Ulrich Schnauss, Classic or Dud?

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On My Own is an excellent track.

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

Ronan - the album is excellent. It's like a whole 40 minutes of 80s indie synth tracks.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 25 May 2003 18:25 (twenty years ago) link

This is Faraway Trains I'm talking about - not the new one.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 25 May 2003 18:27 (twenty years ago) link

though it has to be said that the new one is aces too

j0e (j0e), Sunday, 25 May 2003 19:07 (twenty years ago) link

One thing that I think is very interesting about this thread is how divided people are on it. It seems very love or deep deep hate. It seems very split, and it is not split along the usual lines of taste that divide ILM.

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

one year passes...
Is it me or is this (Strangly Isolated Place) a very very sad album? I never got that feeling from the first one. This one calls out for handkerchiefs though.

Lukas (lukas), Friday, 3 September 2004 20:31 (nineteen years ago) link

maybe because it sounds more like slowdive?
are the songs on the re-release new songs? or unreleased old songs?


keith m (keithmcl), Friday, 3 September 2004 21:18 (nineteen years ago) link

Hmm - my problem with Schnauss compared to the other Morr/CCO acts is that I find it quite cold compared to the others, "maybe because it sounds like slowdive" probably applies here too.

Gribowitz (Lynskey), Saturday, 4 September 2004 10:56 (nineteen years ago) link

two years pass...
Hey, Ned, you'd like the new album i think.

After laboring for the better part of two years, German electronica artist Ulrich Schnauss has set a July 10 release for his third album, "Goodbye." The 10-track Domino set features vocals on a handful of tracks from prior contributor Judith Beck.

Throughout, the music evokes the best moments of early Lush and My Bloody Valentine, a sound Schnauss obsessed over for months on end. "Sound-wise, I wanted to take the whole layering idea to the next level," he tells Billboard.com. "There's far more stuff happening in these tracks than on the previous two records. It just became really difficult to mix it in the right way. Some of these songs have about 100 tracks playing simultaneously, and I had a lot of trouble getting the balance right."

Schnauss says the Beck-featuring track "Stars" was a particular brain-teaser, "because it has a high dynamic range. It's starts pretty quiet and then gets really loud towards the end. It got a bit out of control."

"Up until last summer, I was really unhappy with this record and really frustrated," he admits. "I almost gave up on it. But in the last five or six months, I got it right, and now I'm very pleased with the results."

Schnauss' prior albums were released in Europe by the tiny German label City Centre Offices, but this time around, "Goodbye" is coming out via Independiente, home to Travis, Gomez and Martina Topley-Bird, among others.

"Last time, I think there was a gap of one year between the European and U.S. releases," he says. "This time, it is almost simultaneous. I'm really happy about it, because I enjoyed those trips to the U.S. and I'm working very closely with a lot of people in the underground scene there with this kind of music. To be honest, I think that scene in America is even more interesting than what's happening in Europe."

Schnauss is presently in the studio with U.K. rock act Long-View, of which he is now a permanent member. But he is planning to tour this summer. "I'm still working on a new, hopefully a bit more interesting live setup, but that's not really finished," he says. "I had a really nice offer to play a small festival in New York in late June, so I'm thinking about using that as the first opportunity to play with a more improvisation-based setup."

"Goodbye" will be teased with the "Quicksand Memory" EP, featuring the new album's "Medusa," a collaboration with Long-View's Rob McVey on "Look at the Sky" and two remixes by the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie.

chaki, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:01 (seventeen years ago) link

See, I like him but don't love him per se -- but I'm happy to give this new one a chance. I did relisten to his remix of "Little 15" by Depeche today and I think that's utterly grand, though.

Ned Raggett, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:11 (seventeen years ago) link

the 2nd album is very good. i could never get into Far Away Trains.

doesnt' feel like idm to me at all. more electronci shoegaze. he really also knows exactlhy what to do and when. very intuitive and also technically skilled right? and its not about surprises really. i would recomm. to Ned as well (all these sentences btw are out of order. too busy to organize it right now)

SusanD, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:12 (seventeen years ago) link

oh well

SusanD, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Hey I may yet be convinced! I like him better than, say, Pluramon.

Ned Raggett, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:28 (seventeen years ago) link

I cannot stand most everything I've heard of his, it makes me feel older just listening to it. Dud to the skies!!

fandango, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:30 (seventeen years ago) link

is it cheesy?

SusanD, Saturday, 7 April 2007 01:38 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

Results 1 - 100 of about 59,300 for "misunderstood genius". (0.17 seconds)
Results 1 - 100 of about 537 for "understood genius". (0.52 seconds)

fies, Saturday, 7 April 2007 18:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Yet another hi-quality ILM zing (tm).

libcrypt, Saturday, 7 April 2007 18:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, new album and I can't wait.

Bee OK, Saturday, 7 April 2007 19:07 (seventeen years ago) link

I completely forgot about all this stuff. I wasted so much money on this crap. IDM=big dud

Seriously, I would have been so much better off if I just stuck with Aphex, Autechre and BOC. Most of the stuff in this genre that was obscure was obscure for a reason. Jega's Geometry was a good record too from what I remember. I sold most of this vinyl off when I moved out of Detroit, I wonder what I would think of it if I could hear it again. I kept my Arovane records on DIN and that was my favorite stuff at the time. In hingsight, even that stuff hasn't aged well. Lukewarm noodly "melodic" faux electro.

