Hi, 

I'm looking for bands to listen to that sound very like Tangerine Dream. This could be both old bands that have passed me by or new bands that are producing very TD-like music.

I'm not interrested in how bands are categorized or pigeonholed. So it makes no difference to me if they are called Ambient, New Age or Electronica as long as they sound very like TD. 

Thanks

I like them all (some of them are a little hard to find mostly early 80-cassette releases. But most is easy to check out on youtube):

Zanov

Cosmic Hoffmann

Ian Boddy

Mark Shreeve

Winterstormer

Clara Mondshine

Adelbert von Deyen

Earthstar

Colin Potter

...and yes I too like the already mentioned Redshift

-usually for those with extensive discographies, earlier material is a better place to start than later (as in most genres).

Appreciate it Dave, but it won't play in my country

Wow! That's a great set-up.

@Dave: Looks like the setup of Larry Fast, the guy behind Synergy ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul91n4okszA

To stay with the thread: Not sure if Synergy counts like a TD similiar band/project, but it's definitely very electronical

R.

Artists like Klaus Schulze, Ashra, Peter Bauman, Cluster, Popol Vuh, Steve Roach, Pete Namlook, Harmonia, Brian Eno, Neu!, Manuel Göttsching, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Edgar Froese, Michael Hoenig, Redshift, Harold Grosskopf, Radio Massacre Internatinal, Wolfgang Riechmann, Node, You, Neuronium, Zanov, Cultural Noise and tons of others all fit the bill. 

Sounds like Tangerine Dream is a very vague question since their early stuff sounds nothing like much of the later stuff. They have released over 100 studio albums alone, so a more specific era will yield more specific results. I just cited the 70s period after the early Kraut albums. I assume you mean like "Phaedra" or "Rubycon."

BTW, many of these artists are similar but very few are more accomplished. TD were the cream of the crop. Only Klaus Schulze, Neu!  and Cluster are as interesting and in the top tier status in my world. (unless i'm forgetting someone!)

If it's the sequencer-driven sound you like (vs the droning spacey stuff), you might try:

• Arc (DiN45)
  
• Cosmic Ground
• Node (DiN44)
  

http://synthsequences.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow - http://synthsequences.blogspot.com/

The specific genre (e.g Berlin School, Cosmic, etc) is given right below the track listings.

Impressive rig, mate! 

Logan wrote: The first one I thought of has already been mentioned: Michael Hoenig for Departure from the Northern Wasteland which is Phaedra-like.

 

A wonderful album, definitely "Phaedra meets Ricochet" territory. Essential.

Well, I have an extensive collection of electronic music. Which "era" of TD do you prefer? Do you have a favorite line-up?

This is a very underrated, overlooked Berlin School album from 1985. For me, it's Software's best. Try it on a Sunday morning. 

Zombi's recent albums Escape Velocity and Shapeshift, and their excellent Anthology release which collects early recordings, should satisfy any TD fan.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1295" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1295

Yes I have heard JMJ and live and tbh I don't think he sounds at all like TD. I shall deffo check out Radio Massacre International.

WOW!!!!!    That's exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking for. I'm still listening to it now.  Thak you so much. I knew I could rely on people here to hook me up.

Yes, that is bloody good as well.

Oh, this is my fav suggestion so far. Where is this group from? Sounds cold and nordic.

Thanks for the list, I shall investigate over the weekend. 

Thanks for the tip. But no thanks, that soulds like instrumental AOR to me. Not my bag at all.

Thanks, you are so right, sometimes we can't see the wood for the trees. 

Thanks I'll check them out.

Oh yea man, Hoenig is definitely my cup of tea. 

From Phaedra onwards really, but not everything. Phaedra, Tyger,Rubicon, Quantum Gate/Key ,Stratosfear, Hyperborea, The Angel of the West Window are all favourites. 

