Happy Birthday, Manuel Gottsching!

Wishing a very Happy Birthday to Manuel Gottsching, born 9th September 1952.

Manuel Gottsching Live @ Metamorphose 2010

Although sadly it was not possible for me to attend Manuel Gottsching's appearance playing Inventions for Electric Guitar on 4th September at the Metamorphose Festival in Japan I have been able to watch some clips posted on Heiko Neumann's Tribute to Ashra website. On the evidence supplied it certainly seems as if Manuel, with a little assistance from Steve Hillage, Elliott Sharp and Zhang Shouwang has managed the unmanageable by delivering an uncompromised version of an extremely complicated, multitracked masterpiece in a live setting.

Congratulations are in order for a fabulous performance! Now we can only hope that further concerts and a CD and/or DVD release will allow more fans around the world to see and hear this wonderful show. For those interested the full setlist for the Japan concert was: Echo Waves, Pluralis, Quasarsphere, E2-E4 (guitar version) and for the encore the as yet unreleased piece Fights.

As regards progress with the book I have recently been filling in some gaps in the narrative. My writing has been focusing on some of Manuel's collaborations, alongside notes for live performances by Ash Ra Tempel in Paris (1974) and Ashra in Brussels (1977). Harald Grosskopf has very kindly helped me with his recollections of the latter show, whilst Lutz Ulbrich has generously shared some memories that have been useful when discussing the second CD in the Belle Alliance Plus package. Once these little sections are completed I will be moving on to Manuel's 55 and Still Alive birthday celebration and the latest Ashra appearances: live in Japan in 2008 and at the Schallwelle-Preis Award Ceremony in Germany earlier this year. Bit by bit the second draft of the book edges towards completion. Watch this space....

A thank you

This weekend I've had the pleasure of a visit from my friend Stephen Iliffe. Stephen, who lives in London wrote the wonderful Painting with Sound - The Life and Music of Hans-Joachim Roedelius, not to mention a whole host of sleeve notes for a variety of CD and vinyl reissues. I made contact with him five years ago to let him know that I had enjoyed his book and we've kept in touch every since. Here we are on the walkway to the lighthouse at Tynemouth.

This seems to be the perfect time to pass on a big thank you to Stephen for his constant encouragement with my project over the last two and a half years.

More about the progress of the book very soon.

Joaquin Joe Claussell meets writer

A massive thank you goes out to DJ/producer/musician Joaquin Joe Claussell for taking his precious time to provide me with some fascinating answers to my questions via an e-mail interview. What a nice guy!

Joaquin, who remixed two of Manuel's tracks for the Joaquin Joe Claussell meets Manuel Gottsching album, released in 2006 clearly has enormous respect for Mr. Ashra. During his recent Paris concert Manuel claimed that his own reworking of Deep Distance was inspired by Claussell's remix. I mentioned this to Joaquin and his response was that he felt 'tears of joy, tears of gratitude!' No wonder. It turns out that his love of Manuel's music stretches back a long, long way.

In response to my questions Joaquin discussed Gottsching's one hour proto-techno masterpiece E2-E4 and the massive, unlikely impact it had when played by the legendary Larry Levan and other DJs in New York clubs. It was great to hear about this from somebody who was actually there at the time.

Something that Claussell also picked up on is the fact that Manuel Gottsching was making futuristic music some time before this classic 1981 recording. All this and more will be expanded upon in the book. Coincidentally I'll be working on the section about Claussell and Gottsching's collaborative release next week.

Museum Piece I

The Swatch Oracolo Tarot watch, designed by Walter Wegmuller. Wegmuller fronted the brilliant Tarot album, recorded in 1973.

For this double concept work a track was recorded for each of the cards in the Major Arcana of the tarot deck. Wegmuller painted cards to accompany the original vinyl release and the band for this album were dubbed the Cosmic Couriers, featuring fantastic guitar work from none other than Manuel Gottsching.