This is way more intelligent:
http://www.discogs.com/release/138602

Display Name, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:13 (seventeen years ago) link

I think he's he's awesome! I am really suprised how many people here dislike this kind of thing. Schnauss is one of the few IDM artists I've really taken a shine too *because* he does such pretty melodic shoegazery atmosphere. "Nobody's Home" is really beautiful.

Trayce, Sunday, 8 April 2007 02:34 (seventeen years ago) link

And holy crap I would *love* to hear what Guthrie could do to his work. I gotta hear that.

Trayce, Sunday, 8 April 2007 02:39 (seventeen years ago) link

new album is good. depech-y.

chaki, Sunday, 8 April 2007 05:10 (seventeen years ago) link

wasn't he meant to be working with jonas munk on a record too?

keythkeyth, Sunday, 8 April 2007 16:14 (seventeen years ago) link

I think he's he's awesome! I am really suprised how many people here dislike this kind of thing.


Keep in mind that MBV and Slowdive and shoegaze in general were absolutely savaged in the US rock-crit press (at least) at the time. So maybe you should be less surprised.

libcrypt, Sunday, 8 April 2007 19:42 (seventeen years ago) link

not really. slowdive was mostly ignored. loveless received mostly good to excellent reviews.

keythkeyth, Sunday, 8 April 2007 22:01 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, if anything the 'backlash' as such was classic UK stylee -- in the US, it was more glancing appreciation with Loveless getting the bulk of the attention (deservedly so etc. etc. all my other posts on MBV).

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 April 2007 23:14 (seventeen years ago) link

You guys read Spin or Rolling Stone, didn't you?

libcrypt, Monday, 9 April 2007 01:49 (seventeen years ago) link

RS, yes.

Ned Raggett, Monday, 9 April 2007 01:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Forced Exposure, Conflict, and their ilk really drilled a broadside in anything vaguely shoegazey in the 80s, when they deigned to cover the stuff. Sonic-Youth-ripoffs, see?

libcrypt, Monday, 9 April 2007 02:04 (seventeen years ago) link

The point here being that rock criticism is so frequently off-the-mark as to be patently useless.

libcrypt, Monday, 9 April 2007 02:17 (seventeen years ago) link

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. THIS ALBUM IS PRETTY.

chaki, Monday, 9 April 2007 02:22 (seventeen years ago) link

ASIP is just really fucking beautiful.

Curt1s Stephens, Monday, 9 April 2007 04:09 (seventeen years ago) link

THANKING WITH SLSK GOODBYE, PLACEMENT OF.

libcrypt, Monday, 9 April 2007 04:20 (seventeen years ago) link

So I downloaded "A Strangely Isolated Place" the other day, cause it was something of his I didnt have. OK, now I think this guy is god or something, holy crap this is an AWESOME album. It is absolutely gorgeous, and *exactly* the kind of thing I adore.

Trayce, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 02:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Hm. Maybe I need to hear it again. At the same time I'm really trying to look beyond simply trying to replicate the MBV etc. experience now -- not saying Ulrich Schnauss is per se, but continually chasing after anything obsessively almost stunts one's musical breadth. At the same time so many things have been sold to me as 'oh you're the blissout guy, you'll LOVE this' and after hearing I'm all 'uh, it's all *right*...I guess.' (See also M83.)

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 03:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah I know what you mean to be honest! I wasnt as enamoured with M83 as I thought i'd be for that reason. But honestly, even though there are times on the album where it *completely* sounds like, say, Budd-era cocteau twins, that didn't make me feel like he was aping them. He was taking that feel, that atmosphere, and doing it in his own way. Perhaps its just that it speaks to me, I dunno.

Trayce, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 03:55 (seventeen years ago) link

"a letter from home" is like the most joyful song in the world!

i can't believe MBV gets mentioned in an ulrich schnauss thread before global communication or mark van hoen.

f. hazel, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 09:12 (seventeen years ago) link

I dont even see so much MBV in them as I do Slowdive and the Cocteaus. Well, on ASIP anyway.

Trayce, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 09:50 (seventeen years ago) link

agreed. been wondering if the MBV thing (which i admittendly don't know very well but think i'd recognize the flavor) comes in on other album/songs i don't pay attention to or something.

listening to ASIP now, Monday-Paracetemol is particularly nice.

SusanD, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 10:06 (seventeen years ago) link

I have heard the new Schnauss. It pushes more or less every Ned Raggett button, and is a veritable shoegazing pie. Nice cocteau twins bits all over the place/almost goth in places. He's gone for MBV thing on this one more than the previous albums too.

flowersdie, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 16:02 (sixteen years ago) link

BEST USE OF VOCODER THIS DECAMILLENIUM A++.

libcrypt, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 16:07 (sixteen years ago) link

yep, 'goodbye' is amazing. first track is Lush, second track is Slowdive, pitch-perfect homages.

BATTAGS, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 18:03 (sixteen years ago) link

Third track is Ladytron!

flowersdie, Friday, 20 April 2007 12:31 (sixteen years ago) link

new album is indeed good. not classic, but good background noise.

Cameron Octigan, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:37 (sixteen years ago) link

one month passes...

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

The title track of the new one is possibly the most gorgeous thing he's ever done.

^
^
^

rockapads, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 18:29 (sixteen 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

six months pass...

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

three years pass...

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

four months pass...

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

two months pass...

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

one month passes...

this Synthwave thing is pretty okay

Uhura Mazda (lukas), Thursday, 27 July 2017 13:08 (six years ago) link


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