Günter Schickert - Kinder In Der Wildnis (1983)

Ambijentalna Krautrock-hipnoza koja je iskupila grijehe '80-ih.

Reissue of an amazing, late Kraut-rocket mixing echo-laden guitar, electronics and field recordings originally issued on David Elliott aka Pump's YHR tape label, now presented with two previously unreleased bonus tracks. Mesmerising, driving, mind-blowing stuff - do not miss!** "Acclaimed in the Krautrock scene, Gunter Schickert is the most closely associated with the repetitive echoes of his distinctive guitar sound. Following "Samtvogel" (1974) and "Uberfallig" (1979), he released "Kinder in der Wildnes", a collection of songs from the 1981 to 1983 period. The fact that the album appeared at all in 1983 owes less to Schickert and more to Steven and Alan Freeman, who sought him out for their Krautrock encyclopaedia The Crack in the Cosmic Egg. On learning that Schickert had heaps recordings in his archive, the Freeman brothers proposed compiling an album. Schickert agreed and handed over material which the English YHC label had released in cassette form. Kinder in der Wildnis is a more heterogeneous album than either of its predecessors, understandably so, since the pieces it contains are not immediately related to one another. Occasionally (above all on the two bonus tracks—available here for the first time), the influence of Neue Deutsche Welle (German New Wave), virtually omnipresent in that era, may be detected. For the most part, however, Schickert stays true to form and creates layers of hypnotic, filigree echo patterns, frequently accompanied by a dragging beat." - boomkat

The fact that this album appeared at all in 1983 owes less to Günter Schickert and more to Steven and Alan Freeman, who sought him out for their Krautrock encyclopedia The Crack in the Cosmic Egg. On learning that Schickert had heaps of recordings in his archive, the Freeman brothers proposed compiling an album. Schickert agreed and handed over material which the English YHC label had released in cassette form. Kinder in der Wildnis is a more heterogeneous album than either of its predecessors, understandably so, since the pieces it contains are not immediately related to one another. Occasionally (above all, on the two bonus tracks -- available here for the first time), the influence of Neue Deutsche Welle (German new wave), virtually omnipresent in that era, may be detected. For the most part, however, Schickert stays true to form and creates layers of hypnotic, filigree echo patterns, frequently accompanied by a dragging beat.
To add to the atmosphere, he mixed in dummy head recordings made in Kreuzberg on New Year's Eve, 1980. In the following decade he augmented these with corresponding recordings from New Year's Eve, 1990. A rare treat awaits on the title track -- his four year-old daughter can clearly be heard singing the chorus at full pelt. Günter Schickert remains one of the greats of the Krautrock underground. Alongside his solo album work, he was a member of GAM, No Zen, and Ziguri Ego Zoo and composed a wealth of music for theater. He also painted (the drawings in the booklet, for example) and worked as a multimedia artist. His career in music began in the late 1960s, early 1970s in Berlin's legendary Zodiak Free Arts Lab (founded by Konrad Schnitzler and Hans-Joachim Roedelius). Among the similarly creative free spirits he met here was a certain Klaus Schulze, then drumming for Tangerine Dream. He would later join Schulze on tour as a roadie and musician and sometimes looked after Schulze's house when he was on the road. They recorded an album together in 1975 and intended to release it under the title Ich bin zwei Öltanks ("I am two oil tanks"). Alas, it would be another 38 years until it saw the light of day (with the rather more sensible title of The Schulze-Schickert Session). Today, amongst other things, Günter Schickert is back touring with his old band, Ziguri.  - experimedia

