― Tim Stewart, Thursday, 15 May 2003 16:32 (twenty years ago) link
― robin (robin), Thursday, 15 May 2003 16:55 (twenty years ago) link
― Curt (cgould), Thursday, 15 May 2003 17:49 (twenty years ago) link
― direct_program, Thursday, 15 May 2003 18:13 (twenty years ago) link
US is insanely dudtastic.
― Mike Taylor (mjt), Thursday, 15 May 2003 22:25 (twenty years ago) link
― Chip Morningstar (bob), Thursday, 15 May 2003 22:41 (twenty years ago) link
In hindsight, both of those labels turned into monsters. I will stick up for the two records that turned me on to CCO. Tides by Arovane has not dated well and was a harbinger of the lukewarm IDM-hop that CCO would promote. At the time it I saw it as a way out for the tyranny of the predictable that 4/4 floor tracks were becoming. It was a massive technical step up from the work he was doing for DIN (even if I like Atol Scrap and his EP's better than Tides.)
The record he did with Phonem for Vertical Form was a letdown, and I really have not investigated his work any further. Oddly enough, I totally disliked the early Phonem material, but he has really come into his own in the last few years. A friend of mine played a recent LP on Morr and I was pleasantly surprised.
The other was Christian Kleine, who would also go on to disappoint me as well. The Minus Time/Quadringa 7" he did for CCO is one of my favorite records of all time. It is a shame that the Hermann and Kleine material and his solo albums never lived up to the glory of that first single. He has released good material, but the quality is very uneven. You need to put more than one good track on your album if you want any of my record money.
― Mike Taylor (mjt), Thursday, 15 May 2003 23:02 (twenty years ago) link
― keith (keithmcl), Friday, 16 May 2003 00:03 (twenty years ago) link
― Tim Stewart (Tim Stewart), Friday, 16 May 2003 01:38 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.city-centre-offices.de/http://www.morrmusic.com/
― Xii, Friday, 16 May 2003 06:41 (twenty years ago) link
― Omar (Omar), Friday, 16 May 2003 08:57 (twenty years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 May 2003 09:04 (twenty years ago) link
― Nathan W (Nathan Webb), Friday, 16 May 2003 09:27 (twenty years ago) link
― pulpo, Friday, 16 May 2003 09:38 (twenty years ago) link
― Kim Tortoise, Friday, 16 May 2003 11:14 (twenty years ago) link
― Andy K (Andy K), Friday, 16 May 2003 11:28 (twenty years ago) link
― Kim Tortoise, Friday, 16 May 2003 11:30 (twenty years ago) link
i agree, but can anyone REALLY explain why this is such a crime?
― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 May 2003 11:32 (twenty years ago) link
BoC's last album was painfully dull, imo.
― lizardfister, Friday, 16 May 2003 11:46 (twenty years ago) link
― pulpo, Friday, 16 May 2003 12:03 (twenty years ago) link
i dont get how 'Geogaddi' could be 'duller' than the new Schnauss tho
― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 May 2003 12:40 (twenty years ago) link
ulrich though breathed a bit of lie into the CCO/Morr scene which was getting a bit dull and derivative at the time. none of the artists had moved on in the slightest. he also played a great set at the Big Chill last year despite being some german with dodgy hair and his laptop. BoC live??? Don't be silly.
― lizardfister, Friday, 16 May 2003 14:16 (twenty years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 May 2003 14:38 (twenty years ago) link
artists should do whatever satisfies them, not you ;)
― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 May 2003 14:40 (twenty years ago) link
...and we should feel free to criticise them if we believe they (a) indulge themselves wantonly or (b) do the same old thing time after time. Not that I'm levelling either accusation against the Boards (although I do wonder if they reached their peak with the "Beautiful place" ep), but I don't buy Steve's line as an riposte to Mr Fister's views.
Back on topic. I love Ulrich and I'm a bit bewildered by level of dislike he seems to have attracted here. As far as I'm concerned "Far away trains" may not be particularly groundbreaking, but it's a lovely, lush melodic record and what I've heard of the new one sounds just as good. Then again, I don't pay the slightest bit of attention to hype nor do I blindly shell out money for a record I've not heard, then complain that I've been somehow ripped off.
― Tag (Tag), Friday, 16 May 2003 18:02 (twenty years ago) link
― stolenbus (stolenbus), Friday, 16 May 2003 18:32 (twenty years ago) link
Nothing sounds like BoC, they have a sound all their own, and why they are even in a discussion about cco/morr acts is a mystery. It's like comparing White Stripes to The Strokes.
Sure, there aren't a lot of album on either CCO or Morr that I play with regularity, but if you're expecting any of this type of stuff to be Album of the Year material, you're hoping for a bit much.
A couple fantastic albums I've heard recently are:Digital Jockey - Paradise & FragmentNova June - Ground
― blutroniq (blutroniq), Friday, 16 May 2003 19:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Tag (Tag), Friday, 16 May 2003 19:25 (twenty years ago) link
― keith (keithmcl), Friday, 16 May 2003 23:56 (twenty years ago) link
It's hardly IDM, it's more like MBV or someone but also quite dancey with that little breakbeat in the background. I'd definitely like to hear the album.
― Ronan (Ronan), Saturday, 24 May 2003 17:48 (twenty years ago) link
― Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 25 May 2003 18:25 (twenty years ago) link
― Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 25 May 2003 18:27 (twenty years ago) link
― j0e (j0e), Sunday, 25 May 2003 19:07 (twenty years ago) link
I am surprised that Andy K disagrees with me because I find that our tastes are very similar and that Omar agrees with me because I do not think we have previously agreed on anything ever.
