Log in to your account
No upcoming concerts
Stats
Biography
One might not assume that a pioneering electronica musician would be overly fond of the dream-like indie rock haze of shoegaze. However, Ulrich Shnauss grew up utterly in thrall to the likes of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive when he was a teenager in the German seaport of Kiel. It has since gone on to inform his musical output of ambient techno, which began when he moved to Berlin in 1996. Under the names View To The Future and Ethereal 77, he began performing acclaimed DJ sets around the clubs of Berlin. Before long, he began sending demo CD’s of his work to City Centre Offices, an electronica label based in the same city.
By 2001, he was signed to the label and he released his debut album under his own name in the same year. “Far Away Trains Passing By” was a critical smash and paved the way for his second record, 2003’s “A Strangely Isolated Place”. This was the record that put Shnauss on the map all over the world, with tracks of his appearing in video games, TV shows and films, exposing his work to a whole new audience. He spent the next four years touring and embracing any side project that came his way, even playing keyboards in the Manchester indie band Longview for a spell before releasing his third record “Goodbye” in 2007.
Since then, Shnauss has been one of the key names in German electronica. He signed to Domino Records, one of the world’s most influential labels, has headlined several music festivals and even joined the legendary German krautrock pioneers Tangerine Dream in 2014. He’s an artist just as acclaimed by the greats of the past as he is by the pioneers of the future, and we need as many artists like that as we can get. For that, he comes highly recommended.
Live reviews
Ulrich Schnauss has been a favorite producer of mine for a long time. He is popular for reworking classic songs by bands like Slowdive and Mojave 3, and other dream pop, shoegaze, electronic and ambient acts. Ulrich's sound is formed around synthesizers, samplers, and other computer equipment.
He creates hazy, dreamy walls of sound and spacey, computerized bleeps and beats. Ulrich Schnauss live sound is even more incredible. The sound of those ambient swells, the reverberated vocals, and the loud pulsing drum beats add an almost spiritual level to the music when played live. The volume is high, the energy is great, but most of all, Ulrich Schnauss' music as an ethereal, nostalgia inducing, dreamy feel that is almost a rarity in music these days.
With roots in UK's ambient scene from the 1990s, Ulrich really knows how to create other worldly, and down right beautiful sounds just as well as other great ambient producers, like Brian Eno. As his set continued, Ulrich began to create a world with the samples and loops he had been using. Recurring elements began to pop up, and the production was almost playful. Ulrich Schnauss has truly transcended simple song writing and has created something that can be both listened to and experienced; a package that is hard not to enjoy if you are a die hard music lover.
Good show, Thekla is a great venue with the added novelty of being on a barge nightclub!! Show was slow starting with lots of "build up" music. Also when Schnauss was speaking to the crowd, no-one at the back could hear a word he was saying! Unfortunately some tunes sounded sub quality due to the Thekla sound engineer who didn't seem to know what she was doing! Some of the bassier tracks ended up sounding way too "bright" and tinny due to the treble being too high. I think even Schnauss was annoyed at one point, there was lots of motioning to the engineer and finger pointing. Visual graphics were good. Quite a short show though and perhaps a bit too heavy on the chillout stuff for me. Still a good gig though.
barry-swerdlow-1
I can and probably easily run out of superbatives for this live show by Ulrich. This was a two hour(?) tour de force with probably the best live sound I've heard at a gig for ages. The crystal clear sound and bone shaking bass were out of this world! Great selection of tunes and a superb light and visual show from Nat who tours with Ulrich and delivers the backdrops to Ulrich's amazing sounds. If Ulrich Schnauss is touring near you in 2017, do not miss him!
mike-nicholas
If you get the chance go and see Ulrich. Best 2 hours I've had in ages. Non stop assault on the visual and hearing senses. Think of kraftwerk, jean Michelle jarre and Phillip glasse's koyaanisqatsi all rolled into one..
Ulrich was unassuming and himself. I loved him for that. Nat Urazmetova Visuals took your breath away
stenut
