DIG IT

There is something romantic going here as electronic music maestro Klaus Schulze ushers in a new era of digitally rendered music with one of the first recordings of it`s kind using cutting edge computer technology. It`s as if he`s experiencing a sureal sense-datum throughout the whole work and his passion for embracing new ideas and technologies is more than evident without going over the deep end amidst all the ecstasy.

The ritual commences with a piece aptly entitled Death Of Analogue which, with it`s mournful atmospheres, bids adieu to the analogue epoch. The use of a vocoder and human drummer here seem to represent voices of the past heralding in the new digital era and if one listens carefully there are spoken messages to be heard. This also seems to also offer some reassurance that the human element will always remain in music regardless of what destinies and directions that technology might guide it towards. This is brought into focus on the second & third tracks Weird Caravan and The Looper Isn`t A Hooker as the live drummer is discharged in favour of a percussion tape loops which provide a more upbeat feel and this is where Schulze comes under fire by his critcs who start accusing him of going disco. In fact these were arguably some of the earliest experiments in techno music which reached tremendous popularity towards the end of the eighties making it some of Schulze`s more accessable work.

The main composition is much more intense. Synthasy starts off in the tradition of Stravinsky and Ligeti and builds in a more modern sense gradually acquiring more human characteristics as different effects come into play such as sequenced percussion along with polyphonic computer generated voices which speak in some sureal sensual futuristic language that has it`s origins from within the regions of Schulze`s ruminative mind. The whole composition literally dances in the wonderful strangeness of this dawn of new found digital methodology. Haunting, foreboding and exquisite but at the same time forward looking and even the uninitiated will recognize this as a work from a modern visionary.

For those who just can`t get enough of the man`s caballistic inner workings Schulze includes a piece that he dug out of the vaults which was recorded during the Dig It sessions as a bonus track on the Revisited Records CD remaster. After some soul searching he called it Esoteric Goody which is more of a series of sound concepts and as he points out in the liner notes it represents his experimental side. And it does. Really for die hard fans though, this one.

The Revisited remaster also includes a bonus DVD of a Klaus Schulze show which took place in Linz, Austria shortly after the completion of the Dig It Sessions. More of a publicity stunt although he prefers to call it a multi media event, it included live sounds being made by workers in the local VOEST-ALPINE steel works by means of a live telephone feed. A bit off the deep end and ecclectic it nevertheless will appeal to fans of such collossal events which have also been staged by the likes of Vangelis and Jean- Michel Jarre. A booklet with freaked out computer generated artwork and liner notes by Schulze himself completes this comprehensive package.

A wonderous sonic voyage of discovery and futuristic visions Schulze builds more castles in the sky on Dig It. Certainly one of his best recordings and a must have for afficiados which was created at a time when Schulze was standing on the threshold of a new dawn, gazing into a crystal ball of different possibilities with which expound his intrinsic art. Masterful.

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