Category Archives: Avant Garde

MANUEL GOTTSCHING-E2-E4

MANUEL GOTTSCHING-E2-E4 It was late 1981, when Manuel Göttsching returned home after a lengthy tour with Klaus Schulze. The two pioneers of the Berlin School of electronic music had spent much of 1981 touring their latest albums.  Manuel Göttsching’s most recent album was Belle Alliance. This was his fifth solo album, and the fourth to …

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ASHRA-CORRELATIONS COMPLETE BOX SET.

ASHRA-CORRELATIONS COMPLETE BOX SET.  When Manuel Göttsching released Inventions For Electric Guitar in 1975, this was meant to be the start of a new chapter in his career. Inventions For Electric Guitar was meant to be Manuel Göttsching’s debut solo album. Some eagle eyed record buyers weren’t so sure about that. Atop the album cover …

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JODI-POPS DE VANGUARDIA.

JODI-POPS DE VANGUARDIA. Innovator, pioneer and visionary are just three of the words that were used to describe German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. His career spanned six decades and nowadays, he’s regarded as one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th Century. Karlheinz Stockhausen was also one of the pioneers of electronic music, …

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GARY BARTZ-JU JU MAN AND LOVE SONG.

GARY BARTZ-JU JU MAN AND LOVE SONG. By 1976, saxophonist Gary Bartz’s reputation was on the rise.This came as no surprise to those within the jazz community. Already, Gary Bartz had played with some of the biggest names in jazz. Especially before he formed his own band in 1969. Baltimore born Gary Bartz had started …

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JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON-ORPHEE.

JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON-ORPHEE. It was whilst studying languages and literature at university in Reykjavík, that Jóhann Jóhannsson’s musical career began. He was just eighteen when he joined his first indie rock band in 1987. Over the next few years, Jóhann Jóhannsson played with several indie rock bands in Reykjavík’s vibrant and thriving music scene. Little did …

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GANDALF-TO ANOTHER HORIZON AND MAGIC THEATRE.

GANDALF-TO ANOTHER HORIZON AND MAGIC THEATRE.  Nowadays, Gandalf is regarded as one of Austria’s most accomplished, innovative and successful musicians. Gandalf who is a talented multi-instrumentalist, is also one of Austria’s most prolific artists. He has released over thirty albums between 1981 and 2016. That’s despite not releasing his debut album until he was twenty-nine.  …

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SUSANNA-TRIANGLE.

SUSANNA-TRIANGLE. Four years after the release of her previous solo album Wild Dog, Susanna recently returned with her much-anticipated, eleventh album Triangle. It was released on Susanna’s own SusannaSonata label, and is no ordinary album. Not by a long chalk.  Instead, Triangle is a twenty-two song cerebral epic, where Susanna muses and meditates on mortality …

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SVEN GRUNBERG-HINGUS.

SVEN GRUNBERG-HINGUS. From the sixties, right through to the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Eastern Europe was a musical hotbed. The problem was, very few in the West realised this. That, to some extent, this still the case. Most music lovers have yet to discover the music that came out of Eastern Europe during this …

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THE KRAUTROCK AND PROGRESSIVE BOX SET.

THE KRAUTROCK AND PROGRESSIVE BOX SET. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, the late-sixties was the start of a golden age for music. It continued right through the seventies. During this period, some of the most important music ever recorded was released. This included countless classic albums. These classic albums ranged from classic rock, psychedelia, …

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ADELBERT VON DEYEN-NORBORG AND ATMOSPHERE.

ADELBERT VON DEYEN-NORBORG AND ATMOSPHERE. After Adelbert Von Deyen released his debut album Sternzeit on Günter Körber’s Sky Records in 1978, the label became his home for the next nine years. This was the most productive period of Adelbert Von Deyen’s career. His creativity blossomed and he released eight studio albums and one live album. …

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SPACE ROCK: AN INTERSTELLAR TRAVELLER’S GUIDE.