― Mike Taylor (mjt), Sunday, 25 May 2003 20:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Lukas (lukas), Friday, 3 September 2004 20:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― keith m (keithmcl), Friday, 3 September 2004 21:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― Gribowitz (Lynskey), Saturday, 4 September 2004 10:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― chaki, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:01 (sixteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:11 (sixteen years ago) link
― SusanD, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:12 (sixteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:28 (sixteen years ago) link
― fandango, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:30 (sixteen years ago) link
― SusanD, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:38 (sixteen years ago) link
― libcrypt, Saturday, 7 April 2007 18:30 (sixteen years ago) link
― fies, Saturday, 7 April 2007 18:40 (sixteen years ago) link
― libcrypt, Saturday, 7 April 2007 18:59 (sixteen years ago) link
― Bee OK, Saturday, 7 April 2007 19:07 (sixteen years ago) link
― Display Name, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:13 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Sunday, 8 April 2007 02:34 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Sunday, 8 April 2007 02:39 (sixteen years ago) link
― chaki, Sunday, 8 April 2007 05:10 (sixteen years ago) link
― keythkeyth, Sunday, 8 April 2007 16:14 (sixteen years ago) link
I think he's he's awesome! I am really suprised how many people here dislike this kind of thing.
― libcrypt, Sunday, 8 April 2007 19:42 (sixteen years ago) link
― keythkeyth, Sunday, 8 April 2007 22:01 (sixteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 April 2007 23:14 (sixteen years ago) link
― libcrypt, Monday, 9 April 2007 01:49 (sixteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 9 April 2007 01:51 (sixteen years ago) link
― libcrypt, Monday, 9 April 2007 02:04 (sixteen years ago) link
― libcrypt, Monday, 9 April 2007 02:17 (sixteen years ago) link
― chaki, Monday, 9 April 2007 02:22 (sixteen years ago) link
― Curt1s Stephens, Monday, 9 April 2007 04:09 (sixteen years ago) link
― libcrypt, Monday, 9 April 2007 04:20 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 02:55 (sixteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 03:07 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 03:55 (sixteen years ago) link
― f. hazel, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 09:12 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 09:50 (sixteen years ago) link
― SusanD, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 10:06 (sixteen years ago) link
― flowersdie, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 16:02 (sixteen years ago) link
― libcrypt, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 16:07 (sixteen years ago) link
― BATTAGS, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 18:03 (sixteen years ago) link
― flowersdie, Friday, 20 April 2007 12:31 (sixteen years ago) link
― Cameron Octigan, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:37 (sixteen years ago) link
It's much better than that. I love this guy so much. I think I prefer his sound to that of his influences.
― Noodle Vague, Monday, 21 May 2007 21:30 (sixteen years ago) link
A side-by-side song comparison will reveal that he's much farther away from his influences than the haters make him out to be.
― libcrypt, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 02:42 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, yeah, I need to get this. Or I'll be excluded from Sonic Cathedral, they'll never let me in the door again if I can't prove my shoegaze credentials.
― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 10:13 (sixteen years ago) link
The title track of the new one is possibly the most gorgeous thing he's ever done.
― flowersdie, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 11:58 (sixteen years ago) link
^ ^ ^
― rockapads, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 18:29 (sixteen years ago) link
For all the greatness that his current work is -- Herr Schnauss likely ain't hit his zenith yet -- his early work is its yang of yawn. A Schaussophile pal gave me a ton of early rips and boots and I dunno whatall, but it's just kinda formulaic as far as my ears have a say innit. I guess I'm bound to be castigated for saying that by folks who know a lot more about EM than myself, but eh.
― libcrypt, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 04:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Sorry to check some of the posters further up this thread, but how can you dislike this stuff (A Strangely Isolated Place)? There's no way this is anything other than utterly brilliant. EVERY SINGLE FUCKING SONG. I can't decide which one to put on a compilation for my friend, although it's been narrowed down to 'On My Own', 'Letter From Home' or 'Clear Day'.
Early days yet, but this might be top 5 for the decade so far.
― Just got offed, Friday, 8 June 2007 14:47 (sixteen years ago) link
I will have to second that the new album is a total fucking mind-blower. It gets a little too MBV sometimes, but seriously it is just owning me. Warm fuzzies all day long.
I put up an MP3 at PTW: http://www.paperthinwalls.com/singlefile/item?id=846
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Friday, 8 June 2007 14:50 (sixteen years ago) link
It gets a little too MBV sometimes
You're fired.
That said, I think me now looking for the new MBV would be like me looking for 'the new Tolkien' or whatever.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 8 June 2007 14:53 (sixteen years ago) link
If it's a literary masterpiece you're after, you could do worse than reading/re-reading Tristram Shandy. Meanwhile, Ulrich Schnauss, whilst not a master of the crossed-wires feedback storm like Shields (a method that has perhaps a more mysterious, subliminal effect upon the listener), is approximating the dream-pop ideal in a more convincing manner than almost anyone I've ever heard. It mines a different, less kinetic/dancy seam to WFANFC, for instance, but Schnauss' music uses its extended length to reach and then sustain ever-higher plateaux of micro-managed sonic bliss.
― Just got offed, Friday, 8 June 2007 15:02 (sixteen years ago) link
Underwhelmed by the new one - just more of the same, and I think two was enough for me. The vocals don't add enough, in fact there's something about the tone and the processing that makes them sound really insipid.
The "Little 15" mix might be my favourite thing of his.
Louis to what extent do you think that the music that most transports you to plateaux of sonic bliss conforms to a certain style - not genre, but at a lower level. Do you think there might be certain styles of melody or chord progression, say, that intrinsically appeal to you? That there might be other bands engaged in micro-management and all the other things that you're after, but who are working with melodic forms that don't push your buttons?
