Manuel Gottsching - E2-E4 LP

Label: MG.Art

Our Review:

With a collective sigh of relief, we are finally announcing the arrival of this renowned early '80s krautrock / proto-techno classic! German guitar guru Manuel Gottsching, founder of legendary krautrock pioneers Ash Ra Temple (which morphed into the new-age-ier Ashra), made a few records in the eighties under his own name. E2-E4, recorded in Berlin in 1981 and released in '84, was first and foremost among them. It's rightly hailed as a classic and was a great inspiration for early Detroit techno artists like Derrick May and Carl Craig. The resonant timelessness of E2-E4 has extended beyond many other albums of the era and its influence has continuously popped up in more recent minimalist techno circles – most noticeably within the Cologne scene.

E2-E4 is one loooong track split at a judicious edit at the end of each side, with nine titled and timed subdivisions indicated on the cover (suggestive of a chess match: "Quiet Nervousness," "Queen A Pawn," "Draw"). The album flows and flows and flows through Gottsching's guitar and electronics drifting and dancing beautifully over the continuous, pulsating, subtly-shifting proto-techno beat. It's so very pleasant and airy, also soooo hypnotic and ahead of its time. Even after an hour you won't want to end, once it has lulled you into trance. Listening to this, it's easy to see why the Boredoms' Eye would revere it and of course those above mentioned Detroit legends too. An absolute classic.