Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters - Underrated Silence

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release
Soundclips

3...according to our Brian on Thu 02 Feb, 2012.

The Schnausser eh? He's back is Uncle Ulrich and his slippers and pipe Guthrie-isms are as tranquil and balmy as ever. Making the bridge between ethereal shoegazing moodscapes and shimmering post Cafe Del Mar tranquility more sturdy underfoot, his work in the field of glistening cyclical chillout is not to be underestimated. Here he plays footsie with some geezer who was in the bafflingly popular Engineers (still better than Editors, at least they did some bloody graft ha ha) and the result is something akin to taking a shower under a warm waterfall with butterflies flickering round your private bits. Or Boards of Canada with all the interesting bits taken out and replaced with the gusset of Enya's perfumed undercrackers. It's all really pretty and lullaby-esque but somewhat suffocating and easygoing for a grizzled dangerhorse such as myself. He always was terribly popular mind and I'm thinking this simpering mind-massage may well appease his rabid fanbase as he doesn't exactly flood the market with this sentimental airy twinkly guff.

To play these clips you need to either update your browser (Norman Records recommends Google Chrome) or update your Flash plugin.

The musicians: Ulrich Schnauss, born in Kiel in 1977, now residing in London, three solo albums released to date, Engineers keyboard player and an in-demand remixer (Mojave 3, Depeche Mode, Lunz/Roedelius, to name just a few). Mark Peters, born in Liverpool in 1975, bass player, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter in the British band Engineers, also three album releases to their name thus far.
The music: synthesizer, piano, guitar and drum computer, a reduced, yet bacchanal instrumental combination of ambient, electronica and shoegaze sounds.
Transporting the sound of shoegazer aesthetics into an electronic context, this is how Ulrich Schnauss once described his artistic goal. Influenced by bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Cocteau Twins and Chapterhouse on the one hand, yet wholly at ease with the electronica of bands like The Orb, Bionaut, Orbital, 808 State and unequivocally appreciative of veterens of the genre, Tangerine Dream or Manuel Gottsching for example. A brother in spirit of Robin Guthrie one might say, an apposite epithet for Schnauss.
His collaborative partner Mark Peters might also be considered his soul brother. Through his band, Engineers, he has similarly found success in following the footsteps of his musical paragons. Engineers have released wonderful albums of dream pop, infused with the same spirit as the solo efforts of Schnauss. Peters and Schnauss have been friends for many years and over a year ago, Schnauss joined the tranks of Engineers.

Tracklisting:

1. The Messiah Is Falling 2. Long Distance Call 3. Forgotten 4. Yesterday Didn't Exist 5. Rosen Im Asphalt 6. The Child Or The Pigeon 7. Ekaterina 8. Amoxicilin 9. Gift Horse's Mouth 10. Underrated Silence

Be the first to review this record. Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!