Tonight's entry is about Germany's Ash Ra Tempel and the man behind the scenes, Manuel Gottsching. This one is hard for me to write, because I've listened to some of this music forever; it has folded itself into my brain. I have no idea what someone hearing it for the first time would hear.
Short history: born of early German attempts to join the international '60s rock explosion, Ash Ra was German 'kosmiche music', New Age before the label and before fern bars and herbal tea. This was an experiment by rock musicians to explore the 'cosmic' limits of composition. No surprise, the early albums are only listenable in a sociological/ironic way, especially the one with Timothy Leary. Jump ahead a few years, and Manuel Gottsching, guitarist, visionary and basically the band Ash Ra Tempel discovers contemporary minimalist composers Philip Glass and Steve Reich. Result: "Inventions for Electric Guitar". Later, "New Age of Earth", (which my wife described as "adult lullabyes") -- imagine a bed of guitars and keyboards (no vocals) floating you away to the land of Wynken, Blynken and Nod. This music will put you and your kids to sleep (and I have the track record to prove it.) This is NOT a bad thing. Even later, "E2 to E4", 50 minutes of synth rhythm patterns eventually crested by guitar noodling. "Private Tapes" is a collection of unreleased tracks, and not a bad way to sample Manuel's styles over the years.
My guess is that Manuel was searching for a way to musically emulate brain waves, to discover a way to contact our inner lobes in the most direct way, without barriers. Science + sound, an experiment that has resulted in...future posts.
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