Picture Music cover

Picture Music

Released

Schulze’s fourth album was actually recorded before its predecessor, 1974’s Blackdance, but held back. It consists of two side-long tracks, with a 33-minute bonus track added to CD reissues. The first, “Totem,” is a Tangerine Dream-esque journey through deep space, with some electronic pulses to create rhythm but an overall feeling of timelessness and floating. The second, “Mental Door,” is much more active and even hard-charging; some of Schulze’s playing verges on rock organ à la Jon Lord of Deep Purple, and he also sits down behind the drums (his original instrument), slamming out a mechanistic beat that boosts the energy level even higher.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Wisdom of Elders cover

Wisdom of Elders

Shabaka & the Ancestors
Enter cover

Enter

Fire! Orchestra
Horizontal Structures cover

Horizontal Structures

Moritz von Oswald Trio
Aequora cover

Aequora

Mina Gajić, Mystery Sonata, Zachary Carrettin
Illusions cover

Illusions

Arthur Blythe
New York, Fall 1974 cover

New York, Fall 1974

Anthony Braxton
Garden cover

Garden

Uncivilized