Wolfgang Riechmann was originally a member of Streetmark, as I mentioned yesterday, they were Germany's Fleetwood Mac (or Go-Betweens, who were Australia's Fleetwood Mac). Anyway, while the resident synthesist in Streetmark, Wolfgang fell for lead singer Dorothea Raukes. When Dorothea left Wolfgang for Michael Rother, Riechmann left Streetmark and went solo. Inspired by fellow synthesists Kraftwerk, he took to wearing make-up and emulating a PKD android, although his color-palette reflected the state of his heart. Ridley Scott took notice, and modeled much of the Blade Runner aesthetic on Riechmann's image.
Riechmann also made a Krautrock classic Wunderbar. And the record really lives up to its name; kind of a lost classic of the genre.
Sadly, just before the LP came out in 1978, Riechmann was murdered in a Düsseldorf dive bar by two sailors. "Himmelblau" (Sky Blue) is one of the highlights of Riechmann's lone solo LP. Click on the title to enjoy this small slice of heaven.
Dieser ist für Sie Wolfgang! Ich hoffe, Sie sing glücklich dort.
6 comments:
Wow, Your taking it higher!!
Love it.
Look for a critique of this record cover and the tragic life of Wolfgang in the May issue of Artforum!
Did you write said critique?
check it out:
http://artforum.com/inprint/issue=200905&id=22637
I have a copy for you.
Rauf und runter!
I love the article. I know Rother and the others are smiling down from Glitzerglanz.
I can't wait to get my copy.
That's funny just googled this album after reading Byron's critique of this record in ArtForum! First page I hit, there he is commenting on it!
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