― ledge, Friday, 8 June 2007 15:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Now THAT'S an interesting question.
― Scik Mouthy, Friday, 8 June 2007 15:22 (sixteen years ago) link
ok i'll give it its own thread...
― ledge, Friday, 8 June 2007 15:23 (sixteen years ago) link
First, to answer your question re: Schnauss,
Ledge, I really do think there might be certain ways of progressing chord structure that appeal to me more than others. The confluence of different chords atop one another is even more interesting; this is what Schnauss does brilliantly. Differently melodic and textural synth lines create sonic richness, and this sonic richness is progressed in a very satisfying manner; the progressions and flow often pertain to a major/minor/suspended chord confusion (there's a method to it I'm sure, but one I can't describe), and this emotional fragility is, I find, highly stimulating for the responsive mind. There might well be other bands engaged in micro-management whose concerns are more rhythmical or minimalist, whom I might like less, but I'd need to hear more. You say you're an Autechre fanboy; they're an act I'd really like to check out.
― Just got offed, Friday, 8 June 2007 15:32 (sixteen years ago) link
WHO MAKES THE NAZIS?
― acrobat, Friday, 8 June 2007 15:33 (sixteen years ago) link
^^ I like it a lot too, mostly because the "Little 15" instrumentation is probably the weakest spot on Music for the Masses and Ulrich's mix makes it fantastic. I wouldn't call it my favorite thing he's done, though.
― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 8 June 2007 17:17 (sixteen years ago) link
I have a really hard time describing his music in terms of emotion. He doesn't do many songs that I feel like I can describe with emotional adjectives. Words like "pretty" even "beautiful" come to mind, but only a few of his tracks get described as "sad" or "joyful".
― rockapads, Friday, 8 June 2007 20:04 (sixteen years ago) link
His music brings to mind sort of a druggy breaking-free-of. I wouldn't call it happy (A Strangely Isolated Place is vaguely a concept record about a breakup and descent into loneliness/ascent to freedom innit), but it does seem like the music itself is a soundtrack to looking around and noticing beauty around you (not to get all LJ about the matter) even if it's not explicitly joyous or emotional. I hesitate to say it's "spiritual" because it's pretty well grounded in convention wrt pop beats/harmonies; there's no real mind-bending going on that I feel happens (intentionally or unintentionally) with certain IDM artists. It's just nice fuzzy warm electronic waves with lots of layers and space.
― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 8 June 2007 20:22 (sixteen years ago) link
It's more than that, Curtis! I find it to be at its best when at its densest, an integrating set of disparate textural layers which interweave and augment simple harmonic patterns with polyphony and minor diminished fifths.
― Just got offed, Friday, 8 June 2007 20:49 (sixteen years ago) link
Also, in all seriousness, I find it to be pretty psychedelic and affecting, although it must be said, I DID receive the album twenty minutes after breaking up w/girlfriend, so the themes you deem as being present were particularly evocative for me.
― Just got offed, Friday, 8 June 2007 20:50 (sixteen years ago) link
Curt1s OTM, esp about it being a druggy breaking-free-of. I find I most get deep into the mindset of this music when I'm stoned, tbh; the layers and the chord changes and the rising and falling, it is like being carried in waves or something. I get a real emotional response from it too, but thats more because of who I am as a person and what *gives* me an emotional response to begin with.
Is the new album out yet? I wasn't sure I liked "Stars" as much as his earlier stuff, and I want to hear the rest.
― Trayce, Friday, 8 June 2007 23:23 (sixteen years ago) link
It took me a LOT of listens, but I've noticed that the methods employed on just about every single track of 'ASIP' aspire towards an identical end. The one (partial) exception, the final track, is (surprisingly) my least favourite. Every song begins with a certain, anticipatory musical pattern, which is then usurped in the 'chorus' by a revelatory, orgasmic one. The music then shifts between the two states before finding terminal bliss in a gorgeous outro that combines both elements. Normally, I'd hate such lack of ideological variation, but Schnauss pulls it off incredibly, every single bloody time. It's a very, very effective musical trick. Trayce's point about 'waves' is very appropriate; each new plateau of musical bliss laps beautifully and seamlessly over the old one. Now, should I applaud the use of this trick, or should I feel angry at having been 'duped'? Well, when it comes down to it, I'll just stick 'On My Own' on again. I mean, that song is inescapably brilliant. Should have been a massive, massive club hit. Wasn't.
― Just got offed, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 01:07 (sixteen years ago) link
WHy would you feel duped by it? He does something that resonates beautifully if you like that kind of thing (and I sure as hell do). "On my Own" stands er... on its own, as it were, by dint of being not at all shoegazy, but yeah I love it too.
― Trayce, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 01:14 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm saying I could feel duped, but I don't, because the quality of the music is so good, and the method is so desirable. It resonates amazingly; I've found it quite difficult to listen to anything else recently because Schnauss has single-handedly turned me into an electro-shoegaze audio junkie. I just...want...more!
On Your Own has some VERY blatant shoegaze derivations. The distorted vocals during the verse! I mean, come ON! The pre-chorus! Above all, the chorus itself, with those high wavering synth tones creating merry havoc in the background! I'll admit that some of the other tracks are probably purer in their shoegazeness (Clear Day is MBV reincarnate), but you can't say that OYO isn't 'at all shoegazey'.
― Just got offed, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 01:19 (sixteen years ago) link
clear day reminds me of seefeel, a kind of driving in a snowstorm song, which i guess eventually leads back to MBV but like schnauss, seefeel clearly bring something else to the table which endures, as demonstrated by the recently rereleased and splendid quique.
i still hear more mark van hoen and global communication on ASIP than MBV, also stuff like the first spacetime continuum album (sea biscuit), but the new album has moments that seem to channel the shimmery guitar you'd hear in early lush records and it works great.
quicksand memory is out now, and apparently the leaked mp3s of goodbye were taken from a version that had more compression than schnauss wanted so the actual CD won't sound the same.
