Klaus Schulze: The Complete Echoes/Totally Wired Interview Pt.1
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In this Podcast, an Icon of Echoes, an Icon of Electronic Music and an icon period. All three are German electronic composer Klaus Schulze. He left the planet last year on April 26, but from 1969 until that date, he released hundreds of albums and shaped a generation of electronic artists including Steve Roach, Jean-Michel Jarre, Hans Zimmer, and many more. I have an interview with Schulze recorded in 1982 at his home in what was then West Germany. I talked with him for about three hours, and today, we’ll hear part one of that interview.
Klaus Schulze was part of the original genesis of Echoes and was voted as one of the 30 Icons of Echoes. The albums he recorded in the 1970s and early 80s reside at the core of music experiences for myself and the central Echoes staff. Albums like Moondawn, Timewind, X, and more, provided the soundtrack for many an imaginary movie during those years. There was something about the pulsing sequencers, free form, note-bending Moog solos, and spiraling, Escher-like architecture that spoke of a world outside of conventional rock or classical music. I remember synthesist Mark Shreeve of Redshift describing the 1977 album, Mirage as if it had “formed out of thin air, untouched by human hands.” Klaus’s music had that transcendental power, as if it came from somewhere beyond this plane of existence.
Klaus had recorded 16 albums at the time of our first interview, his latest being Trancefer. His only release in America at that point was his 1977 album, Body Love. Instead they were only available as expensive imports which we were happy to search out and pay for.
This interview features Klaus Schulze at the height of his powers as an artist.
FIVE ESSENTIAL KLAUS SCHULZE CDs
X
Mirage
Trancefer
Timewind
Body Love