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Today's Artists were a German electronic avant-garde band founded by pianist and keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1969 together with Holger Trülzsch (percussion), Frank Fiedler (recording engineer and technical assistance) and Bettina Fricke (tablas and production). Other important members during the next two decades included Djong Yun, Renate Knaup, Conny Veit, Daniel Fichelscher, Klaus Wiese and Robert Eliscu. The band influenced many other European bands with their uniquely soft but elaborate instrumentation, which took inspiration from the music of Tibet, Africa, and pre-Columbian America. With music sometimes described as "ethereal", they created soundscapes through psychedelic walls of sound, and are regarded as precursors of contemporary world music, as well as of new age and ambient. .......N'Joy

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A changeable line-up of musicians led by mystic and keyboard player Florian Fricke (1944-2001), Krautrock icons Popol Vuh were one of the great innovators of world music and exotic ambient.

Known very unfairly in some quarters as purveyors of sitar-heavy "raga rock", the band's sonic trademarks are far more diverse: abstract electronica, devotional music, progressive rock, eclectic vocal blends and pioneering ethno-ambient fusions. You may have already heard their music without realising it: German director Werner Herzog has used it to mesmerising effect in some of his films from the 70's and 80's, most notably Aguirre Wrath Of God and his extraordinary 1979 remake of the silent vampire classic Nosferatu.

Fricke was a brilliant, intuitive musician and one of the first Westerners to seamlessly blend Eastern and Western sounds, in both a traditional rock band context and in a more ethereal and meditative vein. But he didn't do it alone. Guitarist and drummer Daniel Fichelscher - the only other stable longtime member of the group - also made outstanding contributions. He was a supple, melodic guitar player who brought a rock-like accessibility to Popol Vuh's sound and without whom a large portion of the band's music would have been a very different thing. He was also a fine singer, making substantial contributions to the group vocals and chants that became pronounced in the band's music after the mid 1970's.

Where to begin?

At the time of Fricke's death more than two dozen original albums and film soundtracks of varying quality had been released and many more compilations as well. Wading through them can be a maddening experience. There is a tendency to repeat or re-record tracks on successive albums for no apparent reason, not to mention a lot of previously released music turning up on the film soundtracks. The less-than-hi-fidelity sound of some productions also takes a little getting used to. Until very recently the band's back catalogue was a shambles: some put that down to Fricke's personal quirks and aversion to the music business, while Fricke himself on at least one occasion (in a rare 1996 interview) blamed the record companies.

Popol Vuh's earliest music dates from the late 1960's and early 70's and is fairly typical of the exploratory, abstract electronica in vogue among German bands at the time. The second album In The Gardens Of Pharao (1971) is a classic; an intense, eerie melding of electronic tones from the Moog synthesiser and organ with cymbals, vocal tones and half-submerged tribal instruments. That it recalls early period Tangerine Dream is not surprising when you consider it was Fricke who introduced that very band to the Moog synth as a guest player on their album Zeit (1972). But In the Gardens of Pharao is a more deeply sacred music than TD, reflecting his keen interest at the time in Mayan Indian culture and his lifelong spiritual leanings in general.

At one end is the 20-minute "Spirit Of Peace", a spacious and deeply personal creation for solo piano. At the other end is the stunning main theme from Werner Herzog's film Aguirre (ignore the patchy Aguirre soundtrack album released 1974). On this track Fricke reaches the apogee of his work with electronic synthesis. It's breathtakingly, jaw-droppingly beautiful: a six minute sepulchral drone that blends angelic vocal samples played on a Melotron-like keyboard with deeply trance-inducing colours and pulses from the synthesiser. A milestone in ambient sound, "Aguirre" (also known as "Lacrime Di Re") also marks the end of Fricke's short love affair with electronics. A certain vocal sound he'd been attempting to find with electronics unexpectedly turned up in the form of a Korean vocalist named Djon Yon, who would feature prominently on Popol Vuh's next album Hosianna Mantra (1972).

