I was a HUGE fan of Tangerine Dream but I have to admit though that in the last 15 years or so I kind of lost track of what they were up to. Back in the day I played the vinyl albums for the Sorcerer soundtrack and Stratosphere until I about wore them out.
After Edgar Froese had passed in 2015 I figured the band had stopped. But I recently discovered the recent release of Quantum Gate / Quantum Key.
In 2015 German Electronica visionary and leader of the band Tangerine Dream, Edgar Froese, died, two years before the band celebrated its 50th anniversary. However, Froese had elected as his successor as leader of the band Thorsten Quaseschning who, along with Frose’s wife, Bianca Acquaye and other members Hoshiko Yamane and Ulrich Schnauss, have continued to work as the band. The result of this work is the album released as ‘Quantum Gate’ which was released in September 2017.
From <https://www.progradar.org/index.php/2018/04/30/review-tangerine-dream-quantum-gate-quantum-key-by-jez-denton/>
The band released a combined album in 2018 called Quantum Gate / Quantum Key in 2018 which is the best way to jump into all this https://open.spotify.com/album/4bM1e39z09Me0YdaoB0SWQ?si=VmZNE4m2SGOSzgQgZprcDg.
As I said, I’d lost track of the band, so I took a look at the lineup from the Wiki Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangerine_Dream and saw that these members were not only selected successors but active members for quite a long time. The timeline stretches back to 1967 but I just captured from 1996 on and highlighted the current lineup throughout.
I was so happy after my first listen of Quantum Gate / Quantum Key as these songs reminded me of Tangerine Dream from the Sorcerer and Stratosphere days but also offered an updated sound and aesthetic but still clearly Tangerine Dream.
I was also to happy to find out they continue to play live as a three piece with interesting visuals and lights that compliment the show but the focus is on the music. I was especially happy to see Hoshiko Yamane’s stripped-down Ableton Live rig with Push 2 with live violin (which you’ll see in videos below).
To help get you up to speed on the this incarnation of the band and how they choose songs from the back catalog check out this 2017 interview which also has an excerpt from a live performance.
When you are ready to take a deeper look take some time to drink in this 2 hour and 13 minute performance from Boiler Room x Dekmantel Festival 2018. They play some of my favs in this set such as “Betrayal” from the Sorcerer soundtrack, “Love on a Real Train” from Risky Business soundtrack and even “Stratosphere”!
This is 1 hour and 15 minutes set is from the same tour. The audio isn’t quite as good be you feel more immersed in the visuals.
Closing Thoughts
Tangerine Dream’s use of cinematic and narrative arcs – especially with Sorcerer soundtrack and Stratosphere – really inspired and informed my approach to instrumental music, especially for my studio album Fear Cannot Save Us. I discuss some of this during my interview on Art + Music + Technology Podcast interview with Darwin Grosse. So it’s so great to have rediscovered Tangerine Dream’s on-going musical journey and live act. I never thought I’d get to see Kraftwerk and I’ve seem them twice now. Maybe I’ll get to see Tangerine Dream someday as well.
I kind of have Quantum Gate / Quantum Key on repeat right now, but after I listen a few more times I look forward to hearing even more recent works soon.
Anyway, if you were a Tangerine Dream fan and lost track them as I did, I hope this post will help start to get caught up as well 😀.
Mark Mosher
Electronic & Experimental Musician, Multimedia Artist, Event Producer
Boulder, CO
MarkMosherMusic.com
Links
- Tangerine Dream on Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/1BGN1IdyiSR0ZYrkoKNchl
- Official Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/TANGERINEDREAM.OFFICIAL
- Official Tangerine Site – https://www.tangerinedream-music.com/index.php
- Thorsten Quaseschning – Web Site | Instagram
- Ulrich Schnauss – Web Site | Instagram
- Hoshiko Yamane – Web Site | Instagram
Mark Mosher 