Klaus Schulze – “Dig It”
Re-Release of the Klaus Schulze classic “Dig It” (originally released 1980).
Klaus Schulze about “Dig It”:
With “Dig It” I did all the work with the computer for the first time, and in this respect it was my first “digital” album. I played and mixed everything with this G.D.S. A really tremendous gear! The sound was caustically clean. So I told myself: As I already have this gear I will really do everything with it. The drums were the only thing I had to record on a separate track because the G.D.S. had no drum sounds. So I got hold of Fred Severloh to play live drums on “Death Of An Analogue”. For this pounding rhythm, I thought, you really need fat drums! But it was – just the same with my vocoder voice which you can hear on this song – only a matter of the right dramaturgy, the right effect. It wasn’t my consideration just to bring in another “human” element because I don’t make such a distinction. For me electronics are as human and natural as any other instrument. Violins, as I always say, don’t grow on trees either! For “Weird Caravan” I had borrowed a loop by Ideal. Usually, I don’t borrow anything. I do all loops and samples on my own. But in this case Ideal’s drummer [Hans-Joachim Berendt] played something which I found really great. I said: “Do you mind if I cut out 1,5 meters here?” Using two tape machines I glued the tape together and run it as a loop – because, you know: “The looper isn’t a hooker.” Even when you’re repeating yourself you’re still no whore, haha. The bonus title, “Esoteric Goody”, is a very abstract piece of music. I have again listened to it after a long time now. It reminds a bit of the intro for “Destination Void” from the “Mirage” album [1977]. But then this song featured a real mellotron, the heavy mechanics, not a sample. “Esoteric Goody” originated during the phase of “Dig It”, so I think it fits well as a bonus track for the “Dig It” CD. The song shows the experimental side of Schulze. The ‘Stahlsinfonie’ (Symphony in Steel) on the bonus DVD is a recording of my concert at the “Ars Electronica” in Linz, Austria, back in 1980. On September 8th I had opened this festival following an invitation of the ORF (Astrian Broadcasting Corporation). I have played in the big hall of the Brucknerhaus, and from the outside sounds were transmitted which were made by the steel workers of the steel works VOEST-ALPINE. But I wouldn’t want to use their sounds as a playback recording made beforehand – I wanted them to play live! The promoters made it work by using various telephone lines. Along the river Danube there were PA towers erected at a distance of two or three kilometres so really the entire city of Linz could listen to the music. At the end of the concert, the workers joined me on stage.
Tracklisting:
CD
- Death Of An Analogue 12:15
- Weird Caravan 05:16
- The Looper Isn’t A Hooker 08:30
- Synthasy 22:53
Bonustrack:
- Esoteric Goody 28:21
CD total: 77:38
DVD
- Linzer Stahlsinfonie 62:22
total: 111:16