The Private Tapes - Three of the Best

Although the blog has been quiet for a while I've been as busy as ever writing the book. A few weeks ago I finished writing notes for the 6 CD archival set of Manuel Gottsching/Ash Ra Tempel/Ashra recordings The Private Tapes. My second draft of the book is now a 156 page document and I've reached the Ash Ra Tempel reunion of the year 2000. Parts of the narrative past this point are semi-written and other parts are merely sketched out.

In the meantime Harald Grosskopf very kindly put aside a little more of his time to answer a few further questions about the tail end of the Cosmic Jokers, the Ashra tour of 1977, the band's return to Japan in 2008 and his new drum technology. Big thank you, Harald!

Whilst my work on the book continues here are three tracks, arguably amongst the best from The Private Tapes:

Dedie a Hartmut (Recorded live in 1973)

Clocking in at almost 40 minutes in length Dedie a Hartmut is aptly titled, as it is arguably Hartmut Enke's greatest recorded performance released from the archive thus far. Gottsching plays a chord pattern, initially creating a dark mood and right from the beginning Enke's bass rumbles beneath, beautifully underpinning the rhythm guitar work. Schulze starts to bash at the bass drum and his snare as the music quickly steps up a few gears into a furious, whirling dervish of sound.

Once again it is clear that Gottsching's guitar work is more refined than anything from the available 1971 live recordings. As the music settles into a groove Enke's bass playing is particularly fine, providing a fantastic dual lead instrument, whilst Gottsching's nimble, melodic and tasteful soloing at times touches on the crystalline beauty of Jerry Garcia circa Live Dead. Part of what makes this recording so exciting is the way in which Enke slips from daring dissonance into some incredible melodic work. As Manuel's wah-wah guitar traverses the bumpy terrain laid out by Schulze's drums Enke circles around the edges of the sound, rumbling and revving, much as he did during parts of Freak and Roll from the Join Inn album.

This track in many ways nails everything that the early Ash Ra Tempel could hope to have achieved in a live setting. It is powerful, whilst exhibiting a degree of musical maturity. During a rhythmically entrancing section the guitar and drums fall in together with precision whilst Enke's bass growls, seemingly waiting for the tempo to accelerate. The music takes off majestically, Gottsching's guitar like a bird in flight. Enke's bass locks in with Schulze's drums, providing a rock solid groove. Whilst Manuel plays a clean, pretty solo Enke's bass seems to grumble, encouraging his school friend to forget his musical manners. The guitar solo becomes a little more spicy and abrasive but is always controlled. In the meantime Enke's bass is all over the group sound, rumbling, vibrating and contributing to a stunning collective performance.

Here the band manage to lock together, perfectly balancing power and restraint. Gottsching's rhythm guitar surges on the rising tide of the rhythm section, as it gradually builds up momentum. This is the best available example of the original Ash Ra Tempel playing in a live setting. The band have managed to to excel in their chosen live art of building up to a series of breathtaking crescendos.

Deep Distance (Recorded live in 1976)

The live version of Deep Distance skates along, courtesy of a lovely gently clattering EKO Rhythm Computer (early drum machine) pattern and a latin sequencer part, familiar from the studio version. A simultaneously glacial and breezy delicate keyboard part is followed by billowing, squelching, aural steam clouds of treated synthesizer. Halfway through the 20-minute plus duration Gottsching begins to play the guitar, taking the tune off on a tangent unexplored in the clipped New Age of Earth version. Finally the stylophone-like keyboard voice used in the studio version rounds off this fine live recording.

Two things are striking about this track: firstly the fact that Gottsching managed to make so much happen working live on a solo basis with so little in the way of equipment is highly impressive. Secondly, guitar aside this recording is incredibly close to a piece of techno music, missing only a 4/4 beat. This was later demonstrated when the track was remixed by New York DJ and record producer Joaquin Joe Claussell.

Niemand lacht ruckwarts (1979)

Niemand lacht ruckwarts (Nobody laughs backwards), a 12 minute recording builds up a tapestry of layer upon layer of fast interlocking sequencer patterns, ultimately overwhelming the listener. Unable to focus on one part of the music the brain inevitably submits to the dense and utterly mesmerizing whole as electronics pulse, shimmer, spark and positively glow with an aural incandescence. Every bit as hypnotic as Steve Reich's tape experiment It's Gonna Rain, this masterpiece in miniature paved the way for another future, large scale classic of Gottsching minimalism just a few years later.

