Conrad Schnitzler Con Concert LP 1986 electronic

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Conrad Schnitzler Con Concert LP 1986 electronic

From the second pressing on Idiosyncratics of 1,000 copies on black vinyl. Rare and hard to find – available on cd only in a large boxed set.

 Conrad Schnitzler (b. Düsseldorf, 1937) is a prolific German experimental musician. Schnitzler has been a major, though reclusive, figure on the European music scene since the late 1960s. Schnitzler was an early member of Tangerine Dream (1969–1970) and a founder of the band Kluster. He left Kluster in 1971, first working with his group Eruption and then focusing on solo works. He continued to record from his home studio in Dallgow, Germany, creating CD-Rs which he sells independently. Schnitzler has also participated in several collaborations with other electronic musicians. He recorded Acon (2001), a somewhat abstract piece, with former bandmate Hans-Joachim Roedelius. His album with American electronic composer Michael Thomas Roe, Mi.T.-CON 04 (2005), has been compared to his earlier works such as Con/Ballet Statique and Con 3. The Norwegian Black metal band Mayhem has a Schnitzler composition, "Silvester Anfang," on their debut EP, Deathcrush.

Many consider Conrad Schnitzler to be the Grandfather of European Electronic Music. In the late Sixties/early Seventies, it was Schnitzler who convinced Tangerine Dream and Kluster (who would later become "Cluster") to "go electronic", embracing the then-unexplored realm of synthesized sound. Having set those individuals on a new sonic course, Schnitzler went off to pursue a solo career that has lasted over three decades.

During the Eighties, Schnitzler (who has a personal aversion to travel) devised a means for his music to tour without the presence of the musician. Breaking his compositions into individual tracks, he recorded these pieces on separate media (at the time, choosing cassette tapes). When these separate tapes were played in tandem, his music reformed in a manner that would be different each time, depending on start times and the manipulation of the individual components. Through this deconstructive procedure, Schnitzler introduced a freshness to pre-programmed electronic performances.

After innumerable releases (many of which are considered classics of the electronic genre), Schnitzler abandoned conventional and independent record labels during the Nineties, and began to produce limited edition CDRs of his music. These releases are not available in stores, and can only be obtained from the man himself.

The concert starts with dueling layers of electronic bubbling, which are subsequently set upon by cellos and blooping tones, which gradually elongate to establish tension, leading to a passage of celestial ambience. Vibrating rotors rise to vitalize this calm, but a starry-eyed resurgence of ambience occurs, only to give way to contentious tones that squabble over dominance in the music. Their combat results in mesmerizing interplay, generating lively new variations. Keyboards being swatted make an appearance, but a captivating tune develops with glittering notes embellishing an urgently chugging rhythm. This devolves into an exchange of xylophonic melodies. (The music stops here, only briefly, signaling the break between side 1 and 2--remembering that this was originally a vinyl album.) Things resume with crystalline bells and pensive electronic airs which are eventually overwhelmed by piano notes possessing an extreme degree of vibration; these treatments increase, producing a highly dramatic mood. The melody slides into a glassier sound, then gets gritty as ominous tones rise and flex themselves, elbowing aside blooping noises and portentous strains. A haunting edge enters the mix as bell-tones and spooky atmospherics flourish, but inevitably Con's quirky sense of frivolity seeps in and transforms everything into an energized scamper...which reaches quite a frenzy of exuberant pulsations for the concert's conclusion. (© Matt Howarth, cover artist)

 CONDITION:

SLEEVE:  EX+  Still in (opened) shrink wrap.

RECORD:  VG+ to EX—   A couple of visible marks, 2 very minor pressing flaws (inaudible), the odd minor noise; NB: Side two has a repeating soft tick at the beginning and a visible hairline at the end producing a repeating tick. These are, while audible, not distracting enough to ruin the music. However, this is not an archive copy.