Irrlicht is the solo debut album from Klaus Schulze (originally released in 1972) and is an absolute masterpiece in cosmic, space music. Schulze omitted the use of synthetics for this recording, relying on organ with various electronic effects to produce an absolutely mesmerizing and minimalist body of sounds that transform the listener into a total abstracted world full of mysteries within its almost never-ending spiral. With no electronic pulse and rhythms, just a gloomy and distorted atmosphere this record can easily haunt and hypnotize. Considered by many to be his finest and purest body of work, the new and definitive remastered version on Brain comes with a voucher with mp3 download.
"Irrlicht still has more connections to Musique concrète than with today's electronics. I still never owned a synthesiser at the time." Schulze mainly used a broken and modified electric organ, a recording of a classical orchestra rehearsal played backward, and a damaged amplifier to filter and alter sounds that he mixed on tape into a three-movement symphony.
Irrlicht, despite its highly unconventional nature, was originally released on the prestigious krautrock label Ohr. Because Schulze was signed to them while a member of Tangerine Dream, the label asserted that his solo album belonged to them too; Schulze's reaction was, "I was just glad that Irrlicht was released at all. Any other company would have probably turned me away with this record."