90 (Deluxe Edition)

German ambient forebear Roedelius produced a staggering amount of work, not just with Krautrock linchpins Cluster and Harmonia, or in collaboration with Eno and other key figures in electronic music, but also with a prolific solo catalog that began in the 70s and continued steadily for decades to come. Though his music went many different places over the years, some of Roedelius most recognizable sounds are minimal, playful, almost sketch-like micro-compositions made with just a single synth or a Farfisa organ and inventive use of tape delay. 90 (released to celebrate of Roedelius 90th birthday) sifts through his personal archives to unearth almost 50 unreleased songs, fragments, and sketches mostly made between 1968 and 1980 and recorded direct to a stereo tape machine with no overdubs or spare instrumentation. These tracks range from careless note-taking ideas just over a minute long to lengthy meditations like the twelve-and-a-half-minute solo piano journey "897 00." Almost none of the pieces have traditional titles, making 90 more a uniform stream that the listener dips into rather than the traditional album experience where hit singles stand out. There are experiments with syncopated, techno-foreshadowing sounds on some tracks ("TB4 8 57"), gentle, almost new agey piano sounds on the collections back end, and on standout tracks like "217 09" and "TB6 35 49," the kind of pastoral, free-floating ambient beauty that defined classic Roedelius sets like his 1979 solo debut Selbstportrait or 1981s Wenn Der Sudwind Weht. The sheer amount of quality material showcased on 90 is a feat in and of itself. This archive-combing release is made up of material not included elsewhere in Roedelius sprawling catalog, and follows the also-weighty 2014 vault expedition release Tape Archive 1973-1978. None of it feels superfluous, though. 90 offers new angles from which to view Roedelius craft and new channels of his ever-flowing stream to lazily drift along for however long we choose. ~ Fred Thomas