Here's another record on Klaus Schulze's Innovative Communication label, which I mentioned three weeks ago. I think I saw this while I was living in Munich in 1983, but didn't buy it until I was back in Surrey later that summer. I haven't listened to it for years and it sounds pretty good (like a lot of early IC records, it's an LP, over 36 minutes long, but plays at 45 rpm, and the sound reproduction is excellent). Side 2 really impressed me. Schulze mixed and produced the album, and you can hear his influence on the drum sound. This is a prime example of the kind of layered electronica that was coming out of Germany in the late 70s and early 80s — a period that seems to have slipped from view as the technology has moved on.
Update, 31st January 2011
Somehow I failed to record, and forgot, that I'd already featured this album. By the time I realised this mistake, I'd already written 90% of what follows. A quite different perspective, four and a bit years later:
I was getting ready to say that, like Magic Hour, Robert Schröder had dropped off the radar. Then I came across this translation of German Wikipedia and saw that nothing could be further from the truth: aside from a brief hiatus a decade or so ago, Herr Schröder/Schroeder has remained prolific over a 30-year period.
In truth, I don't think he was ever on the radar in this country. I don't remember ever seeing his albums reviewed, and, if he plays live at all, he hasn't played here (as far as I can tell). I came across him because, a few years after this album came out, I was exploring everything I could find that was connected to Klaus Schulze. Floating Music was the first release on Klaus's IC (Innovative Communications) label. Unlike Popol Vuh's Sei Still…, however, I got this not in Munich but back in Blighty — £6.49 from Our Price, a premium price for an import.
According to his MySpace Schröder got to meet Schulze by asking him to be godfather to his son. In his sleeve notes, Schulze is gracious enough to say that he likes Floating Music. One would imagine that most label proprietors start by releasing something they like, nicht war? Actually he says "Es gefällt mir", which the English translation renders as "I like it". Sadly es gefällt mir nicht so sehr. The problem is that it sounds like it would sink, not float.
Discogs entry for this album MusicBrainz entry for this album
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