― f. hazel, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 01:38 (sixteen years ago) link
The discussion at the start of this thread is the most interesting, in retrospect, so I'm glad f.hazel and others are bringing it back to something more grounded in electronic roots because frankly I'm getting bored with the Cocteau/MBV invocations. Global Communication is a more deft comparison than I'd guessed. (No, I have not heard anything off the new one yet.)
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 04:00 (sixteen years ago) link
and apparently the leaked mp3s of goodbye were taken from a version that had more compression than schnauss wanted so the actual CD won't sound the same.
Thank god, cos the version of "Stars" Ive heard is horribly amped up and trebly.
― Trayce, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 05:07 (sixteen years ago) link
ASIP is too loud; it clips, which is fucking criminal in a minor-interest artist whose focus is sound.
― Scik Mouthy, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 08:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Creative use of tinny noise: it is time.
― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 09:44 (sixteen years ago) link
'medusa' might be better than anything by any other shoegaze artist ever, and that includes MBV. it is next-level.
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 09:16 (sixteen years ago) link
The new one's noticably quieter and better-mastered than Strangely Isolated Place. Hmmm.
― Scik Mouthy, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 09:18 (sixteen years ago) link
Word.
― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 09:20 (sixteen years ago) link
I wonder if this is on emusic, considering they took ASIP *off* emusic not long after I managed to snaffle it (for some weird reason - label I guess).
― Trayce, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 09:25 (sixteen years ago) link
Whole album is freely downloadable on the BBC collective webpage. You have little idea of how happy this makes me (even if I am just listening to Medusa over and over again).
I mean, the song itself...it's got about 4 different killer hooks, incredible sound, electronic bleeps to die for, an amazing Orbital-esque organ noise, progression, build, and suspense, pianos, and something that resembles a heavily-treated guitar solo. Oh, and when the final section with the three-note keyboard fanfare breaks through, the emotional plane is warped 90 degrees into something not just foreboding but totally victorious.
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 09:28 (sixteen years ago) link
HERE
Bugger, it isn't on emusic
xpost oooh. AWESOME! Thanks L!
― Trayce, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 09:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Ah fuck, RAM files, I dont have the RM player. Grr.
― Trayce, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 09:31 (sixteen years ago) link
download realplayer for systems thinking results, PLANK wmp cannot operate under PRESSURE
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 09:33 (sixteen years ago) link
I doan wanna stream it though I want a copy! How to shot. Maybe is available at shops.
― Trayce, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 09:59 (sixteen years ago) link
God the intarwebs have made me lazy. I'm all "oh god, do I have to go to a SHOP to buy this? I am already in my pyjamas!"
― Trayce, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 10:00 (sixteen years ago) link
hahaha, i was looking through the new releases at work monday night and came across this! i forgot it was coming out! then i got pissed off because the manager wouldn't let me buy it after we closed because it was still before midnight. i had put aside the new album of nick drake demos too.
you know what medusa sounds like? CURVE!
― f. hazel, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 10:13 (sixteen years ago) link
how do i shot curve
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 10:15 (sixteen years ago) link
No it doesn't. It's just a bit... "meh". It's nice, but it's not mind-blowing or earthshattering or anything.
And the rest of the album is kind of a let-down by comparison.
― Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 10:16 (sixteen years ago) link
oh like you don't wish every night that ulrich schnauss will do a remix of die like a dog or ten little girls.
― f. hazel, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 10:16 (sixteen years ago) link
both of you!
Curve eh? Hmmm.
― Trayce, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 10:17 (sixteen years ago) link
i like how medusa has the echo-y choir at the end, it will make it easy to segue into the clientele on my super awesome mix tape.
― f. hazel, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 10:19 (sixteen years ago) link
i want ulrich schnauss to remix 'so' by working for a nuclear free city
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 10:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Some of the tones he uses reminds me of soap opera theme songs from the 80s or something.
I don't see how anyone could get super passionate about his older work. I liked Between Us and Them from Far Away Trains, but most of his stuff seems like futuristic elevator music. There's no teeth.
― rockapads, Thursday, 12 July 2007 02:17 (sixteen years ago) link
I first found out about Ulrich Schnauss on boomkat, I believe, and the reviewer had such an orgasm over this album that I had no choice but to seek it out. On paper Ulrich Schnauss is right up my alley, so when I finally tracked down ASIP and sonically it sounded close enough to how it was described, I think I forced myself to be more passionate about it than I really was. Plus I liked the idea of being a fan of something obscure and German :) But what folks above have been said about it being elevator music is probably what I've felt to a degree since the beginning. I think it'd be a perfect choice for music to play during a slideshow at a wedding or reunion or something, though.
― Wookie Rookie, Friday, 13 July 2007 15:17 (sixteen years ago) link
I could see that might be true of the first album, but ASIP and the new one work so well when cranked up. It's music that's 'designed' to be played really loud, I think. It's sounded really good whenever I've played bits of ASIP (On My Own in particular, and Medusa too, I suspect) in clubs.
― flowersdie, Friday, 13 July 2007 15:25 (sixteen years ago) link
You people.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 13 July 2007 15:26 (sixteen years ago) link
You love it.
