Ash Ra Tempel – New Age of Earth
Hello all, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Beamer, and Scott invited me to start posting to ISO50. As a long time fan and a friend of Scott’s over the past few years, we’ve spent a small amount of time together and have been very interested in each other’s tastes. I’m very honored to be posting here, and I hope I can deliver some relatively entertaining content.
This being post #1, I’d like to continue the theme with my #1 favorite album.
Ash Ra Tempel – New Age of Earth (1976)
I’ve been amassing a progressive Krautrock collection for about seven years now, and this is one of those records that caught my eye. Not being much of a fan of psych, or much loud banging in any form, I had somewhat (embarrassingly) written off Ash Ra after hearing the much acclaimed self—titled release (back when Klaus Schulze was drumming); though, I insisted on owning this if not just for the artwork.
Manuel Göttsching moved the project from an experimental group to a solo act just one year before this release with Inventions For Electric Guitar (1975). In New Age of Earth, Göttsching introduces his flowing landscape sound later shown in his triumphant and highly influential E2-E4. In this album, instead of focusing on his signature layered guitar sound, he builds an amazingly textured synth masterpiece. This record will stay in my #1 position for quite some time.
Awesome transcription from the sleeve:
“Constantly searching
Not wishing an end
Prefer a sunrise
Not everything planned
So you’ll always be
In the new age of earth”
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04/26/10 - 
July 20th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Welcome, i like that album cover
July 20th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
woooord. Welcome Beamer. I know how hard it is sometimes to pin down a #1 album. At least it is for me! Very interesting choice! Very cool too.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
wow man, nice track! will have to check the whole album. Loving that album cover too, are those like programming punch card patterns on the tape? awesome.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
@AndresM: No kidding. Though in a 20 minute conversation with me, you will probably hear me say “That’s my all-time favorite album” at least 3 times. Though I might really mean it with this one – who knows.
@Scott: 1st edition pressing is in the mail.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
And thanks for the welcomes! Glad to be here.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
for sure, I think I have a new favorite album every week…… but they’re all so good!
July 20th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
@Scott – It sure is a punch card reader. It was the EKO Computerhythm (Not related to Roland’s Compurhythm), the same drum machine used in Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygene. Less than 25 were made.
More info here: http://www.sy.../ekodrum.htm
We should get together and build something similar
. I’d kill for one.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:15 am
Great song and album cover! A lovely first post.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:46 am
Welcome Beamer. Wonderful track!
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:55 am
Nice track, feels like an old sci-fi movie, very immersive. Welcome, and I look forward to reading your posts!
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
So i pressed play on the player and went to a few different sites as tabs and totally forgot i pressed play and i was like where in the hell is that song coming from?!? i was honestly about 3 secs away from emailing like 5 websites asking for the in their background music because it was amazing. I just emailed this post to like 50 friends and told them that we should just all stop making music because we have a winner for best song.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:04 am
Beamer, you’ve been holding out on me! How long have you been waiting to NOT tell me about this album, only to make me read about it on ISO50 and then realize that i don’t really know you at all. how could you!
August 7th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
@Ajit – Sorry! I only had it on vinyl – I had to buy an mp3 version just for this post. You guys never hear the good stuff – it’s all hiding at my house
September 8th, 2008 at 6:49 am
[...] might have to put this at album #2 right behind New Age of Earth. Unfortunately, I don’t have an original pressing, but the 180g re-press sounds [...]
September 8th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
[...] might have to put this at album #2 right behind New Age of Earth. Unfortunately, I don’t have an original pressing, but the 180g re-press [...]