Like Early Klaus Schulze & Tangerine Dream? Then Download This!

Free Music Friday: Like the classic “Berlin School” synth music of early seventies’ Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream?

Then you’ll want to check out this free EP download by Recompas, an electronic ambient-space-psych band project centered around Travis Thatcher:

My group, recompas, initially started as my solo laptop project, but now has transformed into a 2-6 person live improv space/psych/ambient group. sometimes it sounds like hawkwind, sometimes faust, and sometimes cluster or tangerine dream. anyway, there’s a ton of live and recorded music of ours on my blog.

Get it here or here!

Give it a listen and let us know what you think!

via homemade lofi psych

13 thoughts on “Like Early Klaus Schulze & Tangerine Dream? Then Download This!

  1. Looks like they deserve to be on a better service than EasyShare — SoundCloud is far more elegant!

    I heart a lot of vintage synth music, especially when it has prog rock strains. I long for a crisp, minimal techno backbone which also possesses the strength of elaborate, virtuoso arrangements — a gap that still exists to this day. For that matter, I’d love to see more collaborations between early electronic music masters and contemporary DJs. It would create better understanding than, say, Jarre trying to ape modern dance music.

  2. Torley – that’s a great idea.

    There’s a big gray area around sharing this sort of stuff, though. Tangerine Dream has OK’d non-commercial sharing of these bootlegs, but there’s a lot of stuff like this that’s being shared because it’s just not available, and the labels still shut it down.

  3. I would have given this “2.5” but since there is no 2.5 I was kind and gave them a “3”. It’s not bad, but it is very tedious. The problem that Recompas has run into is a trap that many “experimental” musicians fall into: Too much repetition in long expanses leave a song with no hook, no surprises. What you hear in the first 30 seconds is what you’ll hear, period. I also think that some vocals and a chord change or two would make “Airports” a decent track, it’s a Portishead bite, but with some potential. Decent ambient, a good start. They should find a good beat maker in the ATL and do some collab. I would bet that the results would be pretty cool and a bit more interesting.

  4. Panda, my dear, these aren’t ‘songs’.

    This is, as the post suggests, ‘Like the classic “Berlin School” synth music of early seventies’ Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream’.

    If you’d ever heard these early seventies recordings, you’d be aware that these pioneering artists also eschewed hooks or vocals in favour of atmosphere.

    Repetition is a compositional tool, and is just as valid a form of expression as a chord change. And when chord changes are the norm, surely repetition can be surprising?

  5. I studied electronic music at the University of Arizona so yes, I’ve heard all the old electronic- more than I would have wished for, which has nothing to do with my review whatsoever. I would not align this with Tangerine Dream except for the most generalized labeling, TD releasing ‘albums’ of ‘songs’, BTW.
    I am basing my opinions solely upon the merits of the work itself, regardless of what ‘pioneers’ did, but also referencing the shortcomings of many common upstart “experimental” artists. To clarify, repetition is indeed a ‘tool’ but too much repetition of a good pattern can be bad, too much repetition of an uninteresting segment is worse. And no, without chord changes, repetition does not surprise. And any chunk of sound in a recognizable pattern that has a beginning and an end can be called a “song”.

  6. Space-Ape, your the douche here. I'm a huge, huge fan of Klaus Schulze, have been since I first heard him on a Philadelphia radioshow called Diaspar back in the 70's. And New Berlin as well. Yes, Brendan is correct; a lot of this stuff, even the early music, had hooks, melodies and licks that were very much present in the music, along with the atmosphere that your suggesting. That's what made their music more popular than others at the time who were doing the same thing, and there were many, many electronic musicians at the time putting out very ethereal, avante-garde music at the time that is very hard to listen to.

    So. your the douche here, you obviously aren't a fan of this stuff or you wouldn't have stuck your foot in your mouth. And portishead? WTF? Insult fail!

  7. This is great stuff. I know exactly where you are coming from. I've been a huge fan of TD, KS and Hawkwind for many years and can hear all the nuances you describe.

    The lesser of the three was, IMO, Track 2 with its Nick Turner'ish sax sounds. It reminded me of his solo in Motherless Children – jarring. I liked it more as the track progressed and the echoes became prevalent.

    Tracks 1 and 3 both get my vote, especially Track 3. Track 1 was like early TD and Track3 seemed to be a nice fusion of TD and KS.

    I would defintely like to hear some more of this.

    Do the tracks have names?

  8. I am not sure where you are getting your information, but good topic.
    I needs to spend some time learning much more or understanding more.

    Thanks for great info I was looking for this information for my mission.

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