“…as a collection, it’s both far-reaching in style and consistent in its sense of intellectual consistency” – UNCUT
“…modern orchestral sound paintings” – MOJO
“…he has both subverted the high with the low and the low with the high”– THE WIRE
Listen to Irmin Schmidt and Kumo’s ‘Beauty Duty’, taken from Electro Violet, the definitive 12CD box set – https://youtu.be/xs3zPM_6cso
‘Beauty Duty’ is taken from Master Of Confusion, Irmin Schmidt and Kumo (aka electronic composer and programming specialist Jono Podmore)’s 2001 debut album, which is included Electro Violet, the career spanning retrospective from legendary avant-garde composer Irmin Schmidt.
This 12 CD deluxe box set, limited to 1000 copies worldwide, each signed by Schmidt, takes you on a journey through his entire solo work from 1981 to the present day and is out on Mute / Spoon Records on 4 December 2015.
Irmin Schmidt is a founding member of Can, the German band whose unparalleled genius remains unquestioned, timeless and immeasurably influential. When all Can members decided to part and explore new sounds, Irmin teamed up with Swiss jazz and electronics musician Bruno Spoerri to make his first post-Can album, Toy Planet. The collection travels through his Gormenghast opera, solo albums, collaborations with Kumo (Jono Podmore) and Duncan Fallowell, plus his extensive and award winning film soundtrack work.
After a classical education as pianist, conductor and composer, Irmin Schmidt – who studied under Stockhausen and Ligeti – established Can in the late 60s combining classic new music with rock and jazz. The band’s powerful influence has never diminished and recently Irmin Schmidt was awarded a Knighthood – the Chevalier De L’Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres – for his contribution to arts and culture by the French Ministry of Culture.
The Film Musik CDs include a previously unreleased album, Film Musik Anthology Vol. 6 and the collection includes music from across over 100 soundtracks and theatre compositions that Schmidt has worked on over the past three decades, with music from Palermo Shooting (Wim Wenders, 2008), Schneeland (Hans W. Geissendörfer, 2005) as well as the critically acclaimed German TV series Bloch and Tatort plus the TV film, Mord In Eberswalde by Stephan Wagner, for which Schmidt won the Best Film Music award from the Deutsche Akademie Für Fernsehen in 2013.
The Electro Violet box comes with a 40-page booklet, featuring sleevenotes from Max Dax, Irmin Schmidt and Wim Wenders. Each album is presented in an individual gatefold sleeve and the artwork, entitled Bärenkuss 5, is by longtime friend, the Berlin artist FRANEK – the original art measures at 142cmx122cm, for more information on the artist, go to: http://www.franek-berlin.de
Listen to a Why Not, an unreleased track from the box set here, https://youtu.be/GyyMqbvjpa4
Listen to Irmin Schmidt and Bruno Spoerri’s Two Dolphins Go Dancing here,
ELECTRO VIOLET BOX SET CONTENTS
Toy Planet (1981)
Musk At Dusk (1987)
Impossible Holidays (1991)
Gormenghast – A Fantasy Opera (2000)
Masters of Confusion (2001)
Axolotl Eyes (2008)
Soundtracks:
Film Musik Anthology Vol. 1 (1994)
Film Musik Anthology Vol. 2 (1994)
Film Musik Anthology Vol. 3 (1994)
Film Musik Anthology Vol. 4 (2009)
Film Musik Anthology Vol. 5 (2009)
Film Musik Anthology Vol. 6 (2015)
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