1980) It was not until the release of Trancefer (1981) that the shift in style became evident. Trancefer was far more obviously reliant on sequencers than previous recordings, and the resultant effect transformed Schulze's style from gentle melodic journeys to and ever growing crescendo of music consisting of multi layered rhythmical passages. This is particularly evident in the Trancefer's first track "A few moments after Trancefer", although the second track "Silent Running" is more reminiscent of Schulze's earlier works.

Dig It is the thirteenth album by Klaus Schulze. It was originally released in 1980, and in 2005 was the sixth Schulze album reissued by Revisited Records. It is Schulze's first fully digital recording.



Tracks

1. Death of an Analogue 12:24
2. Weird Caravan 5:15
3. The Looper isn't a Hooker 8:28
4. Synthasy 23:09
5. Esoteric Goody ( Bonus Track )

The official Website
http://www.klaus-schulze.com/

Recorded : May to September 1980 , Hambühren
First Release : 31 October 1980
Performed by : Klaus Schulze & Fred Severloh (drums)
Size : 181 MB
Bitrate : 320

This is the best Ellectronic Progressive Album I' ve ever heard !
It' s a Masterpiece !!!
An Atmosferic journey full of Psychedelic colours and angry soffocated clouds travelling on a purple sky !
The Percussions on track : Death of an Analogue , are Amazing !!!

                                                                 HERE

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