Klaus Schulze - Shadowlands (2013)

Klaus Schulze is a founding member of Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, two seminal bands in the evolution of synthesizer-based electronic music. Shadowlands contains just five tracks over 2 CDs, and as we've come to expect from Schulze, look for plenty of mind expanding explorations into space and loads of calming tranquility. The near 57 minute "The Rhodes Violin" offers up soothing, at times fluttering synth washes, brief spoken word vocals, and a myriad of ethnic Middle Eastern instruments. The epic title track opts for more menace, and will remind some of the early Tangerine Dream material, complete with ominous synth & Mellotron sounds plus those Middle Eastern influences. You'll even find some intriguing space rock mixed with programmed dance rhythms on the intriguing "In Between". With well over 2 hours of material on Shadowlands, there's a lot too digest, and unless you are a real fan of electronic/ambient/space rock, some of this will wear out its welcome pretty quickly, but for those who have followed Schulze throughout this career and don't mind some well executed exploratory sounds, there's plenty to dig into here.

Tracks:

CD 1:
01. Shadowlights 41:19
02. In Between 17:07
03. Licht und Schatten 17:27

CD 2:
01. The Rhodes Violin 55:29
02. Tibetan Loops 17:51