"Conrad Schnitzler (1937-2011), composer and concept artist, was one of the most important representatives of Germanys electronic music avant-garde. A student of Joseph Beuys, he founded Berlins legendary Zodiak Free Arts Lab, a subculture club, in 1967/68, was a member of Tangerine Dream (together with Klaus Schulze and Edgar Froese) and Kluster (with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius), and released countless solo albums. Pyrolator, born Kurt Dahlke in 1958, cofounder of the legendary German label and publisher Ata Tak, member of various seminal post-punk bands including D.A.F. and Der Plan, has released solo albums under his artist name from 1979 on. The Con-Struct series has its roots in Schnitzlers daily excursions through the sonic diversity of his synthesizers. Finding exceptional sounds with great regularity, he preserved them for use in subsequent live performances and amassed a vast sound archive. When the Berlin-based m=minimal label reissued two Conrad Schnitzler albums in 2010 and 11 (MINIMAL 001LP, MINIMAL 004LP), label honcho Jens Strüver was granted access to this audio library. Strüver came up with the idea of constructing new compositions, not remixes, from the archived material. On completion of the first Con-Struct album (MINIMAL 007CD/LP), he decided to develop the concept into a series, with different electronic musicians invited into Schnitzlers unique world of sound. Andreas Reihse (Kreidler) was responsible for the second installment in 2013 (MINIMAL 014CD/LP), and now Strüver has chosen Pyrolator to assume Schnitzlers mantle. A few words from Pyrolator: It was a great honour for me to be asked to curate an edition of the Con-Struct series. Conrads work is simply too important to turn down such an offer. The guidelines for the Con-Struct series require the curator to select individual tracks which Conrad had used in his live shows and rearrange them to create something new. I must admit, I could not resist the temptation to add one or two of my own ideas. The original tracks were so inspiring, I just had to. My prime objective was to present a side of Conrad which I had always heard in his music but one which often goes unnoticed: a darker, technoid side. In my opinion, Conrad has always been one of the great pioneers of classic Berlin techno music. I look forward to many more chapters in the Con-Struct collection. Conrads oeuvre is so extensive and so diverse that many more fascinating aspects await discovery." - Bureau B.
After nearly a decade of false starts, multiple game plans veering off the rails, and a handful of shattered hopes and/or dreams, the odyssey is finally complete—the new Fusetron site is here.
This is the first phase of a multipart rollout that will span the next few months: the currently browsable stock includes miscellaneous new releases from the past 8+ months (we have a lot of catching up to do), plus approximately a third of our backstock. Note that we’ve reduced/slashed prices on many titles and will continue to do so in order to make room for new stock. We’ll also be expanding / tweaking / improving / debugging the site itself (for example, we still have work to do on the automated international postage system, not to mention the inevitable inventory discrepancies that come with transferring an ancient and massive database to a new system).
Over the next few months, as we take inventory, clean house, and delve into our storage, we will be uploading thousands of additional items, gradually, on a near-daily basis. This will include the majority of the LPs, as well as many titles, in all formats, once thought long-gone. Many currently “sold out” items are likely to resurface.
Finally, once our general backstock is up (probably in the next two or three months) we’ll begin making our extensive stockpile of rarities available online for the first time: tons of random out-of-print titles, "deadstock," warehouse finds, secondhand collectibles, etc., accumulated over the past few decades.
Frequent/returning customers will be getting early access to these items. Details to follow on how this will work (a priority mailing list? a 'frequent flyer'-like program?), but it will not be based on dollars spent. We want to reward those who consistently support us, especially in the discogs marketplace era (to those who show up trying to poach five copies of a one-off rarity, and nothing else, ever… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).
So—we suggest you take some time to dig through the site—even we’ve been surprised by what’s been turning up, and there’s much more to come.
