Synthesist.

January 27, 2011, 1 comments

Matt from NYC’s rad RVNG Intl. recently sent over the title track of the label’s latest incredible project, the reissue of Harald Grosskopf‘s 1980 album Synthesist, removing the dust from yet another chapter of the city of Berlin’s rich musical history. Grosskopf might legitimately be considered a weirdo, but his forward-thinking work as a solo musician is among the most demanding yet beautiful pure synth experimentations to date, envisioning many artistic developments that would only completely unfold during the 80s and the decades that followed, up until the latter day renaissance of classic analog synth sounds as epitomized in the recent surge of backward-leaning avant-garde endeavors such as Games, Gatekeeper, or Laurel Halo.

It is against this backdrop that the project’s second part named Re-Synthesist, a collection of reworks of Grosskopf’s piece by Oneohtrix Point Never, James Ferraro, Blondes, Stellar OM Source, and others, unveils its actual right to exist apart from the more obvious aspect of being a decent playground for some of today’s most exciting synth artists. Rather, this is an honest and in a way overdue obeisance to one of the most important musicians ever to leave his footprints in this city.

The LP is up for pre-order now. I was promised to get my hands on one of the remixes soon, so keep watching this space.