Almost an antithesis to what came before, Hosianna Mantra favours mostly acoustic music that's devotional but doesn't sit within any single religious tradition. It's a timeless, beatless neo-classical blend of Yon's ritual-like vocal improvisations blended with Fricke's piano, silky electric guitar by one Connie Veit (with lots of sustain and echo), sweet oboe by Robert Eliscu of the pioneering world music band Between, and subtle touches of droning tamboura.

Meeting guitarist Daniel Fichelscher around this time radically changed Fricke's musical world yet again. In the next few years there appeared a series of forward-thinking albums made by what superficially appears to be rock line-up but which doesn't sound quite like any other rock music of the 1970's.

Seligpreisung (1973) is the greatest of these, a masterpiece of ambient rock jamming, jazz-style improvising and lovely duets for oboe and piano. The changing time signatures within many tracks are brilliantly handled, the flow uninterrupted. It marks the first appearance of Popol Vuh's trademark jangling guitar and piano combination, a luminous ambient sound that came to define the band's very soul. Fricke's wordless vocals here - usually not part of the PV sound - seem to anticipate the visionary style of Stephan Micus a decade later, being all about sound rather than lyrics. Seligpreisung also displays the band's mysterious brilliance for being able to sound non-Western with little actual reliance on exotic instruments.

Three other albums recorded in this quasi-rock style in the mid 1970's also rate essential listening and two of them feature the welcome return of Djon Yon's vocals.

Das Hohelied Salomos (1975) echoes the sound of Hosianna Mantra but with the additional of drums and more intensely layered rhythm and lead guitars, giving the album a more rocking feel. Some impressive group vocal chants start to appear at this point in the band's career, a direction which would come to full flower in the next decade. For the first time Indian sitar sits upfront on several tracks but it doesn't radically alter the groups sound - suggesting an earlier mastery of Indian and Mid Eastern modes before they ever relied on the actual instruments. The album Letzte Tag Letzte Nachte (1976) is similar, if even more intense at times in its psychedelic rock gestures, and some of Yon's most powerful singing can be heard here. Rounding out the trio is the film soundtrack Coeur De Verre/Herz Aus Glass (1977) which is completely instrumental, allowing Fichelscher to really let fly with some his most celestial, probing guitar playing.

Having explored the possibilities of what a full-time rock combo could sound like, the band moved on once again and by the late 70's was charting increasingly quiet and contemplative waters. The music recorded for Werner Herzog's hypnotic vampire film Nosferatu is actually spread across two different albums released in the same year: the official soundtrack album Nosferatu (1978) plus Bruder Des Schattens Sohne Des Lichts (1978).

The recent CD re-issue of Nosferatu by SPV Recordings compiles all of the music from both earlier releases and is the logical purchase. On these releases the band downplays its penchant for progressive rock jamming to include beatless mood pieces and atmospheric ethno-ambient stylings. Some moments date back to the sessions that produced the eerie electronica of In The Gardens of Pharao; some pieces exist within the classic Popol Vuh blend of piano and guitar; others manage the not inconsiderable feat of making Indian sitar and tambour drones sound rather tense. Towering above them all is Nosferatu's main theme "Brothers Of Darkness Sons Of Light", an example of Fricke's growing sophistication in use of vocals. It opens with dark male vocal chants that seem to blend Tantric, Buddhist and Christian traditions, building slowly with sad oboe and crashing Tibetan cymbals before spilling over into a slow instrumental jam as openly loving and joyous as anything you'll hear from the band.

Consistent with the feel of the previous two albums is the magnificent Tantric Songs (1979/1981) which - just to keep things confusing - currently exists in two different versions. It demonstrates the band's extraordinary gift for tapping a deep, mystical, intangible power and turning it into music without pomp or pretension. The album offers some the moodiest and most ambient of Popol Vuh's music: Fricke's shadowy gothic piano figures, Fichelscher's glittering acoustic and electric guitars, some lovely oboe and touches of Indian instrumentation. It's music unanchored to any particular time period in musical history and awash with religious atmosphere, carried by subtle shifts of light and shade. The original version of Tantric Songs emphasises a slightly wider range global exotica than Celestial Harmonies U.S. version. The latter is more of a "best-of" collection of late 70's material which deletes a handful of shorter tracks to make room for the aforementioned 18-minute classic "Brothers Of Darkness Sons Of Light".

