Klaus Schulze RIP

[twcc]

Klaus Schulze, who has died following a long illness aged 74, was a musical pioneer who was at the epicentre of the movement that became known as Krautrock. His relentless experimentation and freewheeling creativity has exerted a profound influence on electronic music in the decades since.

But he was an all-round musician, and did not worship synthesisers, he insisted: “Please understand that I use these instruments, but they are not a fetish to me.”

Over the decades Schulze made more than 60 albums, several under the name of Richard Wahnfried (which he tended to reserve for his relatively conventional material). Beginning in the mid-1990s, he released a series of albums with Pete Namlook, The Dark Side of the Moog, inspired by the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon. In 2000 he issued a 50-CD retrospective, The Ultimate Edition, and into the 21st century he worked with the Dead Can Dance singer Lisa Gerrard on albums and live dates.

In 2010 he announced his retirement from touring, but continued to record. One of his final projects was collaborating with Hans Zimmer on his compatriot’s Oscar-winning soundtrack to Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the classic Frank Herbert science-fiction novel Dune. His album Deus Arrakis (Arrakis being one of the planets that feature in Dune) is due for release in June.

Klaus Schulze, born August 4 1947, died April 26 2022