Florian Fricke
Members: Popol Vuh
Musique Méchanique
*2022 stock. In process of stocking* With decades of history releasing music on the cutting edge, Celestial Harmonies founder, Eckart Rahn, had to sort through hours of historically significant material for Musique Mécanique, a double CD retrospective of influential electronic compositions. His latest music selection and sequence does not begin to cover the wealth of consequential material his labels have presented over the years. However, this collection does offer a worthy overview of the genr…
Spielt Mozart
* 2020 Stock * Florian Fricke (1944 – 2001) was a German music pioneer who started his career in electronic music using the Moog synthesizer within the famous Krautrock group ‘Popol Vuh’. Fricke studied piano, composition and directing at the conservatories in Freiburg and Munich where he also dedicated himself to new kinds of music like ‘free jazz’. In 1967 he met German film director Werner Herzog and the two formed a life long friendship (Fricke was later responsible for the soundtracks of se…
Affenstunde
**Transparent blue vinyl edition** Issued on Liberty in 1970, the debut LP by Popol Vuh features Florian Fricke's Moog synthesizer experiments at its most spirited wild. One of the earliest experimental Moog LPs, with Fricke's electronic explorations supported at times by Holger Trülszch's percussion, flying free at others, the result has been labeled as a dark, unmelodic, unprecedented sound and it settled the path for many Kraut adventurers to follow.Blending electronics with traditional percu…
Cobra Verde
Aside from having attained legendary status through their own solo material, Germany's timeless Popol Vuh were instrumental in the development and cult-like status of director Werner Herzog's most respected pictures. Throughout the 70s and 80s, guided by a legendary Klaus Kinski as his main actor, Herzog and Popol Vuh were responsible for a new outlook on cinema and, importantly, on the importance of soundtracks. Through a mixture of pioneering electronics, Krautrock and komische, the band were …
Agape-Agape Love-Love
‘Agape-Love’ was one of Florian Fricke's favorites, at a point in his life where he was inspired by 13th century Persian poet Rumi. Still utilizing a choir for Gregorian chant-like ethereal intensity -- though they sing in Byzantine scales – the band delves deeply into the drone world of Fricke’s sacred music muse. This is an album of many moods/feelings & is a worthy, devastatingly beautiful outing (both introspective & intense at the same time).Out of print since 1983 and never released outsid…
For You And Me
700 copies black vinyl. Born as Florian Fricke’s brainchild, Popol Vuh needs little introduction, the band stayed active between the late 1960s & late 1990s (until Florian’s passing in 2001). Regarded as pioneers in avant-garde German electronic music, their early works practically laid down the foundations for ‘Kosmische Muzik’ (Space Music) with the then new sounds of the Moog synthesizer joined with ethnic percussions.Later the group evolved to include all kinds of instruments (both electric …
Die Nacht Der Seele
‘Die nacht der seele’ is the twelfth album by Popol Vuh, originally released in 1979 by Florian Fricke and friends–Daniel Fichelscher on guitar, Djong Yun and Renate Knaup on vocals, plus guests Alois Gromer on sitar and Susan Goetting on oboe. Popol Vuh had moved again one step farther, ellaborating a complex world music opus based mainly on acoustic instruments plus Fichelscher's electric guitar and the use of multitracked vocals to reproduce the sounds of Tibetan monk chants.‘Florian was and …
Die Erde und Ich sind Eins
Issued in 1983 as a limited private pressing, ‘Die Erde und Ich sind Eins’ was Florian Fricke’s first ‘solo’ LP. It features the guitar of his Popol Vuh partner Daniel Fichelsher and vocals by Anni Morris Wieland, Bettina Fricke Waldthausend, Dieter Prym, Florian Fricke, Friedemann Berger, Friedemann Wieland, Gisela Von Doering, Ingeborg Jahnke, Jan Lorck-Shjmerning, Jana Faust, Karl F. Weber and Klaudia Wieland.‘You could label it as ‘body-space-music’ (Körperraummusik) where you sing inside th…
Sei still, wisse Ich Bin
Originally released on Klaus Schulze's Innovative Communication label in 1981, 'Sei still, wisse Ich Bin' is Popol Vuh's 13th LP. Fricke and Fichelscher worked under the production of Klaus Schulze himself and were helped for the occasion by Chris Karrer on soprano sax, Renate Knaup on vocals and the Chorensemble der Bayerischen Staatsoper. Two of its songs, Laß los and ...als lebtendie Engel auf Erden where used on the soundtrack of Werner Herzog's film Fitzcarraldo, from 1982. There is also a …
In den Garten Pharaos
CD version. In Den Gärten Pharaos" was originally issued in 1971, this time by Pilz, yet it wasn't precisely on the folk vein that Herr Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser was trying to keep the label into by those days. It's sound drinks directly from the same waters that brought Affenstunde, although there is a clear move towards some less dark passages, and the use of church organ as the main instrument, plus a first introduction into the ethnic music elements that Popol Vuh would soon mix into their cauldron…
