Ulrich Schnauss

Ulrich Schnauss
Background information
Born	1977 (age 36–37)
Origin	Kiel, Germany
Genres	Indietronica, ambient techno
Occupations	Musician, record producer, remixer
Labels	Independiente Records/Domino USA, Rocket Girl[1]
Associated acts	A Shoreline Dream Longview Engineers
Website	www.ulrich-schnauss.com

Ulrich Schnauss (born 1977) is an electronic musician and producer based in Germany.

Biography

Ulrich Schnauss was born in the northern German seaport of Kiel in 1977. He became interested in a range of music: My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Tangerine Dream, Chapterhouse, and early bleep & breakbeat tracks. There was not much opportunity to see his musical influences in Kiel, so he moved to Berlin in 1996.

Live in London

Ulrich's musical output began under the pseudonyms of View to the Future and Ethereal 77. These electronica and drum-driven pieces were noticed by Berlin electronica label CCO (City Centre Offices), to which Schnauss sent CD's on a regular basis. Ulrich developed these submissions to CCO into his first album under his own name, Far Away Trains Passing By, released in Europe in 2001, and in the United States in 2005.

Ulrich Schnauss performing at Bestival, 2008

His next album, 2003's A Strangely Isolated Place, showed the influence of My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields and Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie. Schnauss has said of this album, "When you've worked with computers and keyboards for a number of years, they become not so fascinating of themselves anymore. I gained confidence after people began to discover Far Away Trains Passing By, and it hasn't really stopped since then. This time I decided not to compromise on what I wanted to do, with what I thought people might want me to do."^[2]

Since the release of both albums Ulrich has been asked to work with and remix with artists, including port-royal, Mojave 3, Airiel, A Shoreline Dream, Asobi Seksu, Televise, Longview, Johannes Schmoelling, The Zephyrs, Lunz (Roedelius), and others.

He also plays keyboards for UK indie band Longview, whose singer Rob McVey was featured on Ulrich's next album, Goodbye. In an interview he said: "I have always loved music that has both elements: melancholy and sadness as a description of the current situation you are in, but at the same time a hopeful, utopian element that reminds you of the possibility of a different life." ^[3]

His third album, Goodbye, was completed in early 2007. It was released in Europe by Independiente Records on June 25, 2007. The United States release followed on July 10 under Domino Records. Regarding this album, he said: "The overall idea was pretty much the same. I just wanted to merge the indie songwriting elements and electronic instrumentation. After the previous album I still had a feeling like there was more room to take these ideas to an extreme level when it comes to layering and laying down as many tracks as possible." ^[4]

On June 12, 2007, Ulrich released an EP named Quicksand Memory. It contains two remixes by Robin Guthrie of previous releases, a mix by Rob McVey of a previously unreleased track, and an edit of a track appearing on his latest album.

In the spring of 2008, Ulrich remixed two tracks by the Manchester based shoegaze band Daniel Land and The Modern Painters. On October 27, 2008, the two tracks, "Within the Boundaries" and "Benjamin's Room", were released as a double A-side 7" single by the independent record label Sonic Cathedral, the label's 11th release.

In July 2008, the Stars EP was released to support his June/July US tour. A co-produced/co-written track with A Shoreline Dream titled "neverChanger" was released on an EP of the same name. Ulrich traveled out for a short tour with the band in Texas and Colorado to promote this effort, and performed this track with A Shoreline Dream during his performances.

In the fall of 2008, Ulrich collaborated on three new tracks with A Shoreline Dream entitled "hypermode", "departure" and a live version of "neverChanger" which all appear on the Shoreline Dream album Recollections of Memory, officially released on February 10, 2009.

In October 2009, Schnauss' record labels, Independiente and Domino, sued Guns N' Roses, alleging that the band had committed copyright infringement by using portions of Schnauss' compositions in the track "Riad 'n the Bedouins" on the album Chinese Democracy.^[5]

In 2010, Schnauss was involved in the mixing of Exit Calm's self-titled debut album.

Rachel Staggs and Carlos Jackson of All in the Golden Afternoon began work in the studio with Schnauss in June 2010. The song entitled "The Long Goodbye" is a result of this collaboration, and marks its debut on a compilation for Rocket Girl Records.

Ryan Policky of A Shoreline Dream visited Ulrich Schnauss in July 2010 to work on a new collaboration entitled "London". With the exception of live drums performed by Sean Merrell (also of A Shoreline Dream) the song was fully produced, engineered and mixed by Schnauss/Policky, and marks its debut on a compilation for Rocket Girl Records.^[6]

Schnauss also provided keyboards and backing vocals on Engineers' third album, In Praise of More. Schnauss has also been confirmed as a headlining act for the upcoming "Phrase One" festival due to be held in the small Irish town of Carrick-on-Shannon on April 19, 2013.

