Very strange things

Achievements and merits of the German group Tangerine Dream can be listed for hours. Together with Kraftwerk , they became, if not discoverers of electronic music, then at least its conductors in mass culture. On their account millions of disks sold, soundtracks to more than 60 films and influence on all and all - from David Bowie to Depeche Mode . But perhaps the most unusual thing that Tangerine succeeded Dream (and, probably, no one has succeeded), - having gone through ups, falling and almost complete waste of their own reputation, after 50 years the group was able to be at the peak again. Having survived the death of the permanent leader Edgar Fraza, Tangerine Dream not only continued to work, but also recorded their best album “ Quantum in forty years Gate ” , which the group will present on May 18 at the SKIF festival .

Tangerine history Dream began in the late sixties. Then German music experienced the phase of the search for a new identity-a generation that grew after the war, in a cultural sense, turned out to be clamped between the Anglo-American tradition and homegrown hells. The latter seemed part of the dark past, the first did not suit a foreign phenomenon. The method “from the contrary” cited a group of enthusiasts gathered around the Zodiak art laboratory in West Berlin, to the avant-garde shumia improvisation. Tangerine Dream avoided not only traditional melodies and harmonies, but also the usual rock tools, preferring synthesizers that only appeared in mass production. In fact, it was an art punk-a slap in the face of social taste, the music of protest and nihilism, but not created by a city sleeper, but aesthetes-intellectuals.

The first plates of Tangerine Dream (up to the album “ATEM” (1973)) today are considered a classic of kraut-clock (the Germans themselves do not like this term deservedly, preferring a more capacious definition of Kosmische Musik ), but the group quickly departed from the avant-garde sound. Either a musical education spoke in Edgar Freze, or as part of a noise sound design, the musicians simply became crowded. Be that as it may, starting with the “ Phaedra ” album in Tangerine Dream music, classic, almost Bakho harmonies appear, the forms become more complicated, and the sound becomes pure and transparent. From the camp of Protopanka Freze, comrades are escaping to the worst enemies, to the camp of “progressive” music. The group’s concerts are also radically changing - what has begun as actionism has now turned into monumental shows, reminiscent of either a concert of a classic orchestra or a tour of a mobile scientific laboratory.

The main link between the two reincarnations Tangerine Dream becomes space. Not a single film (artistic or popular science), not a single plot on television dedicated to the cosmos, did without TD music or their colleagues (this style was called the Berlin Electronic School). Even if you have never heard the name Tangerine Dream , their music, quite possibly, entered your cultural baggage somewhere at the level of children's memories. Remember the dreamy murmur of synthesizers, which accompanied reports that Soviet spaceships plow the expanses of the universe? This is it. Of course, they could not pass by such a group in Hollywood. The “sorcerer” of William Fridkin, the “thief” of Michael Mann, “generating fire” by the foreman of Lester based on Stephen King’s novel - it was TD that was written by all these films.

Although in the group all the time was the pronounced leader of Edgar Freze, Tangerine Dream has never been a project of one person. On the contrary, at every moment of time (and the composition of the group was constantly changing, in total, more than 20 musicians passed through TD ) The group was a team where the role of each participant was high. Edgar Freze possessed an amazing talent for the selection of musicians. From the very beginning Tangerine Dream was a kind of talent incubator. Freze almost never invited famous people to a group, but cases when the ex-participants of Tangerine Dream made a big career - mass. Klaus Schulce, Peter Baumann, Christopher Franca, Conrad Schitzler, Johannes Schmölling, film composer Paul Huslinger - all of them at different times went through the TD school.

But, even changing the composition, it is difficult to keep yourself at the peak for more than twenty years. If during the period of work with the Virgin label (1973-1983), each Tangerine disc Dream became a classic, then by the mid -eighties in the life of the groups there are hard times, and the lower peak of the career falls on the nineties. As often happens, the rave-revolution first of all absorbed those who fed it. On the one hand, the club music of the nineties (primarily, trance and embossed techno) directly inherited the classic Tangerine Dream , and electronic workers in the range from Pylak and Global Communication to Paul Van Dike and Depeche Mode sometimes openly imitated (listen to at least “ Waiting for The Night " ). On the other hand, Freze and the company themselves at that time seemed to be remnants of the past, dinosaurs without a chance of survival. The group managed to combine the two most hated stamps hated by the new generation: New Age (there were no music more than melomaniacs in the nineties) and hard rock (curls, guitar cuts, leather pants-for some reason, for some reason, they stopped disgracing all this by the mid-90s). TD records regularly received “units” in the press, and those who admitted the sympathies to German classics in a decent society immediately indicated the door.

It would seem that it's time to politely say goodbye or leave, like Kraftwerk , on an unlimited vacation. But Freze is not the person to be upset due to someone’s opinions. Tangerine Dream continued to do their job without reacting to external stimuli. The group went underground and recorded several albums a year, spreading them by subscription among the old and loyal fans. Not very impressive after Hollywood and platinum discs? Not scary. Freze always knew what he was doing.

And trends are known to change. Complexing computers and digital sound replaces the return of analogy synthesis and vinyl, and inspiration of the generation of the 2000s and 2010s is looking for what was considered despicable-New Age and records with synthesizing music of the seventies, which were dusting in the “Everything for Euro” boxes. The new heroes of the electronics are Steve Moore, Daniel Lopatin, Emeralds , Public Service BroadCasting , Survive - all of them built their sound on the foundation that Edgar Freze laid in the seventies. The half -forgotten classics again become idols of youth. The top of the new fashion on Tangerine Dream is the sensational series “Very Strange Things”. The music of Kyle Dixon and Michael Styin sounds here, almost indistinguishable by ear from classic TD , and the film itself contains a couple of unambiguous "Easterns". For example, in one of the episodes, the heroes gather for the film "Risky Business" ; Who do you think composed music to him?

What did Tangerine do at this time Dream ? Patiently corrected the mistakes of the past. Around the middle of the zero, their samizdate records sounded more interesting, and in 2014 the composition of the group was replenished by Ulrich Schnaus-it seems that the only musician in the history of the group, who at the time of joining TD could be considered a star. Edgar Freze, who always thought globally, declares a new phase in the life of the group. The cycle of records recorded from this moment should be called “Quantum Years” , and the very first published tracks make it clear that for the first time in many years the group is again in a fantastic form.

But here it happens terrible. 71-year-old Edgar Freze, a principled vegetarian and a teetotaler, dies of pulmonary embolism. It would seem that certainly the end. But the cunning and far -sighted Edgar and here provided everything. The group was bequeathed to the group, the position of Khudruk was handed over to Torsten Kveshning, and the inclusion in the composition of a relatively young, but already very experienced shnaus also looks like a perspicacious step. Having recovered from the losses, the remaining TD participants continue to concert and finish work on the “testament of Freze” - the album “ Quantum Gate " . The process takes almost two years, but the release of the record in the year of the 50th anniversary of the group becomes a real triumph-by general recognition, this is the best work Tangerine Dream is almost since the time of the epochal " Rubycon " . As a result, its sixth dozen (!) The group begins in the status of existing stars: this summer TD will go through the first festivals for the first time, where they are waiting for a completely new, unfamiliar audience. And, which is especially pleasant, unlike rocker peers, the current Tangerine Dream is not a museum of ourselves, but a group looking for a new one and going forward, and most importantly, moving forward music.