Klaus Schulze – Irrlicht
Ohr Records OMM 556 022, Germany 1972
Irrlicht / Quadraphonische Symphonie für Orchester und E-Maschinen is Klaus Schulze’s debut album. On the record sleeve, he is credited for “Music, production, recording, cover, photography, text etc.”
In 2005, Schulze said, “Irrlicht still has more connections to Musique concrète than with today’s electronics. I still never owned a synthesiser at the time.” Schulze mainly used a broken and modified electric organ, a recording of a classical orchestra rehearsal played backward, and a damaged amplifier to filter and alter sounds that he mixed on tape into a three-movement symphony.
Back cover of the PDU release. “Platten Durcharbeitung Ultraphone” is an “Italian label based in Switzerland that in the 1970s imported the sound of the German Cosmic Couriers on the Italian market”. — Discogs
Inside
Text on the inside of the front cover is set in Churchward Design 70 and Data 70. Both fonts are rounded by adding some weight.
Record label on the B side, showing two Kosmische Kuriere set in Ringlet. on the back of the record sleeve, the Kuriere are translated to English as “Cosmic Couriers” and “Cosmic Couriers Production”.
![The record label on the A side uses a mix of different sans serif typefaces for information in a more classic look than the rest of the album, including Semplicità Nera (for “Klaus Schulze” — the asymmetrical ‘U’ is the giveaway) and Cairoli, Nebiolo’s version of the German grotesque series best known as Aurora-Grotesk. As the record was produced in Italy, Mr. Schulze was probably not involved in the design of this label, and the record manufacturer simply used what was common, and at hand. The labels of the original release on Ohr show a human ear — “macht auf das [Ohr]” (“open up the ear”), in tightly spaced Helvetica.](https://assets.fontsinuse.com/static/use-media-items/48/47169/full-1200x1200/5872a26e/Irrlicht_labelB.jpeg?resolution=0)
The record label on the A side uses a mix of different sans serif typefaces for information in a more classic look than the rest of the album, including Semplicità Nera (for “Klaus Schulze” — the asymmetrical ‘U’ is the giveaway) and Cairoli, Nebiolo’s version of the German grotesque series best known as Aurora-Grotesk. As the record was produced in Italy, Mr. Schulze was probably not involved in the design of this label, and the record manufacturer simply used what was common, and at hand. The labels of the original release on Ohr show a human ear — “macht auf das [Ohr]” (“open up the ear”), in tightly spaced Helvetica.