― flowersdie, Friday, 13 July 2007 15:40 (sixteen years ago) link
Actually I've been thinking about shoegaze and electronic variants in general lately and for me the form isn't about surprise but comfort food. As a result it's not going to give me anything revelatory anytime soon -- hoping for 'the new MBV' in my brain is a bit like an earlier version of me hoping for 'the new Tolkien.' Ain't gonna happen, both because of the specific circumstances of its creation and also how my own interests and foci have shifted. Perhaps extending the cooking metaphor a bit but the creation of a really good dish (for instance a new tomato soup recipe I tried last night) has more of an immediate emotional hold on my brain right now than chasing after another sonic revelation, partially because there's more room for honest surprise. (On this level I'm kinda glad for my piece on Loveless in Marooned in that it is a good summation of things for now, not a final word per se but I don't think I need to actively consider a lot of what's talked in there at present -- the future may yet bring a reconsideration, but Schnauss isn't the one to do it for me anymore than M83 was.)
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 13 July 2007 15:46 (sixteen years ago) link
Everything I though that Ulrich Schnauss was gonna be and wasn't, A Sunny Day In Glasgow turned out to be.
It's weird that. People describe bands to me, and I get this idea in my head of what they should sound like, and then they just don't. And then a few years later, another band comes along that sounds just like that mental picture in my head.
― Klaus M. Flanger, Friday, 13 July 2007 15:48 (sixteen years ago) link
I was just listening to this via the Realplayer BBC link, and Shine started up with this lovely little gamelan style intro, and I thought "hey, what an unusual and interesting departure". Then this guy with a boring voice started singing over the top, then the gamelan faded and the standard Schnaussisms started up and I was disappointed.
Then I realised the gamelan was from iTunes which had been playing in the background... :( or maybe :)
― ledge, Sunday, 15 July 2007 10:32 (sixteen years ago) link
It's sounded really good whenever I've played bits of ASIP (On My Own in particular, and Medusa too, I suspect) in clubs.
His two best songs, and the direction I sincerely hope he goes in. You have no idea how much I want this kind of sound and production in dance music.
― Just got offed, Sunday, 15 July 2007 10:38 (sixteen years ago) link
You have no idea how much I want gamelan sound and production in dance music.
― ledge, Sunday, 15 July 2007 10:41 (sixteen years ago) link
that would also be good, maybe we should collaborate
― Just got offed, Sunday, 15 July 2007 10:44 (sixteen years ago) link
Ok let me first go on a five year fully immersive retreat to Indonesia in order to truly understand my source material.
― ledge, Sunday, 15 July 2007 10:47 (sixteen years ago) link
after which time you will have renounced all cultural 'entertainment', very sneaky. take a portable disco, however, and you have my blessing.
― Just got offed, Sunday, 15 July 2007 10:50 (sixteen years ago) link
I don't understand why people find Ulrich's stuff boring ;_;
I've been listening to "Goodbye" a lot since it came out and it is just gorgeous. "Shine" is just so uplifting and beautiful, like Slowdive, like taking off in a plane, like a high.
― Trayce, Thursday, 26 July 2007 04:50 (sixteen years ago) link
Because he more or less has a one-trick-pony thing going on. It's a good one, but I can see how it'd get predictable.
― Curt1s Stephens, Thursday, 26 July 2007 14:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Which is why tracks like 'Medusa' are his best, because they take his one trick and add unexpected curveballs to it. I sincerely hope he takes his music into a more dance-oriented format now. Either that, or he goes all progressive on us. :-D
― Just got offed, Thursday, 26 July 2007 14:05 (sixteen years ago) link
I think "Stars" is the best thing he's done so far, it's the perfection of his current formula & takes it to a new level of intensity. But I dunno if I'd be quite satisfied with another album of sugar-crystal drum machines and all-consuming synth washes and predictable dynamics. Dude has a great ear, so hopefully he'll move onto something different next album and it'll be fantastic.
― Curt1s Stephens, Thursday, 26 July 2007 17:30 (sixteen years ago) link
If he goes too far in that Kraftwerky Medusa direction I am not so sure I'd like it. But who's to say.
― Trayce, Friday, 27 July 2007 00:38 (sixteen years ago) link
listening to this album loud on fancy speakers is pretty amazing. it has so much depth! bits of lush, xymox, vangelis floating up and receding... i absolutely love it.
― f. hazel, Friday, 27 July 2007 07:01 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm still angry that the title-track "Goodbye" kicks off with just about the most killer chord-progression imaginable, keeps it up for two or three minutes, but then devolves into crass, substanceless emotional manipulation during the outro. He could have done so much more with that track.
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 15:31 (sixteen years ago) link
Medusa (album version) might, objectively, be the song of 2007, even though I have a couple of personal preferences above it. It's absolutely unfuckable-with.
― Just got offed, Sunday, 23 December 2007 22:17 (sixteen years ago) link
No such thing as objectivity, dude.
― Scik Mouthy, Tuesday, 25 December 2007 10:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Dammit you have a point. There's a meaning I'm searching for. This song, then, appeals to me as a construction, as a work of art, more than any other, even if I get a bigger personal reaction out of a few others.
― Just got offed, Tuesday, 25 December 2007 15:24 (sixteen years ago) link
Formalist!
― Scik Mouthy, Wednesday, 26 December 2007 16:18 (sixteen years ago) link
"the formalist Geir"
Well, riffing on a certain theme has done certain posters no harm. You're compression, Geir's melody, I can be formalism! Not that I really want to be squeezed into a box but hey, what can you do?
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 26 December 2007 16:30 (sixteen years ago) link
"Stars" is properly awesome, yeah!
Medusa>>On My Own>>Clear Day>>Stars>>the rest of ASIP>>the rest of Goodbye
― Just got offed, Monday, 31 December 2007 00:01 (sixteen years ago) link
lol early 2007 me
― Curt1s Stephens, Monday, 31 December 2007 00:34 (sixteen years ago) link
not to get all LJ about the matter
― Just got offed, Monday, 31 December 2007 00:39 (sixteen years ago) link
There was a thread at the end of '03 where everyone was asked to recommend a single track to download from an album they felt deserved more attention. I picked "Blumenthal" from ASIP, and I still think it's my favorite song off any of his albums. Don't know if it's a bias I have for all things Cocteau (it can't be, I love shoegaze just as much), but that track is just perfect to me. The second and third chorus repeats still light me up after hundreds of listens.
