Retro-Music Pretending to be of the Past

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   I've been thinking about modern non-parody artists who create music as if it were from another time, and create a backstory, a myth, that still puzzles people.

There is, for instance, Kosmischer Läufer, which released The Secret Cosmic Music of the East German Olympic Program 1972-83: Volume One to Four between 2013 and 2018.

A mythos has been created that is elaborate to go along with the music.  See: http://www.kosmischerlaufer.com/biography/

 kosmischerlaufer.com wrote:

In East Germany in the early 1970’s Martin Zeichnete worked as a sound editor for DEFA, (Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft), the state-owned film studio. Like many young East Germans of the time he would listen furtively to West German radio at night and became infatuated with the Kosmische Musik or ‘Krautrock’ epitomised by the likes of Kraftwerk, Neu! and Cluster emerging from his neighbouring country. Martin, a keen runner, hit upon the idea of using the repetitive, motorik beats of this new music as a training aid for athletes. He thought it could benefit the mind as well as the body with the pulsing, hypnotic music bringing focus. A ‘borrowed’ prototype of Andreas Pavel’s Stereobelt showed Martin the technology to provide music on the move already existed and could easily be adapted for runners.

After sharing his concept with colleagues Martin was taken from his studio to East Berlin, quizzed by the authorities about his ideas and, fearing the worst, was surprised to find himself put to work by the Nationales Olympisches Komitee immediately. Installed in a cold Berlin studio with the few electronic instruments the state could supply, (Martin asked for a Moog but was refused), he began one of the strangest journeys in music. Known to the government as State Plan 14.84L, Martin and his fellow musicians informally called it ‘Projekt Kosmischer Läufer’ (Cosmic Runner).

For the next 11 years Martin would be spirited to Berlin to work on tracks with little notice. He created hours of music fusing traditional rock instruments with synthesizers, early drum computers, tape slicing and looping techniques he and his engineer formulated themselves. His output included tracks for running at various paces, warm up pieces, ‘ambient’ music to play in gyms during training and pieces for artistic gymnastic routines.

People still question the identity of the actual artist, and whether it was of that 70s through early 80s time.  It's something of an elaborate hoax, but whether it was true or not, I find the musical marvelous.  A lot of thought has been put not only into composing the music, but also into creating a sort of mythology.

Also of the same time-period (this decade) and making German and other inspired electronic music is Klaus Morlock, who created the original 1970s soundtrack for the folk-horror film Bethany's Cradle and various others, purportedly. 

See https://folkhorrorrevival.com/2016/11/28/review-klaus-morlock-bethanys-cradle/

 folkhorrorrevival wrote:

For those unfamiliar with the background, Bethany’s Cradle is one of Italian director Angelo Ascerbi’s great, lost works. Shot in the English Lake district and based on a script by Antonio Baresi and made mainly using English actors. The film was financed by the equally shadowy Lupus Pictures, known for cult Euro Horror’s  like  “Blood Of The Limping” and the “Seduction Of The Beast”. Bethany’s Cradle tells the story of a young woman, Bethany, an apparent virgin who nevertheless becomes pregnant, and her involvement with a strange cult who carry out their rituals on the banks of Lake Windermere in the very heart of the Lake District. As a teenager growing up in Cumbria, I have a very clear memory of a feature in the Cumberland News at the time of the filming. As I recall, local extras were being sought for scenes to be shot in the Cumbrian market town of Penrith. Accompanying the piece were some shots of director Ascerbi posing with Eleanor “Ray” Bone, the witch of Blindcrake, who was apparently “advising” Ascerbi on certain key scenes within the film.

For reasons that are still unclear, production on the film was halted after an altercation between Ascerbi and Lupus pictures boss, Billy Wolf.

Undeterred Morlock continued with the score, which finally saw the light of day later in 1979 with a very limited vinyl release through Lambent Records. Copies of this being so rare, that five figure sums are now expected on the occasions that a copy comes onto the market. Fortunately for us Mr. Morlock’s curator has managed to acquire a serviceable copy of this super rare vinyl and effected a very high quality digital transfer, which I am delighted to report captures all the warmth and crackle of the original recording.

So, onto the content:

We begin with an opening title theme in the classic seventies euro horror style that makes some clear nods to both the maestro Morricone and the workhorse sounds of Fabio Frizzi. Eventually the piece mutates into a throbbing synth driven chase scene in the classic Tangerine Dream, sequencer epic style style. It’s here that Morlock deploys both the ARP Odyssey as well as the mighty CS80, later made famous by Vangelis in the score to Blade Runner. Next up is a total change of style, with a wistful solo piano piece; Bethany’s Solitude. Here we find a strange mixture of lounge jazz and almost Satie like dreaminess. An unexpectedly beautiful little piece. Bethany’s Dream finds us back in familiar Morlock territory, fusing spiraling guitars and Melotron that eventually fade into a wall of analog delay. This then leads us into Cumbrian Twilight, starting with ominous synths, this slowly builds around a driving drum machine pattern as more and more elements are added, the piece lightens before suddenly grinding to an ominous halt.

