RIP Klaus Schulze

KS was a big deal for me, what you might call a foundation and irreducible ground state for what has been a life long interest in electronic music. It took me 10 years of running through all sorts of genres before I discovered him on NPR's 'Hearts of Space,' a program that hit the air waves the same year I was born, and that has always had his works on frequent rotation.

What I was looking for that I found with KS was that unique kosmiche thing. 60+ minute one album tracks mixed with sweeping analog pads, medieval voices, and sparkling arpeggios in reflective, minor keys, but percussive and moving. It's never about destination, just a river that flows. You can tell he just started playing, the end of his tracks rarely fade out gracefully, sometimes just cutting abruptly like Dream Theater's 'Pull Me Under." I guess that is how one gets to sixty albums.

For whatever reason, I come back to one track a lot, and with the title 'The Rhodes Elegy' it is appropriate. It starts out with the minimalism of Brian Eno's Neroli but introduces an oboe that gives it a sophisticated longing, much in the way of the also excellent 'Adagio for a Gentleman' by Patrick O'Hearn, another beauty that submerges itself in nostalgic contemplation, like the old remembering youth.

Anyway, I will miss Klaus Schulze.