In other media

• "Monday Paracetamol" from A Strangely Isolated Place was used as one of the BGMs for the 2007 version of popular global EA Sports video game franchise Tiger Woods PGA tour.
• Later in 2007, the "On My Own" track from A Strangely Isolated Place was used by Pontiac in its "Cars" TV commercial.
• GMC's Super Bowl commercial in 2008 ("Mountain Top") featured "Blumenwiese Neben Autobahn" from Far Away Trains Passing By.
• "A Million Miles Away" was featured in the PAL territory version of the PlayStation 2 video game Gran Turismo 4.
• "...Passing By" from the album Far Away Trains Passing By featured in the 2005 movie Elizabethtown and its accompanying soundtrack
• In the CSI: Miami Season 3 episode, "Under the Influence", the song, "On My Own" can be heard playing in the background as the newest addition to Horatio Caine's team, Ryan Wolfe played by Jonathan Togo is busy searching through Kenwall “Duke” Duquesne's car for evidence.
• "On My Own" from A Strangely Isolated Place was featured in the Spring Summer 2012 collection for Emanuel Ungaro.
• "Look at the Sky" was selected as the Tom Hiddleston song of the day on November 1, 2011.
• "Stars" was used as the backing track in a 2014 Cadillac CTS Sedan TV commercial. ^[7]

Pseudonyms and groups

• Ulrich Schnauss
• Ethereal 77
• View to the Future
• Extremist, The
• Hexaquart
• Police in Cars with Headphones
• Hair (with Alex Krueger)
• Long-view (Keyboardist)
• Engineers (Keyboardist)

Discography

Releases

Remixes

• as Ulrich Schnauss
  • Death Cab For Cutie – Home Is a Fire (Ulrich Schnauss Remix) – (Atlantic)
  • Halo (Ulrich Schnauss Remix) – Lang Remixed (Preco)
  • Madrid – Out to Sea (YYZ Records)
  • port-royal – Stimmung (Resonant Recordings)
  • The High Violets – "Chinese Letter" (Reverb Records)
  • Howling Bells – Setting Sun (Bella Union)
  • Johannes Schmoelling – Icewalk (Viktoriapark – Collaboration with Robert Wässer)
  • Hrk – Love World (Joint Records)
  • Obscure Celebrities – Fahreinheit (Gooom Disques)
  • I'm Not a Gun – Make Sense & Loose (City Centre Offices)
  • Airiel – Sugar Crystals (Highwheel)
  • Justin Robertson – Love Movement (Bugged Out)
  • Mojave 3 – Bluebird of Happiness (4ad)
  • Longview – Can't Explain (14th Floor Rec)
  • Longview – Will You Wait Here (14th Floor Rec)
  • Pete Lawrence – Musical Box (Big Chill)
  • Sia – Breathe Me (Go Beat)
  • Depeche Mode – Little 15 (Reprise/Mute)
  • The Zephyrs – Stand Round Hold Hands (Club Ac30)
  • Rachel Goswell – Coastline (4AD)
  • Mark Gardener – The Story of The Eye (Sonic Cathedral)
  • Asobi Seksu – Strawberries (One Little Indian)
  • A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Ghost in the Graveyard (Ruined Potential Records)
  • Pet Shop Boys – Memory of the Future (Parlophone/EMI)
• as View to the Future
  • Korsakow & Nudge (Usm)
• as Hexaquart
  • Daniel Lodig – Connect (Müller)
  • Beroshima – Electronic Discussion (Müller)

Compilation appearances (exclusive tracks only)

• Police in Cars with Headphones – "Bitte Lächeln – Wenn Sie Wollen," on Artgenda 96
• View to the Future – "Addicted to Your Smile," on Barcode
• Tinkabell – "Rosarotes Meer," on Chillin' Voices 2 (Shift Music – Collaboration With K. Hein)
• Ethereal 77 – "Forever," on Schöne Neue Welt (Space Teddy)
• Ethereal 77 – "Oblivion" & "Open Skiez," on Unpleasant Poems (Ground Liftaz)
• Ulrich Schnauss – "Nothing Happens in June," on Mashed Mellow Grooves 5
• Ulrich Schnauss – "You Were the Only One Around," on The Sound of the Cosmos (Hooj Choons)
• Ulrich Schnauss – "Crazy For You" & "Wherever You Are," on Blue Skied An' Clear (Morr Music)
• Ulrich Schnauss – "As If You've Never Been Away," on The Trip (Universal)
• Ulrich Schnauss – "On My Own (Sasha Involver remix)," on Involver (Global Underground)
• Ulrich Schnauss – "Nobody's Home" on Nick Warren:Reykjavik (Global Underground)
• Ulrich Schnauss – “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” (live version) on Vapor Trails: The Echoes Living Room Concerts Volume 14 (Echodisc)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ulrich Schnauss.

Official sites

• Official website
• Official website for A Shoreline Dream

Unofficial/fan sites

• Schnaussifier

Discographies

• Ulrich Schnauss discography at Discogs
• Ulrich Schnauss discography at MusicBrainz

Interviews

• Ulrich Schnauss interview with TMF in 2010 prior to release of Missing Deadlines
• Ulrich Schnauss interview (2007)
• Ulrich Schnauss interview at Aural States (2008)
• Ulrich Schnauss article August 2007
• Aural States article
• Barcode zine interview