Thurs. July 5

     Ah, Tangerine Dream. So sublime, so entrancing, so unexpected to be here, at House of Blues, Thursday July 5, so far down the road. How to entice to those not keyed in? The psychedelic warriors of electronic Kraut rock whose music dates back to the dawn of Pink Floyd (1967)? The purveyors of some of the best, most chilling soundtrack music ever (“Thief,” “Sorceror,” “Firestarter,” “Risky Business”)? An almost entirely instrumental group – two LPs have vocals - whose influence on ambient/electronic acts like Aphex Twin and the Orb is essential? A band who cut a synth path through the electric guitars of rock, to have an influence, subliminal or not, on the many electronica acts out there today? Steve Wilson, of the Brit prog-rock band Porcupine Tree, calls TD’s “Zeit” album his favorite disc ever. Kasabian considers them “spiritual influences.” The late and wonderful Brit DJ John Peel said “they have made the music the star of the show, not the musicians and not the means of the music. A new creative energy.” (When I’ve seen they’ve spoken exactly zero words on stage.)
     Here’s an excerpt of what I wrote when I saw TD last, two decades ago:
     The music throbs, pulses and percolates, but there's not much implicit terror in this year's model, which played an oft-mesmerizing, nearly three-hour show at Berklee Performance Center .Tangerine Dream is a lot warmer now. It's a sensual sonic bath. You could shut your eyes and dream your own dream or watch the band ply its trade in the chemical smoke and follow the precise laser-lighting. None of it -- the music or the lighting -- was particularly jarring, at least, not in the old-style sense. Though they've recorded 50-some-odd albums, Tangerine Dream is not a band to look back; nine of the songs were unrecorded and unreleased with the bulk of the others coming from "Rockoon" and "Canyon Dreams."
     The rich, layered synth-based rhythms and melodies -- generated by the Froeses and Linda Spa -- flowed purposefully, pleasantly: Like a series of stones being tossed in a pond and observing the overlapping ripple effect. To this band, songs are journeys, simultaneously bumpy and restful. Neat things enter along the way, much of which, like the percussion and distant chant-like sounds, are programmed into the synths. In songs like "Homeless" and "Rockoon" -- which closed the first and second sets last night -- there was much more grandeur than tension.
      More than 60 people, we estimate (between full time and part time), have been in Tangerine Dream over the years. They have released more than 100 albums (the Grateful Dead of synth-rock?) Today , Tangerine Dream is Froese (keyboards, guitar), Spa (sax, flute, keyboard) and (new kid) Thorsten Quaeschning (keyboards) with three touring musicians, Iris Camaa (percussion), Bernhard Beible (guitar) and Hoshiko Yamane (violin, cello) making them, live, a sextet.

We recently had an email chat with Froese.

JSInk: You just had a birthday. Happy 68. As a step back question, did you ever think in your 20s that you would still be pursing this, uh, Dream at this point in time?
Froese; If you are always concerned that you will beat Methuselah - aiming at 120 - therefore 68 is just a half way through. A calendar is set up by those folks staring the whole day and watching their skin shrinking. So, seriously, if you are working on an art form which is timeless you will participate even through body and mind.

Why have you?
As a child I always felt strange, born into a jailhouse with no key available. I needed 68 years to work my way through the brick wall - now the next 60 years I will be sending sound files not heard before, you will be experiencing how music sounds outside the jail.

And what's your main motivation at this point? Has that motivation changed over the years?
It always depends from looking forward or backwards. Most humans after they have reached a certain age are just looking backwards. But that’s the cows business always masticating the same grass and hay a hundred times – and I am not a cow – that’s it.

They did call James Brown the godfather of funk and Elvis the king of rock and roll. Any particular title you'd like in terms of synth-rock?
When I am gone they should search for the mystery of the dark candle in the big white room.

Speaking of "synth-rock," do you have a genre you prefer to be called these days?

There been so many over the years. I know you really hated it when they called you new age. There are so many new ages blown into the atmosphere by false prophets, that it’s like an inflation for the good spirits. But where is the new aspect especially in music – where are the knob nerds who promised to have the electric key to paradise? TD is just there to tickle the ears of those who can imagine changing their consciousness. Saving the world and dancing the bad vibes away for just one night we would leave to Bruce Springsteen and others from the straight rock league.

You told me in '1991, "I remember about 10 years ago, most people said, 'I never touch synthesizers because it sounds like a machine. I don't want to be a robot. If you ask the same people today, they'll say, "OK, I was wrong, but it sounds more human today.' But this is foolish." Any thought today on how the world has become more synth-friendly?
People can talk endlessly about their cars, refrigerators, laptops and electronic programs of their washing machines. As soon as it comes to music they are calling for the exorcist. All instruments including synths are not more or less than crutches for an artist to express himself. Defining those instruments in categories like “robots” and “human” just shows how little the common music consumer has understood about what sounds really are. There are still folks around who set a mark on their records “no synth used”. So finally Tangerine Dream music would be the right term.

So many players have passed through the portals, Tangerine Dream would seem to be, at least to an outsider, you plus whoever else you take on. Is that the way you see it or is more of a collaborative effort that evolves over time with its different players?

As a man who never looks back I think of my comrades on this long way with respect and often good memories. Not all of them have been masters of a funny entertainment league, but all of them have left their colors to the band. But it would have been impossible to go with the same people for more than 45 years and keep on talking about the good old days at the war front firing sound missiles into the nowhere – silly. Each new idea needs a form to transport it – that’s why I love to work with professional newbies.