― turkey, Monday, 31 December 2007 06:55 (sixteen years ago) link
Had 'In all the Wrong Places' on a loop for the last hour.
Am I A) Depressed B) On Crack C) Pissed D) Mentally ill E) In love with the song
It's actually all eight!
When it pulses at around three minutes - search it you music loving freaks
― Fer Ark, Saturday, 8 March 2008 01:28 (sixteen years ago) link
Congratulations, "On My Own", you just became the first song in my iTunes collection to make it to 100 completed plays!!! :D
― Just got offed, Friday, 4 July 2008 20:46 (fifteen years ago) link
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^quite possibly, song of the fucking decade
Mark my words, A Strangely Isolated Place will be understood as the seminal work of absolute genius that it is perhaps 10-15 years from now.― libcrypt, Saturday, 7 April 2007 18:30 (1 year ago)
― libcrypt, Saturday, 7 April 2007 18:30 (1 year ago)
this post basically justifies everything libcrypt has said or done on ILX
― I want sprinkles (country matters), Tuesday, 24 February 2009 01:00 (fifteen years ago) link
Imagine ASIP *with* Stars, Medusa and Goodbye on it
just imagine
oh shit
― I want sprinkles (country matters), Tuesday, 24 February 2009 01:07 (fifteen years ago) link
ok, have created a playlist
it is ASIP in its entirety with "Stars" inserted after "Letter From Home" and "Medusa" inserted after "Blumenthal"
"Goodbye" couldn't be included thanks to time constraints, and although I was tempted to sub it in for "Monday - Paracetamol", this would have damaged the album's flow, and created sequencing issues near the end, and besides it's not THAT brilliant, so it stayed off
it is a musical monolith
not that ASIP isn't anyway
― I want sprinkles (country matters), Tuesday, 24 February 2009 01:37 (fifteen years ago) link
hmm but I'm having second thoughts now. "Monday - Paracetamol" is the pretty, slightly Xanaxed de-stresser which soothes the listener's brain after the sheer emotional wrangle of "Letter From Home"...shoving a flat-out shoegaze pop song, even a totally brilliant one, in between kinda ruins the flow
am less concerned with "Medusa"'s position, but some things are probably best left as they were intended. as a last resort i'm pushing "Stars" up between "On My Own" and "Letter". but deep down, I know that ASIP's perfectly-sequenced entirety rules supreme
anyway I'm Bimbling, time for bed
― I want sprinkles (country matters), Tuesday, 24 February 2009 01:45 (fifteen years ago) link
You know, I've really gone off this guy, which is odd.
Kind of like eating too many lollies. Very awesome, but made me sick on the gorging too quick.
― one art, please (Trayce), Tuesday, 24 February 2009 02:32 (fifteen years ago) link
I think "Goodbye" is like the best song ever written ever whenever I listen to it.
― f. hazel, Tuesday, 24 February 2009 06:04 (fifteen years ago) link
It took me a long time to love Goodbye (the album) compared to his first two and bits of it still never get anything but skipped, especially the godawful Shine. The good tracks are up there with his very best though, esp. Goodbye, Never Be The Same and Medusa.
Any love here for the Guthrie remixes on the Quicksand Memory ep? I like the way that he tries to outgun Ulrich's wall of synths with his own wall of guitars and very nearly succeeds.
Assuming he's working on some new stuff it would be good to hear him step back a bit from the more-is-more approach of Goodbye and revisit the simplicity of ...Trains.
― Bill A, Tuesday, 24 February 2009 09:44 (fifteen years ago) link
Used to like, but started hating once he became, well, OMNIPRESENT.
I think that the three most PH34RED words in the nu-gaze canon are:
ULRICH. SCHNAUSS. REMIX.
This should be my perfect music, synthesis of shoegaze textures and ambient Germanic electronica, but it just leaves me cold. He just seems to drain the life out of things. Too much midrange.
― Baby, Your Phasing Is Bad (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 24 February 2009 11:02 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm not a stan of his remixes in general, and I can see where you are with the midrange crit, but his takes on Justin Robertson and I'm Not A Gun are both awesome.
My main worry with ol' Uli is that he's painted himself into a bit of a corner with this maximalism approach ("more tracks! all playing at once! sonic cathedrals!") and it's at odds with the unshowy melodicism of his earlier stuff.
― Bill A, Tuesday, 24 February 2009 11:14 (fifteen years ago) link
I found him OK on record, but seeing him live twice kind of made me dislike him... not for the side-on staring at laptop with no audience engagement thing, but just because, y'know, does this guy have anything not found on the cutting room floor after BoC remixed Slag Boom van Loon?
(though first time live was as somewhat inappropriate support for Stars of the Lid in an aggravatingly crammed-with-chatterers Dublin pub where we got stuck right at the top of the stairs to the bar and were constantly elbowed, and second time was in the middle of an all-day nu-gaze snoozefest where every band looked awesome on paper and yet managed to bore me to tears by the sheer sameyness, so, you know)
― a passing spacecadet, Tuesday, 24 February 2009 11:21 (fifteen years ago) link
I tend to prefer him live - UNLESS that twat from Longview is singing in which case KILL KILL KILL.