Although output of new material slowed in the 1980's, the decade remains significant for Popol Vuh's exhilarating distillation of vocal sounds - chants, mantras and choral singing - from different ages and cultures.

The film soundtrack Sei Still Wisse Ich Bin (1981) is an "oratorio" that finds the band working with large scale choirs and group vocals. Anyone with a fondness for the soulful qualities of human voice should be suitably knocked out. Backed by flowing piano, guitars, tribal drums and shimmering percussion, the swelling chorales and chants are by turns mournful and joyous, dark and euphoric, dramatic and gentle. The vocal sources are varied - operatic, South American, Christian, Tibetan elements and more. This is profound music, human and divine at the same time, and its rough edges and looseness make it all the more appealing. With perfect understatement, his friend and Celestial Harmonies Records boss Eckart Rahn once said to me in an interview about Fricke: "He knew something". Yes he did, and he managed to get it down on spellbinding records like this.

Four more original releases from the same decade also rate highly. Agape Agape (1983) and Spirit Of Peace (1985) don't consistently scale the heights of Still Wisse Ich Bin with their vocal work but are still essential releases. "Why Do I Still Sleep" is a cluster of simple piano figures so gentle and expansive you may get carried away on its ravishing melody and not return for several hours. Some of the layered vocal chants like "Agape Agape" and "We Know About The Need" are extraordinarily beautiful, while the gentle group jam "Take The Tension High" casts its slow mantra-like spell over 18 minutes. The film soundtrack Cobra Verde (1987) also contains several similar folksy vocal mantras alongside some surprising beatless, string-laden landscapes - the latter more traditionally filmic and not typical of the band, but fantastic and darkly beautiful all the same.

The 90's proved to be creatively far leaner than previous decades, with only For You And Me (1991) proving to be an impressive work. Its clean, crisp production is something of a shock if you previously waxed ears on the band's earlier material. Was the softer lo-fi sound of yore deliberate? Quite possibly.

Certainly the band's creative dynamic was now different. What is not widely known is the reason: Fricke sustained a serious hand injury at some point in the 80's - losing at least one finger to gangrene after a trip the Himalayas, according to Eckart Rahn - and tragically could no longer play the piano. So new member Guido Hieronymus took over the piano playing and also shared the creative duties, a move that fundamentally changed Popol Vuh, with Daniel Fichelscher now less involved than before.

The overall effect of the clean sound on For You and Me seems somehow less mystical but the album is still a lovely, engaging and mostly upbeat collection of world music fusions with just a touch of synth pop. The classic blend of ringing guitars and glowing piano still binds everything together, however, and some of the small group choral arrangements are striking. The band's past resurfaces on the 4-part suite "Om Mane Padem Hum" on which Fricke cleverly reworks the brighter moments from his classic "Brothers Of Darkness Sons Of Light" into something new but equally as warm and optimistic.

With the non-essential City Raga (1995) and Shepherd's Symphony (1997) the influence of Hieronymus on keyboards and arrangements has become overt, with the band now hopping on board the 90's ambient dance bandwagon. At the time many fans were aghast, but in retrospect neither of these are horrible records; they're just underwhelming next to ethno-ambient efforts by more dance-savvy acts of the period like Mayko, Loop Guru, Deep Forest and Delerium. Daniel Fichelscher - sidelined after the arrival of Hieronymus - was unimpressed with all the sequencers and drum machines; he left the band soon after City Raga after contributing guitar to just one track.

