In Conrad Schnitzler's sprawling archive, there are two tapes marked “Filmmusik 1975 A” and “Filmmusik 1980 B”. It is hard to say which videos this music belongs to, particularly as the pieces have been left untitled. Perhaps there isn't really any film material at all. The dates are of no great help either, since the tapes feature the same tracks, albeit in varying degrees of quality. “Filmmusik 1” presents an initial selection of these finds, presented to us by Schnitzler's musical partner for many years and guardian of the archive, Wolfgang Seidel. The tracks reveal much about how Schnitzler worked. He recorded individual tracks on cassettes and then combined them, also using them live in his so-called cassette concerts. Thus we recognize certain recurring »melodies«, sometimes fragmented, in different places. Some tracks have the same bass loop and rhythm, only the sounds and effects have changed. The music on the “Filmmusik” tapes is extraordinarily accessible for Schnitzler: hypnotic bass lines, stoic drum rhythms, dark drones, crystalline shards of melody. Wolfgang Seidel (Popul?re Mechanik, Ton Steine Scherben) talks more about Schnitzler's life and work in the liner notes.