This is a crazy, wild and amazing record, make no mistake.
I had a friend once who on meeting I asked (as the stock ice-breaker between men it's usually either football or music) "what music are you into?" He stared at me through his round tinted spectacles, scrunched up his mouth in deep thought and then uttered the legend "Owt German" in his North Lancs drawl. Henceforth I've been rabidly investigating owt German I can wrap my lugs around for the last decade.
So when Bureau B ever have a new salvo of re-issues at the ready they're always at the top of my listening pile. 'Kinder In Der Wildnis' is the best Kraut re-issue this year in my opinion. Definitely the most psychedelic, unhinged, murky, weird and exciting for sure. A contemporary, assistant and collaborator of the likes of Klaus Schultz and a member of the Berlin Free Jazz scene, Mr. Schickert makes some very idiosyncratic, trippy and bizarre music that has to be heard to be believed.
Originally compiled and released on cassette in the UK circa '83 from a backlog of tapes offered to the two compilers of the legendary Krautrock bible 'Crack in the Cosmic Egg', this marvellous album of crazed cosmic rock, hypnotic alien minimalism and transcendental beauty works perfectly as a stand-alone long player or even an introduction to this greatest of eccentric German fringe-players.
Some of the treated guitar work on the earlier tracks here is utterly spellbinding in its magnificence. His background as an engineer is evident as the realisation of ideas throughout quickly becomes just...fascinating! Like the remarkable way things are looped, segued and layered. The fashion in which he stirs in crazy field recordings/samples, lets brass flourishes gently, mingle or distorts his voice to become a muddied echo. As a conclusion to the journey you'll even get a demented psychotic punk-funk style workout. The man defines the term "utterly compulsive listening". Even though this is a relatively lo-fi experimental record it's infused with an incredible rhythmical and tuneful prowess.
'Kinder In Der Wildnis' is tribal in parts, post-punk edgy in others. We're certainly dropped into numerous deeply cosmic or bat-shit psychedelic realms throughout but it's always progressive - there's eternally so much otherworldliness going on you just know you have to go play the thing 2-3 more times in one sitting to capture the full scope of his imagination and intent.
Genuinely a visionary collection from the twisted brain-wrong of a one-off man-mental, I will be chomping at the bit for any more morsels by this wonderful chap. - Norman Records

Überfällig (1979)

"Another gem from the legendary krautrock era: Guenter Schickerts 2nd album. originally released on Sky records in 1979. The music: Psychedelia with a "kosmische" touch, influenced by Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream etc. Lengthy pieces with complex layers of rhythmic-harmonic sequences, expansive echoes and reverberation and extrapolated improvisations. In spite of the clearly discernible influence of music from the so-called Berlin school (Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Temple etc.), Schickert is anything but a copycat. Schickert concentrated on pursuing his own ideas and pushing the boundaries of his remarkable aural creations. He is at pains to emphasize that, unlike almost all of his contemporaries, he did not use any synthesizers; his instruments are the electric guitar, his own studio with a multi-track tape machine and a comfortable arsenal of effects. Similar experiments had also been attempted by Manuel Gottsching ("Inventions For Electric Guitar") and Achim Reichel, but without stretching the multi-faceted nature of their music to the point of microtonality. His own take on minimalism places him closer to the likes of Steve Reich and Glen Branca, free from the reach of Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream. Schickert's use of concrete sounds and his completely autonomous way of working in his own studio presaged a stage of development more readily associated with the early 1980s. In 1979 the album was a statement of a virtuosic outsider, a guitarist and sound sculptor whose musical visions transgressed the level of expectation of a potential audience, detached from the electronic mainstream. Gunter Schickert was one of the protagonists who furthered the development of experimental pop music from the outer margins. The reissue of 'Uberfallig' was, in a word, overdue. - Asmus Tietchens"  -boomkat

Klaus Schulze / Gunter Schickert, The Schulze - Schickert Session (2013)

