WUIVEND RIET

"Wuivend Riet" is the first solo album of JOHANNES SCHMOELLING. This is a very spacious ambitious work fully reflecting the influences of the media he has been involved in. As a modern day romanticist, JOHANNES SCHMOELLING endeavours to evoke the awareness of all that is meaningful surrounding us through the use of a computer that faithfully reproduces the dreams and images that have been stored in it.

Wuivend Riet, Dutch for "wind-blown reeds," was composed for an experimental theater piece where actors swayed back and forth among the reeds.

"Part 1" is a bizarre collage of croaking frogs, running water, speeded up duck chatter, slurping noises, sawing cellos and electronically processed human voices.

About Johannes Schmoelling
Around the middle of 1979 Edgar Froese interested him in the idea of forming a new Tangerine Dream group which had broken up in 1977. He remained with the group until 1985. His first solo-album "Wuivent Ried" (1986) belongs to one of the best selling albums on the Erdenklang Label. "The Zoo Of Tranquillity" (1988) and "White Out" (1990) appeared on Polygram labels. Now Schmoelling is working in his own "Riet-Studio" in Berlin as a composer and producer for theatre, radios, TV- and film-companies.

Press reviews:

"The first solo recording from ex-Tangerine Dream member (1979-85) is one of those refreshing recordings which takes one by surprise and continues to do so each time it´s listened to. The result is an instrumental disc that is not New Age, jazz or classical, but simply an anticing work full of fanciful musical flights." - The Calgary Herald

"Of all the New Music releases brought to the market during the past few years, this album is easily one of the very best. The only other problem I have with this record is that it´s over far too soon!" - Glenn Hammett for Sonds Like

"Debut will sound familiar: Former Tangerine Dream member brings many textures and tempos from that keyboard band to this recording. To his credit, Schmoelling‘s dynamic range is less confined". - Billboard, August 22, 1987

"This solo debut by former Tangerine Dream member Johannes Schmoelling has been something of an underground classic since its initial release in 1986. The first four tracks move through both lyrical and ominous spaces with layered synthesizers, digital piano, prominent bass lines and odd sound effects, laying the groundwork for the extended two-part title track. - tb

"Part 2" builds on dense synth chords and a gamelan-like sequencer pattern, spiced with sound effects, into a wild pastiche of multi-layered intensity. Wuivend Riet is a dynamic work, full of imagination and drama, challenging the listener with its strange mixture of beauty and weirdness". - Backroads Music/Heartbeats