V2 Schneider

The finest German Minimal Synth from the early 80s NDW underground, finally given the deluxe treatment it deserves. Jürgen Schweighart, working under the Bowie-inspired moniker V2 Schneider, was one of the true hidden figures of the Neue Deutsche Welle era - not quite punk, not quite goth, but something altogether more singular and strange. Operating out of basements and towers in the south of Germany with his band Blindgänger, Schweighart created a body of work that sits comfortably alongside the cold wave innovations of DAF, the electronic explorations of Conrad Schnitzler, and the bedroom synth experiments documented on labels like Minimal Wave and Dark Entries.

For this essential retrospective, Schweighart dug through approximately 50 original master tapes, reels and cassettes from 1980 to 1985. The set compiles his official tape releases - Vol. 1 (1981), Blues (1982), Abgrund der Gefühle (1984), Nr.1 in Hong Kong (1985), and After A.I.D.S. Symphony (1985) - alongside previously unreleased demos and outtakes. At the insistence of Vinyl On Demand, none of the tracks were remixed or edited, preserving the authentic lo-fi charm of early cassette culture. The sound world spans chamber-like synth pieces, proto-techno pulsers, and soured synth-pop - all filtered through influences ranging from Kraftwerk and Eno to Wire, Ultravox, and Peter Hammill.

This is music that simply cannot be made anymore - the product of a specific time, place, and technological moment when synthesizers were still mysterious instruments and the cassette underground offered a genuine alternative to mainstream distribution. Three LPs housed in a rigid box set with hand-numbered certificate. Essential listening for devotees of minimal wave, cold wave, and the German electronic underground.