Today we’re listening to Pete Namlook, a German guitarist and electronic musician from Frankfurt. Born in 1960, he started playing guitar as a teenager, and played in jazz fusion bands throughout his 20s.1 Around 1990, inspired by artists like Klaus Schulze, he pivoted to freeform electronic compositions. He founded the label FAX +49-69/450464 through which he put out albums on a near weekly cadence – solo works and collaborations. We’re playing two of his records: Air I from 1993, which helped define the ‘90s ambient / chill out / downtempo sound, and The Dark Side of the Moog from 1994, a collaboration with Schulze. In David Toop’s book Ocean of Sound, Namlook is quoted as saying, “What you call ‘Ambient’ was there when I learned to play my first two chords on the guitar in 1974. I went out with my father to a journey through Turkey and sat near to the water and ‘played’ along with it. I tried to pick up the noises and give back my feelings to the environment through my instrument…. Nature was my main teacher.”2
Air I - Pete Namlook (60m, vocals on track 4)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal
The Dark Side of the Moog - Pete Namlook & Klaus Schulze (51m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal
We wish you a great start to your week.
Ocean of Sound, p. 215