Ulrich Schnauss - 2007 - Goodbye

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

This is the end result of Schnauss' obsessions with icy style electronic sounds and shoegazing aesthetics. Here we have a digital shoegazer classic that I feel ranks only a tiny cut below the best of My Bloody Valentine or Slowdive. A big development here is that Schnauss seems to have really focused on pure songwriting. His earlier album featured fine melodies and a few nice vocal hooks, but they still had the 'sound sculpture' feel that often shapes straight up electronic music (not that I dislike it - I typically take the 'sound sculpture' approach to my Damaged Tape compositions). Here, several songs are fully formed as a good rock band would do, or in Schnauss' case a good shoegazing band. In fact, while close scrutiny does reveal the hand of a skilled electronic producer, Goodbye often has the feel of a band recording - of course a very trippy band.

"Never Be the Same" is a nice announcement that Schauss will be going for a purer shoegaze sound with some fine female vocals and the trippy walls of echo in full effect. Schnauss typically appropriated the textured clean sounds of the quiet side of shoegazing, but on "Stars" he finally tackles the full on distorted guitar roar of My Bloody Valentine, and it results in one of his best tracks. Schnauss then indulges in several great, more ambient tracks - he is a master of this kind of tune - before opening the sonic gates of distortion once again on "A Song About Home." The guitar riff is a little reminiscent of Slowdive's "When the Sun Hits," but I'll give Schnauss a pass as that Slowdive track is one of my favorite songs in general. "Goodbye" is a nice crossroads of all of the styles Schnauss typically mines - perhaps he's suggesting that his next original album (which we're still waiting for in 2011!) will try something entirely different.

If this is 'goodbye' to Schnauss' shoegazing obsession, then this album is a fine send off. I just hope that he didn't mean 'goodbye' from music as we're still waiting for more (Schnauss did release a remix collection a year or two ago). But for you aging hipsters out there that can't get enough of these sorts of sounds (and hopefully a few of you young pups as well), then Goodbye is one of the best recent showcases you're likely to find.

Ulrich Schnauss - 2003 - A Strangely Isolated Place

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

Ulrich Schnauss doesn't make a drastic change in his sound on A Strangely Isolated Place, but he mixes up the details just enough to keep things interesting while generally maintaining quality control. Whereas his debut album was very cold and clean sounding, he grunges up the production a little bit for many of these tracks. They're still chilled out electronica with a shoegazing aesthetic, but the atmospherics end up much more varied with some distorted drums and high altitude crackling.

"Gone Forever" is the poppiest that Schnauss had gone up to this point, with an ethereal vocal hook serving as the signifier of the track. A propulsive bass line and a buzzsaw synth pushes "On My Own" a little harder than Schnauss had attempted up to this point. "Monday - Paracetamol" has a dirty, underwater sound that I suppose perfectly rflects the title, while "Blumenthal" has some huge synth that ramp up the ambient aspects. In fact, I would have been happy if the track never developed into a full blown production, although I have no complaints about the chiming melody in the second half. The title track is a multi-part affair which also does a fine job with ambient sections while also managing a spot of grungy shoegazing in the middle.

This is often cited as Schnauss' best LP, although I'd have to say it's actually my least favorite of his albums so far. That's not to say I don't like it - I do - but these tunes don't quite burrow into my brain the way some of his other efforts do. You may have a different reaction to this sonic narcotic.

Ulrich Schnauss - 2001 - Far Away Trains Passing By

Quality: 4.25 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

I think Ulrich Schnauss is one of the more underrated musicians of the past decade. Along with his German countrymen (and women), Guitar, Schnauss has been taking aim an a great Euro-brand of shoegazing and electronic fusion. It's not the most original musical idea, but Schnauss' production talent allows him to work it into a state of near perfection. I think Schnauss is much better playing to his own strengths as his discography is wonderfully consistent, whereas Guitar got pretty hit-or-miss after their phenomenal first album. But we're here today to give a listen to Schauss' also great debut. The electronic quotient here is a little higher than his later albums, and while rarely lapsing into simple copying, the sounds here often evoke Air, Boards of Canada, and the quieter moments of Slowdive.

The album sets tone with the perfectly chilled out sounding "Knuddelmaus," and the album more or less hew closely to that sonic template. Some 'delayed to infinity ' guitars make their way into the sonic mix for the great "Between Us and Them." In fact, I feel like this does a better job of nailing down the electronic shoegazing sound of Slowdive's final album better than that band was able to do itself. "Molfsee" is the most derivative sounding track on the album, but it would fit perfectly well on a Boards of Canada album without anyone noticing that it was by a different creator. "Nobody's Home" brings the sound a little more above ground than the rest of the album, but it still features some wonderful dream pop textures.

My copy of this album came with a bonus disc which is good enough to make this qualify as a double album. These singles and B-sides fit in perfectly well with the rest of the album. The highlights include a great cover of Slowdive's "Crazy For You" and "Wherever You Are" ramps up the energy, which seems to be a signpost for where Schnauss would go on future releases. You'll even get a touch of vocals on this otherwise instrumental collection. In fact, the only dim spot on this bonus set is "As If You've Never Been Away," which comes a little too close for comfort to U2's "With or Without You."

This is a very modern sounding album, and definitely mining strains of psychedelia developed in the past couple decades. As I'm sure many of you do, I love vintage krautrock, but Germany has definitely shown a propensity for great electronic music over the past 15 or so years, and this is a great calling card for that.