Farewell Letter, is a short piece for guitars that is in turn charming and hypnotic. Next up we have the hard synth piece, Cloudburst. Once again this has the feel of Frizzi or Carpenter, though the disco like beats date this quite firmly in the late seventies. Not even Klaus Morlock could avoid the need for disco in a soundtrack in 1979. However, Morlock is unafraid to pull the rug from under us and abruptly this synth piece dissolves into something else altogether, a beautiful lullaby recalling the opening theme. What follows next seems to predate the kind of music that Richard James would peddle under the name Aphex Twin so successfully on his selected Ambient works albums. Here, in The Draughty Church, the full might of the CS 80 is deployed in a majestic piece of what I can only describe as “proto-electronica”. This is prime Morlock, with drifting glacial synthesisers overlaying a driving bass line, all of which slowly morphs a wall of deeply unsettling synth textures and ambient winds. Next up is Village Messenger, and it’s here that the album moves from synth and prog territory into full on chiming folk horror. A simple guitar motif and hand drums conjure up images of pagan rituals being practiced on the shore of Lake Windermere in the early morning light of mid summer. Then, almost immediately, the mood changes again and birdsong and synthesisers lead us into the The Shadow Garden. No-one else conveys innocence and threat quite so effectively. Bethany’s Departure builds on this, opening with melancholy keyboards this too becomes gradually more sinister, the unease palpable as the synthesisers build upon each other, emphasizing the growing horror of the film’s resolution. We can only assume this was a film with no happy ending.

And finally we come to the closing theme, the most experimental piece of the album. Synths and reversed guitars intertwine in an oddly musical chaos, achieved no doubt by the use of multiple Studer multi-track tape machines, inexpertly synced together by Morlock himself.

So, where does this stand in the Morlock canon? Stylistically it’s a progression from earlier soundtracks: The Bridmore Lodge Tapes and the Child Garden, while taking in some of the more prog, psych and folk rock elements of the longer form releases Penumbra and Virgin Spring. Simply put, if like me you are Morlock obsessive, you have to have this release. Even in this digital format it is pure sonic wonderment. This is music that deserves to be heard, not hoarded in a private record collection. One can only hope that Klaus Morlock’s curator continues to unearth more releases for the benefit of his many fans.

Review by Jonathan Sharp.

See https://aumegaproject.jimdo.com/artists/morlock-klaus/

 aumegaproject wrote:

Klaus Morlock who originally worked under the name "Harold Legg", is an English born German Composer, Musical Storyteller and a real Electronic Music Wizard, who lives currently in Los Angeles.

His Music Career starts in young years as Piano Player for Bars and also for the Hilton Hotel. In the early Seventies, after some Band Experiences and a few Solo Recordings, he got the Chance to do the first Movie Score, what he finished so Great that he was commissioned to do more, over the years . At the time he is primarily known for his Electronic based Compositions, for his Solo Works and his Soundtracks for various 1970s European Horror Movies, of which several of them reached the Cult status and be Loved til today, not at least because of the Phantastic, Surrealistic, Phantasmagorian Atmospheric Soundtracks. Klaus Morlock is also known because of the Folk Horror Revival, the never dying interest of the people in the Real and Psychedelic Horror Genre, the Hauntology Music Movement, the Occult Psychedelia and because of the Collaboration with Villa 9 Studio.

Some of the Soundtracks, like "The Goatman" a Cult Horror Classic and Folk Horror Film Legend from 1973 by Simon Grundig, or "Mary" from 1977, recorded with Simon Magus, under the name The Unseen
...

 But Klaus Morlock also worked constantly alone, for Movies like the 1977 Erotic Horror "The Three Faces of Janice", by Italian director Claudio Ascerbi, or for Angelo Ascerbi's sadly abandoned Occult Horror "Bethany's Cradle" from 1979, one of the true “Holy Grail” Soundtracks of Seventies Folk Horror.

The Film was abandoned but the Score was released on Vinyl in 1979, years later the LP was  Re-released on Vinyl, CD and MC and in 2015, fortunately also on Aumega Project.

The Film tells the story of Bethany, a virgin who becomes pregnant after involved with a Mysterious Cult who do strange Occult Rituals near Lake Windermere in the English Lake District, the Movie contains some of the most Evocative Scenes in the history of Folk Horror Cinema. Klaus Morlock who lived in Germany at that time, was commissioned to write the Soundtrack. Working from the first draft of Baresi’s screenplay, Morlock recorded the majority of the score in his Home Studio, a converted barn on the outskirts of Cologne....

https://forestpunk.wordpress.com/2018/10/02/horrorscores-klaus-morlock-the-three-faces-of-janice-ost/

 forestpunk wrote:

The Three Faces Of Janice is the soundtrack for 1977’s pastoral giallo erotic thriller by famed electronic wizard Klaus Morlock. Or it would be, however, if Lupus Pictures Ltd. and director Claudio Ascerbi had actually existed. Or maybe they did, and there’s just no record of them?

And since I'm big on folk-horror, there is also this:

Thorsten Schmidt's "Hereford Wakes: Music From The TV Series"

Quote from https://herefordwakes.bandcamp.com/releases

 A five-part ITV children’s drama originally transmitted over the summer of 1972 and produced by Harlech Television based in Wales.

Set in a village outside Hereford the story follows the preparations for the annual Wakes event but dark forces are unleashed when the organisers decide to build a ‘Witch’s Hat’ ride on an ancient burial mound.

Roy Kinnear plays Mayor Hamilton who wants the Wakes event to go ahead in spite of warnings from local newspaper reporter Jane Meadows (Elisabeth Sladen). Also attempting to avert disaster are young white witch Heddwen (Camila Vargas) and visiting archaeologist Robbie Duggan (Iain Tranter).

The series' obscurity is explained by the fact that a Welsh Nationalist transmission engineer deliberately confined the broadcast of the programme to Wales, failing to perform the switch required and thus enabling the Welsh language programme ‘Ffalabalam’ to be shown on the nationwide ITV network whilst ‘Hereford Wakes’ was shown only in Wales.

A combination of luck and coincidence led to us being able to contact a relative of the composer and so we're delighted to present the music from Hereford Wakes for the first time.

Except there is no serious evidence that it ever existed, and this was released in 2016.

So, there must be many such examples, do you have any such cases that you know and like of recent years?

Edited by Logan - November 02 2019 at 13:29