Gunter Schickert - Samtvogel LP

Label: Bureau B

It's hardly a secret that there was a lot of movement in German pop music during the late '60s and early '70s of the last century, and that many new things emerged then. Countless books have already been published on the subject of "Krautrock," and many LPs from this period have been re-released. Günter Schickert only released two LPs in the '70s: Überfällig (Sky Records, 1979) and Samtvogel (Brain, 1976). Now, exactly 50 years after its original release, Samtvogel has returned.

"Günter Schickert used only guitars, echo devices and a modest recording technique for Samtvogel. The album is a genuine DIY production -- radical in every respect and not at all in keeping with the zeitgeist of the time. It was perhaps this radicalism that made it difficult to find a suitable record label to release the album. In any case, Schickert initially self-released Samtvogel in 1974 in an edition of 500 copies. It wasn't until two years later that the album was released in a much larger edition on the Brain label. I am sure that Schickert was familiar with the minimal music of Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass. I don't know whether he had also heard Die grüne Reise (1971) by Achim Reichel. Inventions for Electric Guitar by Manuel Göttsching would not appear until 1976. With his version of minimal music, Schickert completely dispenses with electronic sound generators; neither synthesizers, sequencers nor rhythm machines can be heard on Samtvogel. Instead, he enters into a dialogue with the echo device and uses it and his electric guitar to create seemingly simple, almost rudimentary repetitive patterns that only reveal their minimalist nuances on closer listening. What sounds so simple requires a high level of concentration from the player, as he has to react to the relentless echo once it has been set up. If attention wavers for even a second, the piece immediately goes off the rails and chaos ensues. In the studio, you simply start all over again; in a live situation, it's a worst-case scenario. However, Schickert remains absolutely precise on Samtvogel, and yet his music does not have the coolness and/or artificiality found in the electronically produced music of other German musicians." -- Asmus Tietchens, 2024