Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, 4 May 2008
Without British Forces radio, Ulrich Schnauss’s brand of transcendent electronica wouldn’t be quite so lovely. In early 90s small-town Germany, it was the only way quintessentially English bands such as Ride, My Bloody Valentine and other purveyors of insular, FX pedal heavy, drone-based whimsy laden with the derogatory Shoegazing tag could be heard.
“I always liked music that takes you to another place,” says Schnauss on the eve of a European tour that takes in his first ever Edinburgh date. “I used music as a way of escape.”
His own output suggests likewise. Schnauss’ first two albums, Far Away Trains Passing By and the sublime A Strangely Isolated Place, fused laptop-generated melodies with the sort of dense guitar washes Schnauss absorbed in his youth. Last year’s Goodbye took such ethereal obsessions to their logical limit.
“I’ve fallen in love again with more pure electronic things,” says Schnauss, who moonlights as keyboardist with Longview inbetween remixing projects. He hasn’t weaned himself off his fix completely, mind. After contributing to a compilation of Slowdive covers, Schnauss has penned sleeve-notes for a just-released retrospective by Chapterhouse, who suffered particularly mean music press jibes.
“It wasn’t about the music,” Schnauss observes. “No-one involved acted like macho assholes, so they had to be got at in other ways.”
Of his new material, Schnauss says that “It was really liberating to work more traditionally, but now there are lots of ideas for the next record. I just need to find time to record it.”
The Herald, April 2008
ends
Without British Forces radio, Ulrich Schnauss’s brand of transcendent electronica wouldn’t be quite so lovely. In early 90s small-town Germany, it was the only way quintessentially English bands such as Ride, My Bloody Valentine and other purveyors of insular, FX pedal heavy, drone-based whimsy laden with the derogatory Shoegazing tag could be heard.
“I always liked music that takes you to another place,” says Schnauss on the eve of a European tour that takes in his first ever Edinburgh date. “I used music as a way of escape.”
His own output suggests likewise. Schnauss’ first two albums, Far Away Trains Passing By and the sublime A Strangely Isolated Place, fused laptop-generated melodies with the sort of dense guitar washes Schnauss absorbed in his youth. Last year’s Goodbye took such ethereal obsessions to their logical limit.
“I’ve fallen in love again with more pure electronic things,” says Schnauss, who moonlights as keyboardist with Longview inbetween remixing projects. He hasn’t weaned himself off his fix completely, mind. After contributing to a compilation of Slowdive covers, Schnauss has penned sleeve-notes for a just-released retrospective by Chapterhouse, who suffered particularly mean music press jibes.
“It wasn’t about the music,” Schnauss observes. “No-one involved acted like macho assholes, so they had to be got at in other ways.”
Of his new material, Schnauss says that “It was really liberating to work more traditionally, but now there are lots of ideas for the next record. I just need to find time to record it.”
The Herald, April 2008
ends
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