Of course, you've made numerous records under your own name as well. What differentiates an Edgar Froese disc from a TD one?
Ten fingers against 40 fingers. No, truth is that you never can satisfy every member within a band with your concept, composition and later performance ideas. Working with others on a fair basis means democracy instead of dictatorship. Even with your best ideas you have to listen to what your colleagues may have to say – so finally your composition has to convince others as well as it has to reflect your own musical identity. On a level of pure solo work, you are only responsible for yourself, it sounds easier but it’s sometimes even harder.

You began TD by playing very cacophonous music and you told the Washington Post last year, about your early, stormy work: "It was wild. An experiment against everything. Maybe it had the same root that punk came from. You stand up and you're against everything -- the establishment, some social movements, tastes in music, the mainstream. And you say, 'Okay, let's turn everything upside down and start again.'" Does that spirit still run through you today?
The post was absolutely right, we have maybe been the first electric punks in history in 1970. But besides the wilderness and fight against the old-fashioned ideals of the establishment myself had by founding the band in 1967, the basic idea to go with a great number of colleagues all the way from the absolute chaos to the highest level of perfection in studio work and life performances – that was the great idea behind TD.

I also might remind you of something you told me in 1991 when we talked about that early experimental period. You called it, with a laugh, "horrifying."
Yes, of course it was horrifying. Think about leaving a safe road where everything is signposted and all communication works and is proved by authorities and finally by law. You just make a u-turn and drive straight into a jungle, in which you never have been before. Everything can happen within a few minutes. You just follow the law of causality – if your next turn is false or stupid because of the inexperienced situation in general, you can’t blame anyone except yourself. Also – because it’s your idea – you will get all the shit by your colleagues who had a different opinion – that’s often horrifying.

I picked up on Tangerine Dream in the mid-70s with the "Ricochet" and "Stratosfear" albums. I was a college DJ. I played 'em to death. I liked the sense of foreboding, the chilliness that they embodied. You later moved away from that to more lush, textural music. Can you talk about that transition?
As a kid life is a complete mystery to you on each and every level. Your perspectives to the world are endless. There is a horizon, the final line far away, but it’s not there for you, it’s only there for others. Your drive and energy to look behind every hidden curtain is nearly endless. Later when the disharmonious stupidity of the business forces you to make compromises, it definitely changes quite a few of such unlimited perspectives. Also, you are getting older, becoming an adult in knowledge and experience. That changes your consciousness and therefore life philosophy. So, each phase in musical life has its highs and lows – it just matters if the confidence you have in what you originally wanted to do is strong enough in order to keep your basic identity. I’m pretty convinced that I worked hard enough to let this originality shine through to all of TD’s work.

How long is your current set? To what degree does improvisation play a part, these days? ("We have to take a risk," you told me in 1991. "To make a mistake and stay with it and explain yourself as a human being is to be more honest.")

The set runs for about 3 hours including a few encores. As far as improvisation is concerned we are limited by modern technology which isn’t good or bad. In the earlier days mistakes were made by false playing technique - today mistakes are created by the technology itself. Humans against high tech.

Will you be primarily playing music from the latest records or do you dip back in catalog? Will there be new stuff, unrecorded?
The two sets will include material from all ages and decades. We call it the long period we ourselves and the fans worldwide grew up with and have made it partly the soundtrack of their lives.

And, from listening to the compilation link I've heard it would seem like you're in both camps - as well as others - now.
If you would see the camps as a human development framed in by old and new technology you are right. But that’s a natural development, everything is in a kind of transformation. What has been a musical revolution 30 years ago is a classic today, that’s so adventurous about arts to be able to express yourself in the given moment.

You're cited, rightfully so, my so many artists in the dance/electronica/trance/ambient world. How does this make you feel? Is it at a feeling of being, "Well, I was ahead of my time," or "Finally, the world sees what I heard so long ago." Are there any current artists you endorse/listen to?
I listen to a lot of electro youngsters, some are on a very creative level others may should better work on something else. But here we are talking about subjective opinions. If  I am proud of the fact setting the clock 45 years back? Every musician, every artist is learning from other artists. My master was J.S. Bach, even if that’s not that obvious in all of the TD sequences, but it’s true. I am not proud, I am just filtering what runs as an inspiration through my system. That exactly is what the young musicians do by listening to the old or newer TD stuff. That is more than correct, I am just proud that life has given me the chance to be part of such a great, creative family of musicians.

I've enjoyed your soundtracking very much, especially "Thief" where your music added a whole other, deeper level of tension to the story. Can you speak about the soundtracking process, what you enjoy about it?
When we first came to Hollywood and started scoring in 1977 we didn’t know anything about the business. Bill Friedkin gave us the fantastic chance to support our career in a way we had never dreamed of. Scoring is a hard and professional team work. You have to understand the logic and logistic of how sound and a picture is combined in order to reach a certain effect. Often the people in the theatre just subconsciously realize that there is a score which has a great influence on the ongoing movie sequence. Finally it’s a great learning process working for pictures and understanding the philosophy of directors, producers and forecasting musically the reaction of the audience.

How many soundtracks would you say you've done?
If you count the American, Canadian and European scores together you will reach about 64. Also, I've liked in the past (and I'm guessing now) you feel no need to speak to the audience or, really, showboat in any way - referencing John Peel's old comment about it being about the music and not the musicians - and I want to ask you your take on that.

We are now in age of performers being more "accessible" and fan-friendly. Do you partake in that at all? What are your thought on the necessity, or lack thereof, of communication on stage with the audience?
We are fan friendly that’s why we don’t talk during the sets. What would be necessary to say?? In my view a spoken language is always a kind of a lower octave against the music. Also people who start talking about music try to explain the inexplainable. The best way of communicating is the freedom to everyone to step in and out of your own score of life.

Tix: $39.50-$29.50. Doors at 8. .

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