The final album before Fricke's death in 2001 was an interesting but unexceptional mix of ambient drones and poetry for an art installation called Messa Di Orfeo (1999). It's significant only in that it suggests Fricke had come nearly full circle to once again embrace the abstract electronica of his earliest work.
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Side one of the LP has the one long (18'47")  'Bruder des Schattens' track which is, quite simply, possibly the most beautiful piece of music you will ever hear in your life. A dreamscape based around acoustic instruments and voices; Fricke had jettisoned his early experiments with synthesizers by this time. Side two has shorter tracks in the same vein - mainly built up around acoustic guitars and piano, actually quite pastoral in a good way, one where the comparisons to Steve Reich are not that out of place.

Popol Vuh - Brüder des Schattens - Söhne des Lichts (Brothers of Darkness-Sons Of Light) (flac  177mb)

01 Brüder Des Schattens - Söhne Des Lichts 18:47
02 Höre, Der Du Wagst 5:52
03 Das Schloss Des Irrtums 5:35
04 Die Umkehr 5:57
bonus
05 Sing, For Songs Drive Away The Wolves 4:15

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Florian Fricke's soundtracks always added a distinctive dimension to the films of Werner Herzog and that's especially true of his recordings for Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (starring Klaus Kinski as the most spectacularly grotesque Count Dracula ever). This CD brings together Brüder des Schattens, Söhne des Lichts and Nosferatu: Fantôme de la Nuit, two 1978 Popol Vuh albums containing material for Herzog's film. The director drew initially on the first of these records but subsequently asked Fricke for more music conveying fear and dread. In response, Fricke raided his archive of unused work -- this was the origin of the second record. Featured prominently in the film, "Brüder des Schattens, Söhne des Lichts" moves from a spectral choral beginning to a lighter, almost pastoral conclusion with piano, guitar, and sitar, echoing the chiaroscuro dynamic of its title ("Brothers of Shadow, Sons of Light"). That brighter, expansive mood recurs on several tracks with a more pronounced Eastern groove: "Through Pain to Heaven," for example, with its mesmerizing interplay of guitars and droning, billowing sitar. Darker numbers like "Mantra 2" -- which combines choral voices and organic drones in a mournful, subtly menacing fashion -- resonate more explicitly with the film's gothic aesthetic. Among the dark tracks, the most striking pay homage to early electronic soundtrack experiments: for example, "Die Nacht der Himmel" with its spooky theremin sound and the supremely eerie "Der Ruf der Rohrflöte." To call this a soundtrack CD is slightly misleading: not all the music features in the movie and it omits non-Popol Vuh material heard in the film (portions of Wagner's "Das Rheingold" and Gounod's "Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cècile," for instance). That said, it holds together as a coherent album in its own right and includes some exceptionally strong, memorable material.

 Popol Vuh - Nosferatu    (flac 333mb)

01 Bruder Des Schattens 5:41
02 Höre, Der Du Wagst 5:58
03 Das Schloss Des Irrtums 5:35
04 Die Umkehr 5:56
05 Mantra 1 6:13
06 Morning Sun 3:19
07 Venus Principle 4:39
08 Mantra 2 5:20
09 Die Nacht Der Himmel 5:01
10 Der Ruf Der Rohrflöte 3:37
11 To A Little Way 2:32
12 Through Pain To Heaven 3:45
13 On The Way 4:03
14 Zwiesprache Der Rohrflöte 3:22

Popol Vuh - Nosferatu     (ogg  141mb)

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Die Nacht der Seele appears to be a slight release.  The songs are edited down to bite-size fragments, and reflect a variety of styles.  Djong Yun inexplicably comes back for one track, the magnificent "Wo bist Du," which sounds like it was recorded around the time of Einsjager & Siebenjager.  Largely an acoustic album, with Fricke playing piano backed by Amon Duul II's Daniel Fischelsher and Renate Knaup on guitars and voice. Despite the presence of oboe and sitar on this album, it definitely isn't new-age fluff - these 11 tracks are very moody and eerie inner soundscapes. This unassuming album to rank among the very best PV releases.

