Far East Family Band - Parallel World 1976

Far East Family Band was one of the absolute best psychedelic/prog bands from Japan, while producer Klaus Schultze was (and is) at the top of the electronic krautrock pile. Even with such strong credentials from the outset, this album is more than the sum of its parts. The two musical forces meld perfectly, with the best parts of their musical identities at the forefront without obscuring the other. Parallel World is how every collaboration would go down in a perfect world (a perfect world that is parallel to ours I would suppose).

Klaus Shulze - Cyborg (1973)

Studio Album, released in 1973

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

Review by philippe
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Content Development & Krautrock Team

5 stars "Cyborg" is a seminal work in abstract experimental electronic music. The psycho acoustic and hypnotic effects on the listener are incredible. This double album features almost similar electronic equipments used in "Irrlicht" (acoustic strings manipulations, molecular machines, primitive keyboards). This deep meditative and almost supernatural musical adventure starts with a magical linear organic composition led by cello chords, long dronescapes with circular "intergalactic" noises. The atmosphere has something creepy, sad but released within a fragile beauty. The second part begins with an obsessional, cybernetic, industrial accompaniment, floating in a static time. In distance come modulated sounds, giving a macabre accent to the ensemble. Progressively rises monumental synth waves. Beautiful, ethereal electronic loops come from the dark. "Cyborg" second album carries on an imaginative and haunted abstract symphony. The first composition starts with organic powerful "drones" sustained by rising synth lines. The tension goes higher and the composition opens on a church like organ chant. Discreet electronic repetitive rhythms give an other dimension to this unique and unmistakable piece. The last track features an avalanche of electronic loops, effects and accidents, sometimes turning the attention of the listener with mysterious, celestial synthesiser chords. With Irrlicht, this one represents the pick of Schulze's musical creativity. No musical conformism, no definition, just exquisite traumatic dreamscapes.
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Klaus Schulze - Moondawn (1976)

 

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

Review by Chris S
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
5 stars This is as an important electronic progressive release as was Tangerine dream's ' Phaedra'. The version I am reviewing is the Revisted Records release which includes the stunning bonus track ' Floating Sequence'. A variation somewhat of the original first track ' Floating'.The album as a whole delivers perfectly the reason why Krautrock is the home of progressive electronica music. The originators and pioneers. Popol Vuh, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Faust to name a few. ' Floating' and ' Mindphaser' are powerfully structured songs spread over 52 odd minutes. The drumming build ups are excellent and Moondawn has all the necessary ingredients within the electronic genre to justify a masterpiece rating. There are moments on ' Mindphaser' when quite literally you feel like you are being propelled through another dimension. Music is THE drug, you just need the right musician or composer to take you on the journey. Klaus Schulze succeeded on Moondawn. Great reading and overall presentation with this remaster cover and jewel case CD version. A definitve cult album and majestic piece of work from 1976.

Klaus Schulze - Virtual Outback (2002)

'Virtual Outback' first saw the light of day back in the latter half of 2002 and featured as part of the Schulze 5 disc set 'Contemporary Works 2'. Originally the 'Virtual Outback' CD contained just a single extended piece from Klaus lasting some sixty five minutes, with this reissue we are presented with the welcome addition of a mightily rare/limited bonus track, making this album package a must have for most any Klaus Schulze collector. 'Virtual Outback' comes to us in the now de facto gatefolded card slipcase together with an accompanying 16 page full colour booklet. There is a very personal write up from Schulze about the making of the album and of the people he worked with on the recording, together with further words of wisdom from Klaus D. Mueller on the back page footnotes.

Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht (1972) RE-POST

Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht (1972) (2006 SPV BmbH )

Review by John Bush rating 5 stars

Schulze's solo debut is a masterful album featuring some of the most majestic instances of space music ever recorded, all the more remarkable for being recorded without synthesizers. "Satz Gewitter," the first of two tracks and the highlight here, slowly progresses from oscillator static to a series of glowing organ lines, all informed by Schulze's excellent feel for phase effects.

Biography by Jason Ankeny

As both a solo artist and as a member of groups including Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze emerged among the founding fathers of contemporary electronic music, his epic, meditative soundscapes a key influence on the subsequent rise of the new age aesthetic. Born in Berlin on August 4, 1947, Schulze began his performing career during the 1960s, playing guitar, bass and drums in a variety of local bands; by 1969, he was drumming in Tangerine Dream, appearing a year later on their debut LP

Klaus Shulze - Picture Music (1975)

                                Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection
4 stars. If Irrlicht is probably more important historically , because it came out first, Klaus schulze is reaching fast his maturity with this album. Somehow the music is very similar to Tangerine Dream (the group he helped found with Edgar Froese, but left after the first album), but you can also plainly recognize that this album is clearly a Schulze Oeuvre. By this time , the use of sequencers were relatively common (as with Eno , Jarre and Oldfield) but this was still clearly adventurous music.

Stomu Yamashta - Go - Live From Paris (1976)

Extrait from progarchives:

One of the most unrecognized jazz rock masterpiece! /---it was a masterpiece, quite hard to find---/

The music is hard to describe. A mix of smooth atmospheric, Jazz and Rock pages. Very enjoyable music, with cool and easily accessible jazz rock parts, but also with sometimes dark or weird ambiences. Superb production, nice sound with an equal part for each instrument, and a great singer in the person of Steve Winwood. So the question is : Why does this live album had been so wrongly forgotten? It is surprising, knowing that this super group brings together some famous musicians such as Klaus Schultze, Al Di Meola and Michael Shrieve. The fact is that Stomu Yamash'ta doesn't benefit from the same reknown. But considering this dashing effort it is a real shame. Try it out and I bet you will also wonder why!