PICTURE MUSIC

Picture Music is where Klaus Schulze started to become more accessible (used loosely here) and is a direct predecessor to some of his most important and popular work. Irrlicht and Cyborg were mostly dominated by constant droning with small additions of sounds from electronic experimentation - Picture Music builds from this same foundation, but packs the music full of progressive tendencies and clearer melodic lines.

"Totem" at first sounds like the music from the previous albums, but eventually develops into a heavy Tangerine Dream-meets-India type electro-bass synth groove accentuated by organic ethnic percussion. Klaus Schulze shows us that past his electronic experimental compositions, he's still a krautrock drummer.

"Mental Door" doesn't contain any of the percussion or speed from the first track, but it is very mellow and sounds like it could've been on Tangerine Dream's Phaedra. Very cold and spacey, much like an improved version of Schulze's previous works. This is a fine mellow ending for an album that started with sheer electro-ethnic energy.

Picture Music definitely beats the previous two albums in accessibility and sonic experimentation, which is fantastic. If Irrlicht and Cyborg were too droney and uneventful for you, Picture Music is a great place to start.