Photo: Press
Schneider TM has crafted an album from archival sounds made by late , great Conrad Schnitzler as part of the Con-Struct series. The first track, to be released from it, ‘Doozer’, is streaming exclusively on Gigwise below.
As far as band credits in German music go, Conrad Schnitzler is the coolest. He was an early member of Kraut pioneers Tangerine Dream (1967-68), founded Kluster, went on to form Eruption before going solo. Moreover he co-founded the Zodiak Free Arts Lab in West Berlin in 1969, a subculture club which experimental forms of music. Without Conrad Schnitzler’s visionary approach to electronic avant garde there’s no doubt the world would be a duller place.
Sadly, Schnitzler passed away in 2011 but his legacy is going to persevere for generations. One of the brilliant ways in which he can keep giving is that throughout his life, Schnitzler explored the sonic diversity on his synthesizers and documented these exceptional sounds in an archive.
At the start of the 2010 decade musician Jens Strüver was allowed to explore the archive and opted not to remix but to create new composition from the sounds. As the producer of the Con-Struct series, he’s invited different collaborators and produced a series of records already.
This is the first time, though, that Schnieder TM , real name is Dirk Dresselhaus, a musician who started out in indie bands before turning his hand to electronic music in 1997, has been introduced as a collaborator. And what an incredible job he’s done on ‘Doozer’. The way he’s mixed these sounds and the choices of samples from the beautiful source material used are incredible. It has a completely intense, immersive quality and is among the most inspired, arresting electronic compositions we’ve heard in a long time.
Dresselhaus’ positive attitude evidently played a part: “I am very happy and honored to be invited to do an album for the Con-Struct series and wanted to do something special and genuine,” he says in the press release.
His approach gives it a feel that’s very much in line with the free spirit of the Zodiak Club: “I created a musical situation as if we were actually collaborating together in the same room, with Conrad playing his pre-recorded sound-files or modular system and me dubbing and processing it live on the fly… almost as if it was a live-concert situation […] There are no other sounds on this record except for ones created by Schnitzler, sent through my system and processed live.”
Dresselhaus became very involved in the posthumous collaboration and it’s evident he’s still touched by the experience and gives an insight into the emotional experience it entailed: “During the sessions I had the feeling of being in a conversation with him. And when I met his widow, Gisela Schnitzler, she told me that they still talk every evening, more than five years after his death, and that he’s still around for sure. So, Conrad, thanks a lot for this experience!”
A full album of these mind bending compositions will be out physically and digitally from 18 November through exceptional German label Bureau B. We won’t let you forget.
