ulrich schnauss - 'goodbye' [third lp, finally]

Lifted from his myspace page:

  Quote

Ulrich's third album, Goodbye, is his first for Independiente. It is also the end of a chapter in his sound. "I see these three albums as moving closer to something I wanted to do right from the beginning but didn't quite manage," he says. "Merging songwriting and indie elements with electronic music. I've tried to take all the ideas to the maximum."

 

So the ambient tracks are more spacious, the songs more memorable, the multi-layered, guitar-heavy tracks more ragingly psychedelic. Just listen to the obliterating rush of Medusa, or the cloudbusting dream-pop of Stars (performed by long-time collaborator Judith Beck). At times, there are over 100 different audio tracks playing simultaneously: a tower of song. No wonder Goodbye has taken three solid years of in the studio.

 

If Ulrich hailed from somewhere less boring, things might have been different. Fortunately, he was born in 1977 in Kiel, an unprepossessing city on Germany's Baltic coast best known for its naval base. It seemed to the young Ulrich as if everything important was happening elsewhere.

 

Like its predecessors, Goodbye constructs its own world, vast and vivid. When he's making music, Ulrich sees colours: one song might be red, another blue. Next time, he wants to "record an album based on more traditional electronic music structures - which could enable me to merge all these different influences beyond recognition"

I think this particular passage has only recently been added to his page (since I last checked, anyways).

The two bits in bold that I've highlighted are what I found most interesting. From what I've heard of his new album so far, coupled with his most recent remix work, I'm not surprised that Ulrich is 'ending a chapter' in some aspects of his sound. I know a few people aren't so enthusiastic about the direction he's moving in, but I like it, and it hasn't really come as any great surprise on my part, as all the signs have been that he's choosing to change his sound.

His next album sounds very interesting indeed, and I'll be keen to see where he wants to take his musical journey, particularly how he says he's going to merge his different influences into 'traditional electronic music structures'.

What I have heard of this is pretty good. The production on this album is far better, however his sound still has a candy floss sweetness which I can only take so much of. Great stuff though and it's great to see him with another album out.

Fantastic album, haven't stopped listening to it.

right if joyrex says its good ill uby it.

I've had a full weekend of listening to this (and listening to Einfeld as I write this), and I can safely say that this is amongst the best albums I've heard so far this year, perhaps in a while.

Ticks all of the boxes for me that drew me to Ulrich's music in the first place. I'm so glad that I avoided the temptation to download the album when it leaked.

lol, maybe we should put this thread in the BoC subforum

My problem with this new album is that on his first two albums, Ulrich seemed to have developed a really nice little niche style all of his own. What a shame he has felt it necessary to just move in with the shoegaze crowd. We already have enough artists like that. Nothing wrong with that genre at all, I just wonder why he felt he could possibly add anything to it.

Big disappointment.

i feel like he began as the quintessence of a certain sort of electronic music (like herrmann and kleine's "sitting next to you" but x1000), melodic clean drum machine-ish electronic music, and now he's turned into a third-rate shoegaze band

oh... i have this... i didn't know it!

oh, if you look back earlier in the thread, i was recommending 'stars' without reservation, it's the best track on the album ...

it's an okay album overall, i mean don't get me wrong, but it's a big step down from ASIP, which is a big step down from FATPB. 'between us and them' is the epitome of his earlier stuff, just one of the most perfect electronic music tracks ever created. i remember literally calling my friends, in late 2001, and putting the phone up to the speaker so they could hear that track.

you're right about the production getting sort of cheesy as of ASIP, and that's continued in full force with 'goodbye', is the problem

its good album very easy listenable

lol

I bought this because it reminded me of MBV and now I don't like it so much for that very reason. Its a shoegaze album, but a little bit off. Sometimes I find it a bit bland. Its decent though.

edit: I really like the first track off of the Quicksand EP. Its why I bought the album. I think Look At The Sky (Rob McVey Version) is better than anything on Goodbye.

I think Manual is a little more adept at doing the shoegaze / electronic thing these days (apart from actual bands like Auburn Lull, Mahogany, Hammock, etc). I like to listen to Ulrich once and a while but I agree, his production does sound a bit too clean and the sounds he uses are kind of cheese sometimes. I'm not as eager to hear the new stuff as I was a while back...

strange, his first album sounds no less cheesy to me than this. just a different kind of cheese.

also, i hate when people compare things to mbv, because they never sound remotely like mbv. this is like third rate slowdive, primarily the softer electronic tracks (which i was never a fan of, honestly) that appear as bonuses on the american version of souvlaki.

I compare things to mbv all the time because its really the only shoegaze band I'm into. I prolly shouldn't have made the comparison here. I don't think the album sounds like mbv at all but that first track on the ep is pretty lush. my bad

Goodbye is very solid but nothing incredibly original. Enjoyable listening, but I agree with everyone who perceived a letdown from his previous two albums. When someone sets the bar high early, it sorta sucks for the rest of their career.

'His new one isn't as good as... (insert older work here)'

That has to get old.

its just those two singing tracks that are bad the rest is really quite nice the singing is just terrible to be honest especially judith

heh i just came across this new remix of his by accident, i figured someone might wanna grab it:

Mark Gardener - The Story Of The Eye (Ulrich Schnauss Mix)

is nice!

  zaphod said:

strange, his first album sounds no less cheesy to me than this. just a different kind of cheese.

oh, i wouldn't deny that ... like i tend to get embarrassed whenever 'far away trains' comes up on my ipod while my friends are in the car. but it's still very beautiful music, as opposed to his recent stuff, which just bores me

  Quote

also, i hate when people compare things to mbv, because they never sound remotely like mbv. this is like third rate slowdive, primarily the softer electronic tracks (which i was never a fan of, honestly) that appear as bonuses on the american version of souvlaki.

i think 'mbv' has become shorthand for 'loveless' which has become shorthand for 'shoegaze as a whole,' but of course you're right