Altered Zones

Last week, Conrad Schnitzler lost his battle with stomach cancer. The former Kluster and Tangerine Dream member's untimely passing has left family, friends, and musicians alike deeply saddened. In memoriam, we've gathered some words from a few of his contemporaries, collaborators, and millennial admirers. --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones

Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Kluster/Cluster says:
Conrad was my first mentor. He was a good but downright difficult friend, and when it came to art, he was relentlessly eccentric. So much so that we went our separate ways in 1970 after about a year and a half of Kluster, even though he had taken me into his circle with paternal goodwill. We worked as laborers together for an entire summer on the construction of a naturalists' camp in the Corsican mountains.

He showed me the way to art and paved the way for me with his enthusiasm, fueled by the ideas of Josef Beuys. He himself had been Beuys' first student before he relocated from Düsseldorf to Berlin, where we met each other in the scene.

In Berlin, he approached the widest range of projects with full of vigor, most notably the Zodiak Free Arts Lab, which was in the basement of a theater on the Hallesches Ufer. But not long after founding the first free, independent lab in the city and becoming a giant success, he withdrew in order to start Kluster with Dieter Möbius and myself after Zodiak had to close. Kluster was another of his projects that was successful from the beginning. After a while, however, Möbius and I no longer agreed with the direction Conrad wanted to take with the project, nor he with our artistic input. And so, as one says in the language of musicians, we separated amicably.

Kluster went its own way from 1970 to the end of 2010, but one thing is clear: what we accomplished in these years, the success we had, would not have been possible without Conrad.

He stood at the beginning of our journey, illuminated by the light that Josef Beuys had ignited in him, and he passed the torch on to us. I, for one, owe him the greatest of thanks.

Let's not jabber on about his death. He was a super-human, and what he left behind in his work reflects his greatness, his unyieldingness, his uniqueness.

Hi Conni. Wherever you are now, whatever made you who you are as a person and will possibly be reborn in another time, in a new body-- your place in Olympus, in remembrance of the after-world, is certain.

Translated by Julia Friedlander

David Elliott of York House Recordings says:
RIP Conrad: a big influence on me and how to conduct one's life. He was the first musician I ever interviewed (Jan 1980), and he kindly gifted me some music (Conrad & Sequenza) to release on my small cassette label, YHR, the following year. I remember being in his kitchen and him saying that "Everything is art. Standing in this kitchen is art". Certainly his life was art.

John Elliot of Emeralds/Spectrum Spools says:
My first encounter with the music of Conrad Schnitzler was his Rot [1973], Blau [1974], and Gelb [1981] albums, which were bootlegs I found in the amazing piles of Byron Coley's personal YOD stash. Dodging around the stacks of records on the floor to the "krautrock" bin, I pulled out these three albums-- all in unmarked, unlabeled jackets, with the color corresponding to the title. I quickly found that these records had little to do with "krautrock." The albums, and all the ones I chased afterwards, were pieces to a large puzzle that nobody is meant to understand. He defines the true meaning of "outsider" artist.

Schnitzler played a central role in the pioneering of what is now known as the "krautrock" genre, while simultaneously being completely withdrawn from it. Conrad abandoned all of his projects such as Tangerine Dream and Kluster to pursue his own singular vision of infinite non-music in private. David Keenan of Volcanic Tongue had created a fascinating and revealing piece on the true nature of Schnitzler, reflecting the isolated and brilliant mind of one of the most original artists of all time. Even in the explosion of Krautrock revivalism, Schnitzler has never seemed to get the credit he deserved-- which seems bleak, but all signs indicate that he wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Zola Jesus says:
Conrad was an insanely prolific artist; his work even felt like a compulsion at times. The atmosphere in what he did was always so inspiring and physical. He was the godfather of synth noodling, and was responsible for my own curiosity and interest in the synthesizer. Thanks CS for that, and for Blau, ElectroCon [2006], Conrad & Sohn [1981], and so, so many others. One immortal man.

Jens Strüver of m=minimal says:
Con is gone.

We from m=minimal have lost a friend, mentor, and of course, a giant of electronic music. We are really sad. His work was a milestone in the history of electronic music, including his recent releases. He never "sold out," and his work always operated on the highest level.

Con was a real lovely person and told us a lot of great stories about Beuys, the beginning of krautrock, '80s industrial, and the beginning of the growing, global interest in Conrad's music in the '90s. Conrad's humor was very special and we always had a great time at his place.

When my partner Christian Borngräber and I were planning the m=minimal, the first artist on our list was Conrad. I called him, told him what we would like to release (the long, original version of Zug [2006]), and we got the master in the mail one day later. He was so uncomplicated. A real gentlemen.

While I write these words, I'm listening to Conrad's last solo record Endtime (00/830) on headphones, and I can tell you: this man, his music, is so unique. A big loss. We miss him. Conrad, thanks for everything. So long.