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Big in Japan is the double CD plus DVD release by Klaus Schulze - drawn from his performances in Tokyo on the 20th and 21st of March 2010. This multi-disc set provides all the "playing in the moment" excitement listeners love in their live albums, yet also delivers the powerful and lasting listening experience one would expect from a musical legend. While areas of this recording date back to the 1970s and the very dawn of Spacemusic (where Schulze was a signal spirit), the works on Big in Japan feel very fresh. Fans of his classic sequencer pieces will welcome Schulze's re-imagining of his epic "Crystal Lake" - as well as the dramatic atmosphere, sustaining choir fantasies and synthetic textures that build throughout. The more kinetic sections offer pulsing arpeggio patterns entwined with driving drum beats, all winding out beneath reckless synth lead lines. Bringing nearly 50 years of experience with him to Tokyo for these performances, Schulze possesses a rare insight into this style of electronic music - and (certainly at this stage in his long career) understands the sense of summation art can bring.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 3 February 2011 |