Popol Vuh - Die Nacht der Seele (Tantric Songs) (flac  226mb)

01 Mantram Der Erdberührung 2:14
02 Engel Der Luft 2:40
03 Mit Händen, Mit Füssen 2:44
04 Wo Bist Du, Der Du Überwunden Hast? / Gesegnet Du, Bei Deiner Ankunft 5:44
05 Mantram Der Erdberührung II 2:17
06 Im Reich Der Schatten 2:17
07 Wanderer Durch Die Nacht 4:13
08 Mantram Der Herzberührung I 1:51
09 Auf Dem Weg 2:54
10 Mantram Der Herzberührung II 1:44
11 In Der Halle Des Lernen 4:03

Popol Vuh - Die Nacht der Seele (Tantric Songs)    (ogg  105mb)

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Recorded in 1980 and produced by Klaus Schulze, Sei Still, Wisse ICH BIN ("Be quiet, know I am") is one of Popol Vuh's sacred music offerings. Like Hosianna Mantra nearly a decade before, this set is regal in its solemnity and in its intensity. Utilizing the Chorensemble der Bayerischen Staatsoper and the soprano saxophone stylings of Chris Karrer, Popol Vuh -- down to a three-piece with vocalist Renate Knaup fronting the choir, Fricke on piano and voice, and guitarist Daniel Fichelscher holding down the drum chair as well, this is a huge recording . Schulze's immediate mix, which brings the vocals into complete balance with the undulating, mantra-like instrumentation, is nothing less than stunning; from Tibetan-style prayer chants to Eastern Orthodox choral scales, from thundering bass drums and cymbals to snaky, elusive, sparse electric guitar lines and Fricke's trademark shimmering piano, each of this album's seven selections is its own kind of masterpiece. It is the perfect marriage of world music utilized in rock & roll fashion, and of both being placed at the service of the Sacred. It is nothing less than awe-inspiring.

Popol Vuh - Sei Still, Wisse ICH BIN (flac  193mb)

01 Wehe Khorazin 6:22
02 Und Als Er Sah Es Geht Dem Ende Zu 7:04
03 Garten Der Gemeinschaft 4:41
04 Gemeinsam Aßen Sie Das Brot 2:51
05 Laß Los 6:46
06 Gemeinsam Tranken Sie Den Wein 3:50
07 ...Als Lebten Die Engel Auf Erden 2:10
Bonus
08 King Minos III (Studio Version) 5:02

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Two years after the issue of Sei Still, Wisse ICH BIN, Agape-Agape (Love-Love) offers a deeper view of the same animal. Still utilizing a choir for Gregorian chant-like ethereal intensity -- though they sing in Byzantine scales -- pianist Florian Fricke, guitarist/percussionist Daniel Fichelscher, guitarist Conny Veit (who came back to the fold after a prolonged absence), and vocalist Renate Knaup delve deeply into the drone world of Fricke's sacred music muse. There are eight pieces on this set, the longest of which is the final one, "Why Do I Fall Asleep." But they are all of a single theme, even Fichelscher's "They Danced, They Laughed, As of Old," which is an extended retreatment of "Kleiner Kreiger" from the Einsjäger & Siebenjäger album. Fricke only comes to the fore on the title track with his shimmering, insistent mantra-piano, but the twin guitars of Fichelscher and Veit more than compensate elsewhere as they entwine and slip through and around one another. Once again, though the music might seem formulaic, it is in the subtleties and dynamics that Fricke's compositional growth is revealed, and Agape-Agape is a worthy, devastatingly beautiful outing.

Popol Vuh - Agape-Agape Love-Love (flac  167mb)

01 Hand In Hand 2:52
02 They Danced, They Laughed, As Of Old 4:49
03 Love, Life, Death 1:28
04 The Christ Is Near 3:50
05 Love-Love 5:20
06 Behold, The Drover Summonds 5:52
07 Agape-Agape 4:55
08 Why Do I Still Sleep 7:58
Bonus
09 Circledance 2:36

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