Manuel Gottsching live in Paris - June 2010

La Geode, a strikingly modern piece of of architecture is situated at La Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie, Paris. A large spherical structure, it's exterior covered with mirrored, tessellated triangular panels it is a beautiful venue and the right choice for a special show. It is 34 years since Manuel Gottsching last appeared in Paris in a solo capacity and that performance at the Bataclan partially found a release on The Private Tapes, a 6 CD limited edition archival collection, now long out-of-print. The first soundcheck for this event lasted four hours, finishing at 4:00 am the previous morning. As the interior of La Geode is a cinema by day the second soundcheck will involve setting up the equipment from scratch: not an ordinary pre-concert ritual. This second session is more about checking sound levels and that the instruments are all working than it is full run-throughs of tracks. The intense rhythms and drone of Trunky Groove hammers out of the amplifiers, stopping and starting in bursts, as Manuel and his sound engineer Markus assemble and adjust a network of wires. It strikes this writer how cumbersome a soundcheck would have been in 1976, the last time Gottsching played a solo concert in this city, the equipment then infinitely more laborious to assemble and temperamental. A clang of guitar with a few hints of lead playing, a spell testing the keyboard and the soundcheck concludes.

90 minutes later the sun is setting, reflected in the myriad mirrored panels that comprise the exterior of La Geode. The Cite des Sciences and it's grounds are bathed in a soft orange glow. Bois de Soleil indeed. The atmosphere is electric, as the old and the young gather outside the building. The setlist is still a mystery and therein lies part of the anticipation and excitement.

After a visual spectacular from Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never), featuring a steadily building ambient accompaniment to a film chronicling the evolution of life from the Big Bang to advanced sea creatures it is Manuel Gottsching's turn to take to the stage.
The set opens with the powerful, tumbling rhythms of Trunky Groove in a version different to that featured on the Live at Mt. Fuji CD. Instead of the previous offbeat guitars the keyboard is the chosen tool for exploration here.

Following the intense opener Gottsching steps up to the microphone to make a heartfelt dedication to his mother-in-law, who sadly recently passed away. This tender tribute, which included an expression of regret about the passage of time finds its way into the next musical offering: a guitar oriented version of the title track from the Die Mulde album. This is where Gottsching's guitar playing is really allowed to take flight and what begins as melancholic soars towards transcendence.

Shuttle Cock, an exercise in tight, cyclical guitar overdubbing on the Blackouts album is here a techno infused slice of minimalism, over which Gottsching plays lightning fast hypnotic patterns of notes. A reminder of the man behind Inventions for Electric Guitar, this is perhaps the most entrancing and breathtaking part of the whole set.

A second offering from Blackouts, Midnight on Mars takes advantage of the cavernous acoustics and watching Gottsching playing melodic flurries of notes whilst framed by the atmospherically lit, skeletal interior of La Geode I find myself momentarily wondering whether Jimi Hendrix might have explored similar musical terrain had he stuck around.

Manuel's new version of Deep Distance (inspired by DJ/producer/musician Joe Claussell's earlier remix of the New Age of Earth track) is rhythmically heavy and in some respects not a million miles away from the pounding Born Slippy by Underworld. Some keyboard parts, comparable with the studio version float above the strong pulse and some fine, extended guitar work rounds things off. After a standing ovation Gottsching returns to Die Mulde for the final section of the piece, Zerfluss. An upbeat and joyous conclusion to the earlier performance of the title track, this offering provides the show with a neat bookend.

Well over 3 decades since the Paris Bataclan show of 1976 this concert in a suitably spectacular venue offered evidence that Manuel Gottsching is still relevant and still capable of producing cutting edge sounds. Some of the music may have been familiar but the arrangements were utterly contemporary and utterly convincing. This gentle and modest man is still making spellbindingly powerful music.