Beautiful, previously unreleased private home recording of kosmische drifts starring Schulze alongside his roadie and noted early Krautrock guitarist.** "For the first time ever, from the vaults of Klaus Schulze, comes The Schulze-Schickert Session, a rare and previously unreleased private session featuring echo-guitar pioneer, Günter Schickert. Recorded on 26 September 1975 in Klaus Schulze’s home Studio in Hambuehren, Germany, Schulze can be heard playing an EMS Synthi A, as well as keyboards, and a Syntanorma, while Schickert plays a 12-string Framus with metal strings and also sings on a few tracks. Although Schickert’s name is little-known outside of a very select circle of krautrock fans, he was a key member of the Berlin free jazz scene of the 1960s and a pioneer of the echo-guitar. Just prior to the recording of this informal session, Schickert’s first LP, Samtvogel, was released on the seminal Brain label. On the two bonus tracks, found only on both CD versions, Schickert’s playing ebbs, as Schulze takes on the more dominant role."  - boomkat 

Samtvogel (1974) 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FzCsn4TJ70

Gunter Schickert is a German musician born 25th April 1949. He learned to play trumpet in 1962, but taught himself guitar in 1967 and made that his main instrument. In 1971 he started playing free jazz, then in 1973 made his first solo echo-guitar sessions. In 1976 he formed the group GAM with Axel Struk and Michael Leske. There are records that come from the soul. No matter how primitive may be the recording techniques the musician has access to, the soul gets its way to the heart and mind of the listener. Samtvogel is one of those records. Günter Schickert recorded that amazing piece of human greatness in 1974, using the media he had at the time, putting his brain at work to find the best way of taping everything he had to say. 'When I was recording Samtvogel in 1974 I had only two tape recorders. I played one track and while listening I added the second one. And so on. Four times. When I mixed all together I borrowed a third tape recorder. And still added the last track to the master. I had a small mixer with two stereo and one mono but it was possible to pan tracks. No equalization. It all came out of my still living G2000 Dynacord guitar amplifier, of course valve, with no master, even the voice recorded through it. If I made a mistake in 1 track I had to repeat it from the beginning. And if while mixing I was not fast enough in changing the tape I had to start again. So it took me more than 3 months to get ready.' Thanks to these three months of work, between June and September of 1974, Samtvogel was privately issued that same year. It would later be issued on the Brain label, with a small change in the artwork -- titles added to the front cover, which weren't on the original private pressing. Brain also reissued it on the label's Rock on Brain LP series, this time with a completely different sleeve. The album contained two tracks on side one and just one on side two, and its sound has often been compared to the most explorative works of Syd Barret -- however it must be pointed out that Schickert did not need any mind spreading substances to allow his sounds to float out of his mind and soul, they just came out in the most natural way. It will also appeal to fans of the echoed atmospheric guitar work of other krautrock innovators such as Ash Ra Temple, Manuel Götsching or A.R. & The Machines, and some may find on the vocal passages certain resemblances to Damo Suzuki on Can's Tago Mago era."         

"There are records that come from the soul. No matter how primitive may be the recording techniques the musician has access to, the soul gets its way to the heart and mind of the listener. Samtvogel is one of those records. Günter Schickert recorded that amazing piece of human greatness in 1974, using the media he had at the time, putting his brain at work to find the best way of taping everything he had to say. 'When I was recording Samtvogel in 1974 I had only 2 Taperecorders. I played one track and while listening I added the second one. And so on. Four times. When I mixed all together I borrowed a 3rd taperecorder. And still added the last track to the master. I had a small mixer with 2 stereo and 1 mono but it was possible to pan tracks. No equalization. It all came out of my still living G2000 Dynacord guitar amplifier, of course valve, with no master, even the voice recorded through it. If I made a mistake in 1 track I had to repeat it from the beginning. And if while mixing I was not fast enough in changing the tape I had to start again. So it took me more than 3 months to get ready.' Thanks to these three months of work, between June and September of 1974, Samtvogel was privately issued that same year. It would later be issued on the Brain label, with a small change in the artwork -- titles added to the front cover, which weren't on the original private pressing. Brain also reissued it on the label's Rock On Brain LP series, this time with a completely different sleeve. The album contained two tracks on side one and just one on side two, and its sound has often been compared to the most explorative works of Syd Barret -- however it must be pointed out that Schickert did not need any mind spreading substances to allow his sounds to float out of his mind & soul, they just came out in the most natural way. It will also appeal to fans of the echoed atmospheric guitar work of other Krautrock innovators such as Ash Ra Temple, Manuel Götsching or A.R. & The Machines, and some may find on the vocal passages certain resemblances to Damo Suzuki on Can's Tago Mago era. The Wah Wah reissue is limited to 500 vinyl LP copies only, housed in a quality sleeve that reproduces that of the original 1974 private pressing and featuring a 4 page insert with liners and photos, sound remastered at Eastside mastering Berlin. Get this bird now, before it flies away!" -  www.forcedexposure.com/