― Baby, Your Phasing Is Bad (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 24 February 2009 11:30 (fifteen years ago) link
Seems that Ulrich and his label(s) are now suing Guns n' Roses over samples lifted on for the intro of Riad N' The Bedouins:
Rolling Stone's report
The article seems fundamentally wrongheaded to me; if you listen to the tracks in question and then the GnR song it's 100% obvious that they've used samples of them. The samples aren't in anything but the intro (and certainly doesn't form the body of the song), but if they've not cleared this then surely it's illegal? And bloody stupid too, given how apparent it is.
― Bill A, Friday, 9 October 2009 13:06 (fourteen years ago) link
Agreed! It's not like Chinese Democracy was a haste job either :)
― young depardieu looming out of void in hour of profound triumph (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 9 October 2009 13:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Rolling Stone's reporter having cloth ears shock.
― go in go hard brother (Billy Dods), Friday, 9 October 2009 13:18 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't know guys, the first thing I thought when I heard Chinese Democracy was "shit, Axl has been listening to loads of Ulrich Schnauss, hasn't he?".
― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 9 October 2009 13:19 (fourteen years ago) link
I just found out about this. Way to keep it a secret, guys!
http://blog.pedigreecuts.com/?p=294
We are proud to announce that this magnificent album, the fruit of a collaboration between Ulrich Schnauss and Jonas Munk is now available to our agents via Harvest Media. This stunning 14 track foray into the world of the emotive and uplifting has already started gathering interest and reactions worldwide. A big thanks to Ulrich & Jonas for their efforts and to everyone else involved in this project.
PED A010 – Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk – “Epic” is available now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ulrich and Manual? Damn. Has anyone heard it?
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 10:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Wow, "Chasing Rainbows" streaming on that link above is *immense*. Never heard of this before, and by the look of it they are not even definitely releasing it for sale = insane.
― Bill A, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 11:40 (thirteen years ago) link
http://astrangelyisolatedplace.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/ulrich-schnauss-jonas-munk/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk552H2SUKY
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 11:52 (thirteen years ago) link
Wow, Chasing Rainbows doesn't actually suck! I know that's damning with faint praise, I'm surprised to find I like it. I just wish they'd turn that endless Ulrich-verb down a bit.
― Fantasia, having a party is NOT my idea of a fantasy (Masonic Boom), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 12:05 (thirteen years ago) link
Actually just discovered that if you scroll through the album covers up in the header like you would in iTunes, and get to the Schnauss & Munk album, you can stream the entire thing.
http://blog.pedigreecuts.com/?cat=16
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 12:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Hint: go to your left.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 12:14 (thirteen years ago) link
mmm
― exit through the (Tape Store), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 12:15 (thirteen years ago) link
v good job JF. This will be the soundtrack to this morning!
― exit through the (Tape Store), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 12:17 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/08/engineers-return-in-praise-of-more/
:D
― let it sb (acoleuthic), Thursday, 5 August 2010 17:05 (thirteen years ago) link
hubba hubba.
― Johnelle Fevráe (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 5 August 2010 17:06 (thirteen years ago) link
did I hear SHOEGAZE SUPERGROUP
― let it sb (acoleuthic), Thursday, 5 August 2010 17:08 (thirteen years ago) link
this is bigger than Kevin Shields, bigger than religion
― let it sb (acoleuthic), Thursday, 5 August 2010 17:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Wow. I never did get around to that second Engineers album since I never saw it any shops. Worth looking into?
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 5 August 2010 17:10 (thirteen years ago) link
yes, it's better than the first one
― let it sb (acoleuthic), Thursday, 5 August 2010 17:12 (thirteen years ago) link
It's as good as the first one was bad. (This doesn't include the first ep, which was quite good in its own right.)
― Johnelle Fevráe (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 5 August 2010 17:12 (thirteen years ago) link
it contains this for a start
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esuEMkGiU8s
― let it sb (acoleuthic), Thursday, 5 August 2010 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Okay, you've convinced me to track it down.
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 5 August 2010 17:21 (thirteen years ago) link
dear school of seven bells street team, your record's good but if I were you I'd be QUAKING IN YOUR BOOTS come the 2010 Shoegaze Album Of The Year award ceremony
― let it sb (acoleuthic), Thursday, 5 August 2010 17:24 (thirteen years ago) link
"sirocco" off this new schnauss/munk album is....... really good
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Friday, 6 August 2010 11:57 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, that album has surprised me by how good it is - on first listen it seemed a bit low-key, but Munk seems to have tamed the needles-in-the-red tendencies of Uli's last album and I've enjoyed it more with every play. My favourite Schnauss has always been Trains... and this feels like he's rediscovered some of the unfussy melodicism that he used so well there.
― Bill A, Friday, 6 August 2010 17:02 (thirteen years ago) link
better than school of seven bells? that is setting the bar pretty low.
― keythhtyek, Friday, 6 August 2010 21:45 (thirteen years ago) link
I think it might be safe to post on this thread now LJ has gone?
Anyway, a YEAR later, I am finally getting around to listening to the Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk album. (I was actually looking for the Robin Guthrie remix of On My Own and this popped up in Spotify, don't ask why.)
Shock, horror, I actually quite like it. I'm not sure if this is because of the beautiful sweeping guitar soundscapes - or because I'm feeling a lot more tolerant towards Schnaussy now I'm not tripping over him every damn week at Sonic Cathedral. (also, finally, he has dumped that pompous twat from Longview and got in a decent collaborator, which definitely helps.)
― Aphex Twin … in my vagina? (Karen D. Tregaskin), Monday, 22 August 2011 10:45 (twelve years ago) link
I just checked out that Robin Guthrie remix...he still has the goods!!
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Don Nots (Mount Cleaners), Saturday, 8 October 2011 16:13 (twelve years ago) link
New Schnauss collaboration with Mark Peters from Engineers sounds like it will be fantastic. The couple of songs Ive heard really break away from his syrupy shoegaze and are closer to JMJarre/Krafwerk in ambience.
