Conrad Schnitzler


Conrad Schnitzler was a prolific German experimental musician associated with West Germany's 1970s krautrock movement. A co-founder of West Berlin's Zodiak Free Arts Lab, he was an early member of Tangerine Dream and a founder of the band Kluster. He left Kluster in 1971, first working with his group Eruption and then focusing on solo works. Schnitzler participated in several collaborations with other electronic musicians.

Biography

Schnitzler was born in Düsseldorf. His father was German, his mother was Italian. He had a wife and they had three children, one of whom is son Gregor Schnitzler, who was born in 1964 in Berlin and who is a film director. Schnitzler died from stomach cancer on 4 August 2011 in Berlin.
Schnitzler, Dieter Moebius, and Hans-Joachim Roedelius formed Kluster in 1969 after the three had met at the Zodiak Free Arts Lab. This trio released three albums, Klopfzeichen, Zwei-Osterei and Eruption. When Schnitzler left the group, Roedelius and Moebius became Cluster. Around this time, Schnitzler also joined Tangerine Dream for their debut album Electronic Meditation.
Schitzler provided the introductory music for Norwegian black metal band Mayhem's debut EP Deathcrush in 1987, following a meeting with teenage guitarist Euronymous in the mid-1980s. The instrumental track, entitled Silvester Angfang, was randomly selected from Schnitzler's archive of works in progress. The piece is still played at most of the band's live shows.
For many years Schnitzler appeared in the comics of Matt Howarth as a member of the band The Bulldaggers. His 2006 work Moon Mummy is a collaboration with Matt Howarth based on an included PDF comic.

Discography

1970
1971
1973
1974
1978
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
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2011
2015