Important Records has issued many great albums over the years, but it just occurred to me today that they have quietly become one of the best-curated reissue labels around.  Case in point: this visionary 1974 suite of hermetic, hallucinatory solo guitar compositions.  Originally self-released, Samtvogel was later reissued twice by the legendary Krautrock label Brain, which is something of a deceptive pairing.  Although he worked as Klaus Schulze's roadie and assistant and had an active presence in Germany's free-jazz and space music scenes in his own right, this surprisingly dark and obsessive early effort bears little resemblance to anything else in the Krautrock canon, aside from perhaps Manuel Göttsching's landmark Inventions for Electric Guitar (which was not released until the following year).
Notably, Samtvogel ("silk bird") was Schickert's first album, which is both remarkable and weirdly appropriate.  The "appropriate" bit stems from the fact that it is clearly the work of someone who just discovered how cool echo sounds on a guitar and set about abstractly experimenting with it with no real aspirations for anything more.  The "remarkable" aspectq, however, lies in both the single-mindedness with which Schickert pursued his experiments and the self-assuredness of his bold divergence from the exciting, fertile scene around him.  Günter clearly had a unique, fully formed vision from the very beginning and set about realizing it by whatever means were at his disposal, which were quite modest.
Due to the limited, primitive equipment Schickert had on-hand, the recording of these three pieces actually took three months, as all of the heavy lifting was accomplished with just a guitar, an amp, his voice, and two tape recorders.  Given the density and complexity of some passages, that is difficult to imagine, but that is precisely why the recording took so long: Günter had to painstakingly assemble the various layers by recording himself playing along each previous tape, starting over again from scratch every time he made a mistake.  As frustrating as that process must have been, the naked, lo-fi quality of these recordings actually works in Samtvogel's favor, as Schickert's brand of psychedelia feels genuinely, uncomfortably warped rather than like anything resembling mere studio artifice.
Despite that limited palette, each of Samtvogel's three pieces is quite distinctive.  The shortest, "Apricot," opens the album on a fragile, woozy, languorous and uncharacteristically song-like note.  The piece is also quite a cryptic one, as the few words that I am able to make out seem to be about apricot brandy, a topic which sits uncomfortably with the lonely, echo-heavy nightmare the piece gradually becomes.  After that, Günter is very much done with attempting anything that resembles a song in the conventional sense, but he is more than happy to continue being disturbing and nightmarish.  As a result, the following two pieces are much longer and more abstract.  However, while they share a lot of similarities with one another in structure and trajectory, they ultimately wind up in very different places mood-wise.
"Kriegmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Hölle" (or "War Machines, Go to Hell") is the album's darkest, most unhinged piece and consequently its artistic zenith, as Schickert unleashes nearly 20 minutes of dense, dissonantly churning  Reich-esque minimalist patterns and panning vocal chants buffeted by queasily out-of-tune-sounding jangling.  After the appropriately explosive crescendo subsides, Günter launches into the closing "Walde" ("Forest") with a similarly roiling, massive assault of repeating patterns before unexpectedly giving way to a passage of swooning, melancholy beauty.  For better or worse, that oasis is an ephemeral one, as Schickert keeps a simmering tension rumbling in the background at all times.  Part of me wishes that Günter had allowed his more  warm and dreamlike passages to unfold in a less precarious, threatened manner, but I cannot deny that the piece's unstable and unpredictable nature makes for much better and more striking art than the more conventional piece my battered ears were hoping for.
While Samtvogel is undeniably a very unique, challenging, and forward-thinking recording from start to finish, its single most remarkable characteristic might be that it was not simultaneously Schickert's first and last album.  The mood of these pieces is so claustrophobic and paranoid that it is difficult to believe this was not an aural suicide note, evidence of terminal drug psychosis, or the last communique before Günter completely lost his mind.  Instead, Schickert somehow went on to record a similarly wonderful (if a bit more conventional) follow-up five years later in Überfällig, then later formed the revered (yet obscure) trio GAM.
As much as I loathe the woefully over-used term "lost classic," that is exactly what this album is, as it certainly meets my most exacting criteria: it sounded singularly challenging, audacious, and against-the-tide in 1974 and it basically still sounds completely unique.  Schickert wisely avoided any of the trends or clichés of the day (aside from hating war machines, obviously), so there is virtually nothing on Samtvogel that sounds particularly dated, ill-advised, or derivative.  Granted, there has been no shortage at all of echo-heavy psychedelic guitar voyages in Samtvogel's wake, but I suspect none of them have ever been quite as disconcertingly intimate and haunted-sounding as this one. - www.brainwashed.com/