BUT IT ISNT AVAILABLE ANYWHERE DIGITALLY. Only on CD/vinyl. I wanna listen to it now and I dont want to pyrat it :(
― zooey bechamel (Trayce), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 22:51 (twelve years ago) link
But meantime, some tracks from it are on YT:
Gift Horse's Mouthhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuEVOJIhM98
Rosen im Ashphalt:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENbbqMl9J4M&feature=related
― zooey bechamel (Trayce), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 22:52 (twelve years ago) link
Pitchfork razzed the new album, but I think the basis of the criticism is nonsense, so I'm disregarding it. Of course I'm a big fan of Enya, too. Anyone heard it yet?
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 11 February 2013 16:56 (eleven years ago) link
i like the last one w/mark peters a lot, though jessica harvell didn't
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Monday, 11 February 2013 20:41 (eleven years ago) link
I truly cannot make sense of the "begs for a riskier approach" thing that the Pitchfork reviewers are fixated on. I haven't heard the Mark Peters collaboration, but Goodbye and the "album" with Jonas Munk were each an improvement over his previous releases.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 11 February 2013 22:06 (eleven years ago) link
Coming to the new one as a long-time fan, I'd say there's lots to recommend it - def. better than Goodbye and it *does* feel like he's trying to do something a bit different, he's certainly got some new gear since his last solo release. Heavy rotation on the title track, the splendidly mid-tempo "Like a Ghost in Your Life" (the snaking melody line on this is vintage Ulrich) and all last week I was hammering "I Take Comfort in Your Ignorance" - the latter has an ace remix by Tycho just out too.
― that mustardless plate (Bill A), Thursday, 14 February 2013 15:21 (eleven years ago) link
so i'm see Ulrich Schnauss Sunday Night at the world famous Troubadour in West Hollywood. wow, last time i went there i saw Sonic Boom's E.A.R. and meet Timothy Leary (true story) so it has been a few years. so what can i expect is he any good live, has anyone seen him recently?
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 14 August 2013 01:23 (ten years ago) link
see seeing
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 14 August 2013 01:31 (ten years ago) link
saw him a few years back, and it was pretty interesting... he's got some kind of device that triggers samples and laptops and keyboards, and while your recognize parts of stuff that he does, it's like he is kind of mixing it live? it was fun to dance to, and had good energy.
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Wednesday, 14 August 2013 02:25 (ten years ago) link
anyone else seen him? starting to get excited about seeing a show again. it's like two in two months, reminds me of the old days where i saw shows all the time.
― Bee OK, Friday, 16 August 2013 01:13 (ten years ago) link
so the show was a lot of fun. he had someone with him on stage that looked like Martin Gore, dressed liked him as well. the visuals were about all you could watch. the music is really beautiful and hearing it that loud was neat. i would not really recommend this show but i had a good time.
there was this goth type of band called Nostalghia that opened. they were really cool as well. know nothing about them but she sounded like Bjork at times and really intense. just looked them up and they are a new band from Los Angeles, will keep an eye on them.
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 03:27 (ten years ago) link
new one is a bit dull so far and he's starting to rip himself off something rotten
― imago, Saturday, 5 November 2016 14:45 (seven years ago) link
title-track is golden and lovely though ^_^
― imago, Saturday, 5 November 2016 15:03 (seven years ago) link
I didn't know there was a 2-disc version of Far Away Trains Passing By, the second disc is just as good as the first one
― frogbs, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:20 (seven years ago) link
I still don't know that album. Sometimes when you get on the train at the supposed leap forward it's hard to track back
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:23 (seven years ago) link
its amusing that the simplest music always seems to be the most polarizing. not that what he's doing is simple-minded or anything, but the music is very overt in what it's trying to do.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:30 (seven years ago) link
it's not like ASIP is particularly obscure in its intentions either!
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:33 (seven years ago) link
nah. but I kinda like it, for that reason. like BOC without the whole "oooooo this is spooky tape music, maybe there's a GHOST in the room!" element
― frogbs, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:36 (seven years ago) link
it's p much direct shoegazing ecstasy, sunny-day melancholy unfiltered
but then i guess there are songs like 'medusa' that could have sparked entire movements of michael bay electronica on their own (but didn't)
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:41 (seven years ago) link
I picked up one of his CDs for a buck at a charity shop and it's really gorgeous
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 13:42 (seven years ago) link
ok I got ASIP now and yeah this is very good, definitely better than Far Away Trains
amazed this man hasn't made a mint in soundtrack work
― frogbs, Monday, 12 June 2017 21:47 (six years ago) link
This reminds me. I bought an album he was involved in recently, played it once, then filed it somewhere. Can't remember who or what it was called though. Shit. Far Away Trains is so good. The rest of his stuff is just rehashing the same feeling. You probably don't need more than 5-10 songs of his to experience the entirety of his range.
― brotherlovesdub, Monday, 12 June 2017 22:20 (six years ago) link
and that was easy to find, thanks Discogs. https://www.discogs.com/Ulrich-Schnauss-Jonas-Munk-Passage/release/9725721 - This is the album. It's decent but not great.
― brotherlovesdub, Monday, 12 June 2017 22:22 (six years ago) link
Something new on his Bandcamp page
Free?
― Hilarity Winner (doo dah), Monday, 12 June 2017 22:24 (six years ago) link
name your price isn't ... well, if you want, I guess, sure.
― Uhura Mazda (lukas), Friday, 16 June 2017 18:04 (six years ago) link
this Synthwave thing is pretty okay
― Uhura Mazda (lukas), Thursday, 27 July 2017 13:08 (six years ago) link