02/12/2025
in 1979, during his third summer in berlin after having relocated from his hometown of hildesheim, harald grosskopf reached a crossroads. as the percussive backbone for the german krautrock scene, he had always considered himself a collaborator; a metronomic accomplice in the psychedelic experiments of ash ra tempel, cosmic jokers, and klaus schulze. however, after ash ra went on hiatus, he suddenly found himself musically adrift, unmoored by a lack of collaborative prospects. he began tinkering with tape loops, and after some encouragement from his fellow musicians / friends, he embarked on his first solo creative endeavor
grosskopf sequestered himself in an apartment studio nestled deep in the west german countryside, armed with a minimoog, a reel-to-reel, and copious amounts of coffee and “other substances.” despite no prior experience with analog synthesis or music production, he became enraptured by the freedom of solo creation, often working until dawn, or drifting to sleep beside his 12-channel mixer. two months later, he emerged with synthesist, an otherworldly album teeming with interstellar synth explorations, pulsing ambient soundscapes, and grosskopf’s masterful drum work
in 2011, rvng pursued a similar endeavor, releasing synthesist as the label’s very first reissue. alongside it, rvng released re-synthesist, a companion compilation featuring reinterpretations from oneohtrix point never (), blondes, arp (), , , and more. the dual release stands as an ode to grosskopf’s story, and a document of its influence on a new gen of synthesists 🔌🎹