I avoid the very upbeat albums with rocky,funky,fusiony beats. I much prefer the "new age" end of TD. To give you an idea of some TD albums I don't like: Le Parc, Finnegan's Wake, Tangram, Encore, Zeit, Cyclone, Force Majuere, Exit, White Eagle.

That is fantastic! Exactly the type of stuff I like.

Thanks for the tips. But all too fast and rocky for me.

siLLy puPPy wrote: With over a hundred studio albums WHY do you even need to bother looking for other bands?

Oh no you didn't! Did you just ask the forbidden question of a music collector on a music forum?

The answer as you know is always N+1.  

I do have SILLY in my name for a reason 

Norway. I believe it's a solo project.

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Radio Massacre International maybe?

 

Yes, someone mentioned them on page 1, so now with two suggestions I must listen to them. 

http://samuelcadima.bandcamp.com" rel="nofollow - https://samuelcadima.bandcamp.com

I saw them live once. Very good performance. They did an album that was a tribute to Syd Barret called "rain falls in grey."

I would prefer to suggest that no one, sounds like TD, and no one has really transformed and learned the synthesizer from DAY 1 to the day that Edgar Froese died, like they did. 

Many of the folks mentioned did not have the "symphonic" sound (as I call it) that TD had, which they developed further yet, in the 90's by adding Linda Spa and Iris Camaa and later Yoshiko. In the last 5 of 6 years, the performances on DVD show how clearly well rehearsed and develop their music is, and the layers of it, only rivals someone like Klaus Schulze that has so many layers going at one time, that it can drive you silly trying to work them out.

Some folks, like AshRa Tempel (later Ashra), Cluster, Popol Vuh, Namlook, Gottsching (he is.was Ashra Tempel and Ashra), Grosskopf, neuronium and others, were in the early days, quite experimental, and it was something like TD's ATEM, and then PHAEDRA, that immediately showed a melodic/classical style of using the synthesizer, and very few folks have really worked on properly and with dedicated reason. I would suggest Larry Fast did really well, and a few others ... however, comparing all of these is a very difficult and time consuming exercise, that kinda starts and ends with them using the same equipment, however, only two folks, really went out of their way and everyone else's to do something with it that no one else did ... and they were TD and Klaus Schulze.

I, personally, do not like to exclude something like the Cosmic Couriers, because they took this style and expanded it to rock music, although so much of it is mentioned today as some kind of drug trip that the folks that put it together did not realize was going to be released ... something that I find a bit weird, but there were, in there, some wonderful things that stand out, even then complete different from what KS and TD went on to do, but in those days, of early Ashratempel, LS was a part of them, and later the first several albums without KS were also magnificent (specially New Age of Earth), which kinda gave away the cleverness and the use of the synthesizer, that had its mechanics so well "disguised" (not really, just well designed unlike Dave's suggestions!), whereas the use of the instrument is much "simpler", and yet it comes off very well and setup beautifully, specially on that album! 

The majority of those folks, remained an experiment that never went away, and many of them, specially Brian Eno, were outstanding, and came up with completely different things, that were not exactly synthesizer defined or designed, specially in loops and their integration, something that KS went on to develop to an insane level ... catch the DVD that has an interview with his and some engineers, working on a segment in one piece, that you and I would not even notice! It will show you the layers and how well developed they are, and how much more some of these can be fooled around with.

JMJ fits a different mold for the synthesizer. I consider him a "classical" musician, except that his orchestra is a bunch of synthesizers and he has developed some wonderful pieces of music that stand out and sound magnificent, but unlilke TD and KS, he is not an originator of the instrument, although he is one that helped show how well you could use the instrument to create various layers of "classical music" on your own piece of music. 

I like to suggest that the really early ones, the experimental ones, are more than anything turning a "knob" slowly. Remember that in those days, that sound was so new and experimental and the idea was to feel that sound and how it affected you, which of course led to a series/sequence of sounds, that we call ... MUSIC. Today, no one, not even Dave, is capable of doing that and making it last and an important part of his music, which like many of his contemporaries today, is defined and designed around a beat, and not necessarily the sound itself.