SPACE ROCK: AN INTERSTELLAR TRAVELLER’S GUIDE. Music like fashion is cyclical. One minute a musical genre is hugely popular, the next it falls from grace. That usually, isn’t the end of the story. There’s usually always a resurgence in popularity of that musical genre at a later date. This has been the case with countless  …

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MOTORPSYCHO-ANGELS AND DAEMONS AT PLAY.

MOTORPSYCHO-ANGELS AND DAEMONS AT PLAY. Nowadays, not many bands stay together twenty-seven years. Longevity seems to be a thing of the past in the music business. Sadly, so is releasing an average of an album a year. That was common in the sixties and seventies. Not any more. Very few bands come close to releasing …

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CONRAD SCHNITZLER-FILMMUSIK 1.

CONRAD SCHNITZLER-FILMMUSIK 1. Conrad Schnitzler was, without doubt, one of the most important and influential figures in German music. Having studied under Joseph Beuys, he cofounded the legendary Zodiak Free Arts Lab in Berlin with Hans-Joachim Roedelius.  For next the two years,  the Zodiak Free Arts Lab became one of Berlin’s cultural hubs. Artists and …

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KOLLECTION 06: CLUSTER 1971-1981-COMPILED BY JOHN McENTIRE.

KOLLECTiON 06: CLUSTER 1971-1981-COMPILED BY JOHN McENTIRE. One of the most important, influential and innovative bands in the history of German music were Cluster. Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius formed Cluster in 1971. Previously they had both been members of Kluster since 1969. However, Conrad Schnitzler, the third member of Kluster, left the band in mid-1971. …

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TIM BUCKLEY- LADY, GIVE ME YOUR KEY: THE UNISSUED 1967 SESSIONS.

TIM BUCKLEY- LADY, GIVE ME YOUR KEY: THE UNISSUED 1967 SESSIONS. Having released his eponymous debut album in 1966, Tim Buckley was told by Elektra wanted to record a followup album. Before that, Elektra’s founder Jac Holzman told Tim Buckley he wanted him to record a single. Then the album would follow. This made sense. …

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MIKI YUI-OSCILLA.

MIKI YUI-OSCILLA. There aren’t many people who successfully juggle several different careers. Instead, most people tend to specialise in one thing. Especially when it comes to art. That however, isn’t the case with Japanese artist Miki Yui.  She has successfully combined and cultivated several different careers since her career began in 1998. Since then, the multitalented Miki Yui’s …

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FORASTERO-EL SUBMARINISTA EN EL TEJADO.

FORASTERO-EL SUBMARINISTA EN EL TEJADO. For the last few years, Forastero have been familiar faces on Madrid’s underground jazz scene. It offers alternative venues to the ones that are regularly frequented by the city’s more conservative jazz fans. They’re not quite ready for Forastero’s jazz-punk sound The six members of Forastero take to the stage with …

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SUN RA- SINGLES THE DEFINITIVE 45s COLLECTION.

SUN RA- SINGLES THE DEFINITIVE 45s COLLECTION. Ever since his death in 1993, interest in Sun Ra’s music has grown. That comes as no surprise. He was a fascinating figure, and one of most enigmatic and innovative musicians in the history of music. The man that many referred to as Mr. Mystery  is nowadays regarded …

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(THE MICROCOSM): THE VISIONARY MUSIC OF CONTINENTAL EUROPE, 1970-1986.

(THE MICROCOSM): THE VISIONARY MUSIC OF CONTINENTAL EUROPE, 1970-1986. As the seventies dawned, a new musical movement started to take shape across Europe. This new musical movement continued right through to the mid-eighties. By then, artists from  Germany, Austria, Holland and France were part of this new musical movement. So were artists in Italy, Greece, …

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THE CLUSTER STORY.

THE CLUSTER STORY. The Cluster story began in the Zodiak Free Arts Lab in West Berlin. That’s where Hans-Joachim Roedelius first met Dieter Moebius. Little did they know that they were about to embark upon a musical journey that would last five decades.  During that period, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius were part of three …

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