Samples:

• Apricot
• Kriegmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Hölle
• Walde

Where do I begin – with a simple statement perhaps? Like “this is one of the most important Krautrock albums made during the ’70s,” perhaps? It certainly stands singular amongst most of it contemporaries at the time (1974); it is unique and it’s difficult when reviewing it to find cultural points of reference to allude to. But here goes…

so much echo that they clatter around the walls sounding like particles from space

“Apricot Brandy” starts the album. The track is unbelievably subtle and quiet, almost ambient in its mood (this before Brian Eno came up with ambient music as a genre). Its soft vocals lure you into a strange world. Guitars rattle, but through so much echo that they clatter around the walls sounding like particles from space hitting the atmosphere. The bass stays low and almost drones in the background giving an air of unquiet ease to the piece. Whereas most rock musicians would use their opening album track to be a salvo or a call to arms or of a statement of intent, Günter Schickert lets his creep up on you slowly, from the shadows and out of the dark. To compare it to other opening tracks of its era seems somehow meaningless: it is a world all of its own.
“Kriegsmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Holle” has a lower register chugging synth* pattern, like the sound of a machine heard from a distance. VCS3-sounding synth wobbles over the top whilst bass rumbles in the background. The guitar picks out stray notes from the battlefield and every now and then the music swells as if you are slowly coming up on some trip. Schickert’s desert guitar begins to take over and it’s only within the background loops of guitar that I begin to hear something reminiscent of Ash Ra Tempel within its style; however, because this is a war machine from hell, the atonal notes stop the piece from straying into the cosmic bliss-out territory of Ash Ra. The background guitar rhythm begins to pick up pace and another guitar stabs over the top with a liquid synth line running underneath. Vocals are restrained and delivered through a barrage of reverb. The guitar begins to argue with itself and here I can see an influence on later bands like Die Haut as it crashes into chaotic reverb madness. By this point you think the machine is on top of you and then Schickert lifts you off into the cosmos with some out-there space synth to ease the oppression as the track closes.