And that "sound" feel and study, is the difference. If you are into the sound and feel of it, you will be looking for a lot longer, because many of these suggestions won't quite fit, what you might be looking for. If you are looking for a sound that is somewhat classical in its compositional style and sense, then the number improves, and TD is probably the best there is in that department. I think Larry Fast fits also, but the rest I am not so sure they fit, although I admit not listening to them as organically and energetically as I do these more important ones. For example I do not  dislike Pete Namlook but his work is not nearly as valuable or important to my feelings as some think. Maybe his style just did not click with me, but it feels "industrial" and "controlled", as opposed to the originals, that you hardly could tell where the sound was going, even if this knob only went this way (and some folks like Dave know it!), and it took 3 minutes and its sound in between was fiddled with even more! Namlook, for me, was too mechanical, and TD, even though they were the SEQUENCER kings, and probably the ones that developed it the most and best, was never that mechanical, specially sound wise ... the music continued to develop, even if a theme returned.

Not sure I can explain my feelings on all this any better ... my apologies if the wording seems somewhat confusing, but this is the best I can come up with.

^ Yep, i stated above the saem thing. No one sounds like TD but our friend is a music addict ( like me ) so the hunt continues 

 

Maybe check out Gert Emmens or Gert Emmens & Ruud Heij

Okay, now I have some reference points. Very surprised you don't like Exit and White Eagle, though. "Remote Viewing" is one of the best ambient tracks I've ever heard, while "Mojave Plan" is one of TD's best side-long epics!

LAM-SGC wrote: Thanks for the tips. But all too fast and rocky for me.

 

Try these instead. Zombi covers all the bases. No drumkit, just kick. Wonderful sequencer piece.

Steve Moore has a number of solo albums to his credit, and I wager you're going to like those better. Here are two from his album Light Echoes.

A Jarre-flavored ditty from Primitive Neural Pathways.

...and if you don't like this pair of eccentricities from Pangaea Ultima, I don't know what to tell you! (:

hellogoodbye wrote: Richard is not welcome here, but anytime at home.

 

should I be offended

anyway Neuronium not been mentioned by the looks of it. Heritage is a classic TD like album.

...

From the Netherlands http://rewo.bandcamp.com" rel="nofollow - René van der Wouden.
Lots of music available on bandcamp.

Davesax1965 wrote: Tangerine Dream doesn't sound like Tangerine Dream after 1980, in my opinion. ;-)

 

They don't sound like Tangerine Dream from '70-80, either. 

Electronic Meditation.

Zeit.

Stratosfear.

Cyclone.

Force Majeure.

Tangram.

^Sounds like six different bands right there! 

Tangerine Dream is simply Tangerine Dream. 

Robert Rich - Filaments

To me, this is the closest thing to Phaedra / Rubycon era I've ever listened.

Have you heard Arc's Fracture? It's fantastic! Here's the epic track, "Rapture"—the long-lost son of Rubycon.

That's a great album.

I do not think that anyone else did, either. I kinda think of ALPHA CENTAURI as the album that they were trying to figure out the equipment they had, and in ATEM they had already learned how to make something of those sounds to create visual passages.

While your technical expertise is phenomenal, Dave, the only think that I want to comment on, is that in those days, they knew nothing, and came up with something ... you know a lot, and your music, by comparison in my EARS (only) is not as VISUAL or as well ILLUMINATED in terms of its FLOW, and the difference is quite strong. 

As I mentioned before, just like those TD first albums (skip EM), the material they did was not about a beat, and it was more about learning about the sounds and what some of the equipment could or could not do ... you obviously can figure out the details of its use, but I doubt that another million of us can come close to understanding the majority of your technical comments! 