Letzte Tage, Letzte Nachte
Letzte Tage, Letzte Nächte is probably the most "rock" sounding work of Popol Vuh's production. Recorded by the classic trio of Fricke, Fichelscher and Yun, plus Ted de Jong on tamboura and Amon Düül members Al Gromer on sitar and Renate Knaup on additional vocals, its sounds seem to be more based on power than on ambient. Strong guitar passages emphasize this, with Fischelscher's playing being harder than the Conny Veit ethereal parts on earlier records. The title track is also the firs…
Einsjaeger & Siebenjaeger
2015 restock. Einsjäger & Siebenjäger, originally released on Kosmische Musik in 1974. Settling down the partnership of Florian Fricke with Daniel Fischelscher that was started in the previous outing and, again, featuring Korean soprano Djong Yun on vocals, the fifth Popol Vuh LP also counted on sporadic contributions by Olaf Kübler on flute to follow the path set on Hosianna Mantra and Seligpreisung. Reissued from the master tapes in quality vinyl pressing, full glory laminated gatefold cover a…
Seligpreisung
2015 restock. The fourth LP by Popol Vuh was originally released on Kosmische Musik in 1973. It follows the religious theme of its predecessor and features the line up of Florian Fricke with Conny Veit on guitars, Daniel Fischelscher on guitars and drums (he was the drummer of Düül II), Robert Eliscu on oboe, Djong Yun on vocals and Klaus Wiesse on tamboura. Reissued from the master tapes in quality vinyl pressing, full glory laminated gatefold cover and featuring an insert with liners and photo…
Kailash: Pilgrimage to the Throne of the Gods
Limited vinyl LP box (with DVD)... Kailash is a new collection of work from Florian Fricke, leader of Popol Vuh, seminal group in the German rock scene of the 1970s (Can, Faust, Amon Duul, Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream) and creators of classic soundtracks to the films of Werner Herzog (Aguirre the Wrath of God, Nosferatu, Fitzcaraldo and others). Popol Vuh took their name from an epic mythological text from the 16th century Quiché Maya people of Guatemala, the name translates as ‘meeting p…
Nosferatu The Vampyre
Waxwork Records proudly presents the deluxe vinyl soundtrack reissue of Werner Herzog’s, NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE. The album, composed by German prog legends POPOL VUH, comes from Waxwork as a deluxe, expanded double LP including four extra tracks from the film, and originally released on the Popol Vuh album, Bruder des Schattens – Sohne des Lichts. Waxwork has worked directly with the family of late Popol Vuh founder, Florian Fricke, to faithfully restore and remaster the soundtrack for vinyl. Inc…
Hosianna Mantra
With its religious theme it shouldn't be heretic to consider Hosianna Mantra as a small miracle. Suddenly the dark, unmelodic Popol Vuh offer us an incredibly beautiful work of amazing gothic folk that, this time, fit perfectly in the Pilz catalogue - yet managing to sound as something completely unique. It was originally released in 1972 and featured a host of musicians that included Conny Veit on guitars, Robert Eliscu on oboe, Djong Yun on vocals and Klaus Wiesse on tamboura, led of course by…
Nosferatu
The story of the Nosferatu soundtrack editions through the years appears a little caotic. Several editions, with several sleeves and completely different tracklists have appeared in different countries. What we tried to offer here is the definitive edition of Popol Vuh's works for this fantastic Werner Herzog 1979 tribute to the old Murnau classic. When asked for a new soundtrack for Herzog's project, Florian Fricke and Daniel Fichelscher came out with a magnificent album that once again, as it …
Herz Aus Glass
Another classic soundtrack produced by Popol Vuh for a Werner Herzog film was Herz Aus Glass. Its music still retains the powerful emphasis given to the previous LP in certain passages, although it goes back to their more reflexive ambiental athmospheres yet presenting that concept one step further into more evolutive structures and even adding some touches of a certain folk music feel. Djong Yun is not present anymore, but Daniel Fichelscher and Florian Fricke can still count on the coll…
Aguirre
Werner Herzog's 1972 film Aguirre, The Wrath Of God was the first collaboration between the famed director and Popol Vuh. Florian Fricke was approached by old friend Herzog to do the soundtrack for his third movie. Three years later, in 1975, after the international success of Herzog's film, Popol Vuh issued the LP Aguirre. It featured material recorded for the movie plus some other songs. Some of them recorded prior to 1975 - the Aguirre soundtrack ones, of course, plus there is the pres…
Das Hohelied Salomos
Popol Vuh’s batch of Werner Herzog soundtracks receive a “definitive” vinyl reissue thanks to Wah Wah, that provide fresh pressings of a number of out-of-print albums from the kosmische icons. start our second series of Popol Vuh reissues with the fantastic Das Hohelied Salomos, which takes it over from where Einsjäger Und Siebenjäger left it. It features the classic trio of Florian Fricke, Daniel Fichelscher and Djong Yun, plus the help of Amon Düül's Al Gromer. The theme of the album is t…