a certain sense of unease within the music; this is not Eno’s pastoral ambience

“Wald” is the final track on the album and is a massive 22 minute epic. Chugging guitar work plays over a sequenced synth to give an almost trance-like feel. The guitar plucks away in a repetitive manner, creating a strong rhythm where a faint melody can be heard over the top. This begins to fade and we move on to the next section. Here the guitar plays a gentle hypnotic tune while the synth plays a soft melody buried into the background by a bubbling stream of guitar and gentle keyboard notes. Schickert describes the track as “a walk through landscapes on a comfortable small way suddenly crossed by a huge highway with shuttering machines.” During this section the piece does have a certain laid-back feel of a stroll, however, constantly hinted at in the background is the noise of oncoming traffic. There is, again, a certain sense of unease within the music; this is not Eno’s pastoral ambience – it has the wonder and fear of walking through an alien landscape. The third section brings in hovering echoed guitar that is as light as a summers breeze; then beneath this the tension begins to build. Here the machine noise gets louder until it overpowers the sounds of nature. The industrial rhythms in the guitar and synth grow more forceful, every now and then the track retreats back to its gentler mood to be swallowed by the noise again until its final drifting coda.
This CD reissue comes with a short essay by Schickert and another by Emil Amos about the album. This is a real must-buy reissue and if you don’t have a copy snap up one while it’s still around. Schickert’s album stands gazing across time hopefully to be discovered by a new set of people. It’s not a work frozen in amber – it still sounds new and vital and remains an incredible achievement for something that was recorded in such a primitive way. This record is as important as anything that Tangerine Dream, Can or Kraftwerk recorded during this period, and I hope that maybe Important will begin to release some new music from Schickert – or at least unheard tapes from the vaults.- Gary Parsons-

Like an alien mothership landing on your fanny, Gunter Schickert's deep heavy ooze dripping slab of Teutonic electronic bliss through treated mayhem overcomes you. This is probably what it sounded like inside of Jimi Hendrix's brain stem under that LSD-soaked tie-dyed bandana onstage - totally lit and lividly lucid, another planet opens up a searing tunnel through space and time while this sublime album plays on. Heralded as an underground classic for decades, we have "Samtvogel," an indiscriminate spacerocker's fantasy and diamond filled pocket through time and space. Working with overdubbed guitars never came off so thick with effects rife and rich. 'Apricot Brandy*' is a world unto itself wholly. NOTHING SOUNDS LIKE THIS! (*Well, actually, there's an 'Apricot Brandy II' on the followup, "Uberfallig," albeit not actually achieving the same insane headspace as this - very, very nice in it's own right, though. 'Kriegsmaschinen Fahrt Zur Holle (Tr.: War Machines Travel to the Holle)' launches itself *directly* past the stratosphere on its own mission heading directly to the very heart of the cosmos. The takeoff is delayed with a slow churning rise (not to worry, Houston, there is no problem) until it is clear that the ozone has been shucked off and there is nothing left but the growling intensity of careening through outer space. A soundtrack to a movie about being there never gurgled with the resonance of this. It's a long track clocking in at 16:58 which clips into a frenzy of guitar-wall smattering up right against your face creating stubble from the rubble of its rumbling on. Shortly after the first wave of madness comes plucking pizzicato at the speed of some "Music From the Body" over heavenly washes of reverbed vocals. As for what his multiple guitar tracks are doing at this time, ask Steve Tibbetts when he's multiplied by ten. Coming off that crest we get served some spacegroove with the urgent before the clittering-clattering electronic tinkles come in sprinkled liberally enveloping the room with the feeling of being inside a container of boingy-boing tic-tacs shaken about. Don't get me all wrong about the guitar work, some of it is very clean and gentle approximating the sound of folk progressive acts like Hoelderlin and Emtidi without the pastoral effect. Shredding does also play a serious factor in the conclusion as all the notes drop off the face of the sky churning itself back to the big black note it came from.
The other side is a humongous 21:35 opus splattered across every last little groove of this delightful platter. The air feels like Solaris in here, otherworldly and creepy while at the same time dreamy and sleepy. Spelunking over the sea of tranquility is his swansong of the magnitude Loch Ness that is 'Wald (Tr.: Forest).' Draping shimmering leaves of lush eternal electronic green sets adrift on memory wish to the turning of the akashic record. Striking a chord deep in the psyche of humanity, dense with textures, this piece is meditative while laden with universally rich sonorities throughout. Open up the pearly gates, I'm swimming home across the whole thing with this as the soundtrack in my head, dig? - gnosis2000.net/reviews/schickert.htm