(2020) Harald Grosskopf - Synthesist [40th Anniversary Edition]


Review:
40th anniversary edition of a late kosmiche evergreen, spruced up with a bonus disc of remixes by peers and antecedents of Grosskopf and his glittering solo classic debut of 1980 for the legendary Sky label. First emerging at the cusp of a new dawn when the Berlin schule krautrock and kosmiche music that Grosskopf pioneered as drummer and keyboardist with Ashra Tempel, Ashra and Cosmic Jokers gave way to new age synth movements, Synthesist paralleled this phase shift with a lissom hybrid of rolling motorik drumming and liquid analogue arps that, with hindsight, feel a bit like the missing link between Tangerine Dream and his bandmate Manuel Göttsching’s E2-E4 and the UK’s sound of NWW/Pump/Colin Potter and their inspirational ilk. Released at the latter end of Krautrock’s golden years ’Synthesist’ perhaps escaped canonical praise until 2010s and RVNG Intl’s reissue which reignited a lot of interest, thanks to its striking cover and sleekly future-proofed sort of nostalgia which has found its way into a lot of record collections since then. This new edition still glows with timeless energy in highlights such as the beaming title track and the ecstatic roil of ‘Transcendental Overdrive’, which the new batch of remixers feed off in abundance.





Tracklist:



Media Report:
Genre: ambient, electronic
Source: CD
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits