Michael Rother - Süssherz Und Tiefenschärfe (1985) (1994)

On his sixth album, Michael Rother entered deeply into the ambient side of his music. Released in 1985, Suessherz and Tiefenschärfe is the first solid, intentional release of Rother's in the ambient trance realm, even though it wasn't being called that yet. His signature use of synthesizers to texturize spaces and silence with long, looping grooves, his trademark guitar style now slowed to a crawl to wring the maximum atmosphere from every note, and his pacing and hypnotic repetition are all evident. Perhaps the most startling thing about this recording is how much it echoes the earlier intentions of Rother's former band, Kraftwerk, by getting the very sounds that they had been striving for years before and abandoning because they were too warm, too amniotic, too human. The masterpiece track here is the 13-minute "Tiefenschärfe." With bubbling sounds, warm, glissando keyboards, a steady pulse that is mixed into the backdrop of the soundscape, and a purposeful five-note pulsing melody that weaves and loops through the glissandos, drops in seemingly found sounds form the ether, and pushes the beat through the middle so seductively, it's as if the listener is brain dancing and not even aware until she or he is halfway through. There is a slight break in the movement with "Glitzerglanz," a spare, minimal soundscape of keyboard layers without a rhythmic pulse. This small dreamscape is short-lived, however, in that it is followed by the careening Euro-trance of "Rapido," which pits guitars and keyboards against a steady but quickening motorik beat to create the illusion of quickly paced mind travel. The album ends two tracks later with the beautiful ambient soundscape called "Blaues Licht." It's a haunting keyboard drone interwoven with a minimal set of notes covering its frame with grace and elegance; it's almost an electronic hymn. The CD reissue is added to with two excellent tracks from 1994 called "Weserwellen" and "Weltes Land...T. Jurek

320 kB@
124 MB
Genre : Electronic, Ambient, Krautrock
2000mustangs

Tracklist:

01 Süßherz 5:40
02 Tiefenschärfe 13:38
03 Glitzerglanz 4:52
04 Rapido 7:01
05 Daisy 6:37
06 Blaues Licht 5:36
07 Weserwellen 4:55
08 Weites Land 6:05

Michael Rother - Sterntaler (1978) (2007)

Michael Rother - Sterntaler (1978) (2007)

The second solo album from Krautrock legend Michael Rother (Kraftwerk, Harmonia, Neu!) was originally released in 1978. Featuring Jaki Leibzeit of Can on drums and produced by Conny Plank (Kraftwerk, Ash Ra Tempel, Brian Eno, Devo) Sterntaler is wildly ahead of its time. Rother himself handles duties on guitar, syth, piano, bass and more creating transcendent and trance-inducing ambient rock of the highest level. A Krautrock classic that ventures beyond the limitations of its genre into the territory of pioneering electronica. Hugely influential.

Sterntaler marked the beginning of Michael Rother's deep preoccupation with introspective melodies projected outward. Where Flammende Herzen was full of anthemic instrumental rock that was constructed to be just that, Sterntaler is more reflective even if its drive is as insistent and mechanically accurate. Again collaborating with producer Conny Plank and Can's drummer, Jaki Leibzeit, Rother set out with Sterntaler to create true electronic rock music -- even if what he came up with was the first real ambient trance music. Unlike his former bandmates in Kraftwerk and Harmonia who had wholeheartedly embraced electronic music as an end in and of itself, Rother was deeply entrenched in the idea that the entire idea for synthesizers and drum machines was to make rock & roll itself more futuristic. What's so odd about that notion is his method of composition. On the opener, "Sonnenrad," his signature electric guitar sound plays melodies that are almost folk-like in their simplicity over his trademark Motorik percussion and rhythmic churn. On "Blauer-Regen" Leibzeit's cymbals mark the simple chord changes on an introspective ballad filled with the sounds of falling rain cascading down through the guitars. "Stremlinien" and the title track are more hypnotic rock tracks with veritable choruses of guitars all playing the same notes in harmony over a cut-time drumbeat and Leibzeit's percussive embellishments. Keyboards swim through the mix, creating a chords progression -- though it feels like one phrase over and over again -- and Rother concentrates on using a slide guitar to control and advance dynamics in the swirl. This is awesome driving music, perfect maybe for the Autobahn, but certainly for American two-lane blacktops during the first flush of fall...Thom Jurek

320 @
123 MB
Genre : Ambient, Krautrock

Tracklisti:

01. Sonnenrad (6:04)
02. Blauer Regen (3:11)
03. Stromlinien (8:12)
04. Sterntaler (6:47)
05. Fontana Di Luna (6:39)
06. Orchestrion (3:41)
07. Lichter Von Kairo [1993] (6:44)
08. Patagonia Horizont [1993] (6:08)
09. Südseewellen [1993] (Extended Dance Remix) (5:08)