It's like your discussing astrophysics and not music!

Is that all there is to the "music"? I suppose that many folks said the same thing about many "new" instruments in the past 500 years as you have ... 

Perhaps I should paraphrase the posts above. ;-)

"Any band which uses the same equipment as Tangerine Dream will inevitably sound like Tangerine Dream. The equipment they used is very inflexible and deviation is pretty difficult. 

It's quite hard to get an exact "early TD" sound, but easy to get something which is similar". 

"TD were lucky to have some very rare hardware at a time when it was massively expensive and scarce. The first few albums were just experimental messing around but by 74 or 75, they had their act together and produced some very competent stuff. This isn't to denigrate or inflate them, merely to observe what they were doing."

There y'go. ;-)

Dave, you're correct in saying Froese was not a master "of the synthesizer." His strength was as a composer. He came up with melodies that I've heard no other musician cook up, and that part of Tangerine Dream is far harder to emulate than the equipment! (Franke was the guy with the sound sample archive.)

Back in the '90s, there was (still is) an active crop of UK electronic musicians (not Shreeve, Boddy or Pickford) who were regarded as churning out quality EM. Album after album, I was repeatedly disappointed. They had the sounds...but they certainly didn't have the music. (There were some good albums, nonetheless; I liked what I heard from Bekki Williams, for example.) So I'd just return to Shreeve, since he's still the best electronic musician I've heard come from the UK! Firemusic, Assassin, Legion, Crash Head...amazing stuff. But overall the German emulators of the 1980s were more successful, if they took fewer risks.

Tom Ozric wrote: I think the guys who did the soundtrack to Stranger Things owe a lot to Tangerine Dream.

 

Absolutely. Did you know the current iteration of Tangerine Dream recorded a version of the theme?

Hey guys, after long reading time here as a guest please let me jump into the topic 'cause i couldn't resist.

Let me introduce me shortly:

I am native German living in Centroamerica for 13 years now.

I have grown up with BERLIN SCHOOL GENRE from the early beginning.

please let me introduce you to MIRKO LIETGE and FRANK KLARE from Berlin formed the Duo SYNCO in the mid 80ties and 90ties.

Mirko and Frank have bought used equipment from Edgar Froese - the Moog modular Systems on their Album Covers are orginal TD equipment - i have seen this with my own eyes on private visits. they have made 6 albums so far performing strictly Berlin School Music.

there's only one video of SYNCO on YT so far what doesn't really express their work:

his companion FRANK KLARE after disbanding has made also more than 11 Albums in Berlin School genre.

you will like this one :-)

furtherly i would like to recommend BERND KISTENMACHER (Berlin) MARIO SCHÖNWÄLDER (Germany for english characters SCHONWALDER) DER LABORANT (Germany), GERT EMMENS and RUUD HEIJ (Netherlands). excellent dutch stuff! also SNYTH.NL (Netherlands)

Enjoy Gert Emmens & Ruud Heij

feel free to ask me about if you want more input - i have been part of this szene for some decades and know them all.

I am a progger all live long and i love jazz rock - i have my own blog.

verslibre wrote: So I'd just return to Shreeve, since he's still the best electronic musician I've heard come from the UK! Firemusic, Assassin, Legion, Crash Head...amazing stuff. But overall the German emulators of the 1980s were more successful, if they took fewer risks.

I love his 1980-cassette release Phantom... perhaps the most. The 25-minute "Dark Water" is just one of my favorite piece of electronic music. I wouldn't mistake it for TD though. The sounds are very similar but you can say that about most rock or jazz as well. Like Zanov this has its own voice, personality and atmosphere still.

LAM-SGC wrote: Some feedback. Thanks for all the great suggestions guys. I'm listening to your suggestions every day and discovering other great stuff on Spotify everyday just by clicking on the "fans also like" link, I just needed a few names to get me going. Sadly though quiote a few of the bands aren't avalable on Spotify. Right this minute I'm listening to "Rapture"  by Arc, linked above. Very TD, very Schulze. I like it a lot.

