Robert Schroeder is a second-generation German electronic artist who - at least on his early albums - is firmly rooted in the tradition of the Berlin School. Born in 1955, Schroeder is almost ten years younger than Klaus Schulze, who was his most important source of inspiration at the beginning of his musical development. In the second half of the 1970s, Schroeder, who earned his money with a mail order business for electronic components, kits, recording studio equipment and self-developed synthesizer modules, was apparently an ardent admirer of Schulze. He named his son, born in 1978, Klaus and he was able to get Schulze, who also purchased "building materials" from Schroeder, as his godfather. A tape of his own music that Schroeder sent to Schulze ultimately led to the production of Harmonic Ascendant, Schroeder's recording debut, which was released in 1979 on Schulze's IC label. His career since then spans over 40 albums and projects. Robert also produces music for film, video games and industry. Since 2005 Robert released 25 albums on the Spheric Music Label. His latest release for this label has the title D.MO Vol. 5. The D.MO series is already a tradition. Four CDs have been released in Robert Schroeder's D.MO series since 1998, with D-Mo simply being the abbreviation for demo recordings. Despite the countless releases, Schroeder apparently still has many pieces up his sleeve that didn't make it onto an album. This isn't due to poor quality, but simply to the fact that the tracks simply didn't fit the albums produced at the time. D.MO Vol.5 includes nine different pieces, which is probably due to the considerable period of time that begins in 1979 and only ends in the 90s. The year information for the individual pieces is not available. The songs on this album sound most of the time rather relaxed and mellow and are mainly performed on the synthesizers and rhythm boxes. However on four tracks you can hear several guitar parts as well. They certainly make the compositions more adventuress. First you can hear Robert himself playing very well on Lovely Guitar. Furthermore you can enjoy two recordings with guitarist Daniel Deutschle on Session-1 With Daniel and Session-2 With Daniel. The last title is more up tempo compared to the other tracks. Finally you can listen to Between Day And Night, which was created with the participation of guitarist Gerdi Rudolf. You might think that D.MO Vol.5 is a complete instrumental album. But that's not completely true. Strangely enough on Moments Of Love you can hear a female singer (name not mentioned) in a way like you can hear on The Great Gig In The Sky taken from The Dark Side Of The Moon. Released by Pink Floyd in 1973. As for the music it can't be compared to this band at all. But the wordless vocal parts certainly makes sure there is enough variety on this composition. In a way you could say that D.MO Vol.5 is a very varied compilation that shows great diversity in the subgenre of harmonic electronic music. However don't expect fast up tempo sequencer parts or strong synthesizer solos on this release. The album is labelled as Berliner School, Ambient, Chill Out and Finest Electronic Music. I guess this covers it all. Listening tip: Optional Space and Lovely Guitar! *** Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
