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Robert Schroeder — Floating Music - Edition 2023
(Spheric Music SMCD 2044, 1980/2023, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2023-02-16

Floating Music - Edition 2023 Cover art

Synthesist and composer Robert Schroeder was born in Aachen in 1955. By his 20th birthday, both Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze had already amassed an impressive catalog of music, with their latest offerings being Rubycon and Picture Music respectively, and no doubt the young Schroeder was already in the process of constructing his first homemade synthesizers at that time, and modeling his sound after his heroes, working up fresh ideas for his first release Harmonic Ascendant a few years later in 1979 on Klaus Schulze’s Innovative Communications label. Using his homemade synths alongside a PPG-Modular, CS-80, and Polymoog, he was back one year later with his second release Floating Music, a big step forward both in terms of composition as well as execution. In 2023, Spheric Music is releasing a remix of the original eight tracks as well as the 23 minute bonus track “Floating in Slow Motion.” As might be expected for a synthesist / composer in 1980 in the shadow of TD and Schulze, the music is fill of bubbling atmospherics and sequences, mysterious wailing sounds, and soaring electronic voices amid subtle ambient backdrops. Some percussives are utilized here and there — in all there is quite a bit of sonic variety for electronic based music executed in the early 80s on a limited budget, With a total running time of just 36 minutes, and the opening title track clocking in at over nine, most of the remaining cuts are vignettes of a shorter duration, with a few notable exceptions, one of those being “Shadows in the Night,” which doesn’t do a lot in the way of development for its first few minutes, but finds a gentle and peaceful midsection that drifts along until curious overt synthetic sounds take over. A strong element of power takes the listener through the sequences of “Pastime,” while “Out of Control” and “Meditation for the Next” are essentially colorful interludes. Reaching further and deeper, the bonus track “Floating in Slow Motion” pushes the listener along gently in the spirit of all that came before it. Floating Music Edition 2023 is an hour well spent, representing a classic moment along the pathway of German electronic music.

Filed under: Reissues, 2023 releases, 1980 recordings

Related artist(s): Robert Schroeder

More info
http://robertschroeder.bandcamp.com/album/floating-music-edition-2023

 

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