Moondawn

Moondawn, from 1976, is often cited as the first Klaus Schulze album to fully embrace the so-called “Berlin School” style of cosmic synth music, but it’s not a radical departure from his previous work. The sequencer pulses and gently shimmering melodies are there; the two side-long tracks (“Floating” and “Mindphaser”) evolve as patiently as ever… In fact, though, Moondawn has a lot more rhythmic drive and rock energy than some other Schulze records, thanks to the return of live drums, played here by Harald Grosskopf rather than Schulze himself. In the final third of “Mindphaser,” Grosskopf gets shockingly close to playing a drum solo(!) as Schulze lays down wave after wave of synth energy.