 

Check out the whole album. It's easily their best one!

Saperlipopette! wrote: verslibre wrote: So I'd just return to Shreeve, since he's still the best electronic musician I've heard come from the UK! Firemusic, Assassin, Legion, Crash Head...amazing stuff. But overall the German emulators of the 1980s were more successful, if they took fewer risks. I love his 1980-cassette release Phantom... perhaps the most. The 25-minute "Dark Water" is just one of my favorite piece of electronic music. I wouldn't mistake it for TD though. The sounds are very similar but you can say that about most rock or jazz as well. Like Zanov this has its own voice, personality and atmosphere still.

 

Mark definitely doesn't sound like TD, especially when he shifted into hi-octane mode with Legion (though TD's mid-'80s soundtrack phase with The Park is Mine and Near Dark is kind of in the same ball park).

admireArt wrote: Half the bands on the PE listing sound or rip off TD.

 

What does PE listing mean?

Whilst his style never sounded like TD from 1974-79, their sound whilst he was in the band was pretty much entirely him. His solo albums from 1986's Wuivend Riet through to 2017's Diary of a Common Thread are fantastic and cover a range of styles with a number of little nostalgic snippets and references to his TD work cropping up on numerous albums. 

Also, if you can find a copy of Chris Franke's "Klemania" CD from 1993 that is definitely worth a listen.

Aside from these guys check out this TD tribute act - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58HzmkhaTfI

 

J:)

Jerry1975* wrote: Amazing that I've read through 5 pages of replies to the original question and I can't see that anybody has mentioned Johannes Schmoelling who, from 1980-1985 pretty much WAS Tangerine Dream. Whilst his style never sounded like TD from 1974-79, their sound whilst he was in the band was pretty much entirely him. His solo albums from 1986's Wuivend Riet through to 2017's Diary of a Common Thread are fantastic and cover a range of styles with a number of little nostalgic snippets and references to his TD work cropping up on numerous albums.

I have everything by Johannes, save Zoo of Tranquillity (just can't get into that one) and the newest one he did with Robert Waters (after Jerome left the trio they all had together as Loom).

Johannes' talent and compositional prowess is immense. That said, I didn't mention him because he's a TD alumnus, and the OP wanted stuff that, from my estimation, was closer to pre-1980 TD.

The enlistment of Johannes indeed yielded my favorite era of TD, but we can never discount Edgar's vision and contributions, which are made even more evident by a string of excellent solo albums. Chris' role shifted to a more technical one, but his penchant for sequences can't be diminished, either. What those three made together was pure magic, and there's still much unreleased music in the "vault."

That album is very much "of the time" and not what the OP's looking for. It's too "hyper."

Btw, do you like Arc? I posted a track from Fracture.

I haven't read through the umpteen pages of replies, but have you heard the recent 'Sessions' Cds by the current Tangerine Dream. They are live improvisations, and sound more like mid 70's TD than anything TD has done since the mid 70's..

Braka wrote: I haven't read through the umpteen pages of replies, but have you heard the recent 'Sessions' Cds by the current Tangerine Dream. They are live improvisations, and sound more like mid 70's TD than anything TD has done since the mid 70's.

 

It does, but other groups have been doing just that for many years, already. A Tangerine Dream without Edgar Froese isn't really Tangerine Dream, IMO.

Try using Bandcamp. Lots of good Berlin School there and they even have a tag for it.

Yeah if you only use Spotify you'd miss out on A LOT! - Including the first three Zanov-albums (his two recent comeback albums are also lovely though) which is as good as it gets

On the drone side, but really boring, you can try the Dutch Phrozenlight. There are some dozens of albums downloadable for free on his website

Hoenig toured with Tangerine Dream in 1975 when Peter Baumann took a temporary leave of the group

^