VA - PSYCHEDELIC BERLIN (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

BERLIN ROCKS.

VA - PSYCHEDELIC BERLIN (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

Psychedelic Berlin did not arrive fully formed. It emerged slowly, shaped by a city learning to reinvent itself through sound. In the late sixties, the first wave gathered in rooms like the Zodiak Free Arts Lab, where Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, Agitation Free, and Conrad Schnitzler treated electricity as a raw material. Their records on labels such as Ohr, Pilz, and Brain carried long improvisations that felt closer to sculpture than song. Berlin was divided, yet the music reached outward, using repetition and texture to create a sense of space that the city itself could not offer. These early groups built a vocabulary of drones, phased guitars, and modular synth lines that defined the period from 1968 to 1975 and gave the city a new identity.

The next shift came when Hansa Tonstudio became a meeting point for local experimenters and visiting artists. Between 1976 and 1989, the studio’s large Meistersaal room added its own character to recordings made there. David Bowie’s Berlin-era work, including pieces such as “V-2 Schneider” and “Sense of Doubt,” alongside Iggy Pop’s Berlin-period recordings such as “Nightclubbing,” reflect this environment where sound was shaped as much by space as by performance. Tangerine Dream also continued to develop their studio-based explorations in this broader Berlin context. At the same time, German groups such as Malaria!, Palais Schaumburg, and Liaisons Dangereuses pushed rhythm and electronics into sharper, more urban forms. Psychedelic Berlin moved from cosmic drift to architectural tension, replacing the open landscapes of the early seventies with the metallic pulse of a city living beside the Wall. The music remained exploratory, but the mood darkened, and the sense of place became more defined and immediate.

After reunification, the city changed again. New rehearsal rooms, clubs, and independent labels appeared, and a younger generation revisited the long-form approach of the early pioneers. Bands like Colour Haze, Electric Moon, and Samsara Blues Experiment recorded albums that stretched across entire sides of vinyl, using heavy riffs and extended jams to create a renewed form of immersion. Their releases on labels such as Elektrohasch, Nasoni, and Sulatron show how the psychedelic impulse adapted to a louder, more communal environment. Berlin’s history remained present, but it was reinterpreted rather than repeated.

In the years after 2010, the focus widened further. Berlin’s electronic and experimental scenes expanded across neighbourhoods such as Neukölln and beyond, with artists including Moderat, Pantha Du Prince, Objekt, and Toresch working with rhythm and atmosphere in ways that echo earlier decades while using contemporary production tools. The city’s psychedelic character shifted toward clarity and detail, shaped by digital production but still grounded in repetition, texture, and mood.

Across these eras, the constant element is curiosity. Psychedelic Berlin represents a refusal to settle, a belief that sound can describe a city more accurately than words. It continues to evolve because Berlin continues to change, and each generation finds its own way to listen. (B)

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Track lists

CD1: Zodiak Rising

01 Tangerine Dream - Ultima Thule (Part 1) (7' Single) 3:26 1972

02 Agitation Free - You Play for Us Today 6:15 1972

03 Ash Ra Tempel - Amboss 19:56 1971

04 Cluster - Plas 6:20 1971

05 Klaus Schulze - Satz - Gewitter 5:39 1972

06 Mythos - Oriental Journey 8:16 1972

07 Murphy Blend - First Loss 7:51 1970

08 Walpurgis - Queen of Saba 5:13 1972

09 Annexus Quam - Osmose I 4:13 1970

10 Conrad Schnitzler - Electric Garden 5:34 1978

14 Klaus Schulze - Mental Door 22:58 1975

12 Ton Steine Scherben - Warum Geht Es Mir So Dreckig 5:09 1971

13 Agitation Free - Laila Pt 2 5:05 1974

14 Ash Ra Tempel - Daydream 5:22 1973

15 Metropolis - Superplasticclub 4:41 1974

16 Cosmic Jokers - Galactic Supermarket 18:47 1974

17 Wallenstein - Lunetic 11:58 1973

18 Agitation Free - First Communication 6:25 1973

19 Ibliss - Margah 6:21 1972

20 Tangerine Dream - Wahn 4:28 1973

CD2: Hansa by the Wall

01 David Bowie - V-2 Schneider 3:10 1977

02 David Bowie - Sense of Doubt 3:58 1977

03 David Bowie - Neuköln 4:34 1977

04 Tangerine Dream - Madrigal Meridian 20:35 1978

05 David Bowie - Weeping Wall 3:28 1977

06 Einstürzende Neubauten - Kollaps 8:03 1981

07 Mania D - Track Four 3:29 1980

08 Ideal - Blaue Augen 3:30 1980

09 Palais Schaumburg - Wir bauen eine neue Stadt 3:27 1981

10 Die Haut - Der Karibische Western 5:32 1983

11 Malaria! - Kaltes klares Wasser 3:51 1981

12 Liaisons Dangereuses - Los Niños Del Parque (12'' Version) 5:02 1981

13 Tangerine Dream - Thru Metamorphic Rocks 14:31 1979

14 P1; e - 49 Second Romance 2:49 1980

15 Nena - Nur geträumt 3:40 1983

16 Element of Crime - Blaulicht und Zwielicht 3:42 1985

17 Die Ärzte - Zum Bäcker 2:11 1984

18 Die Tödliche Doris - Stümmel mir 3:38 1981

19 Crime & the City Solution - Six Bells Chime 5:41 1985

20 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Carny 7:59 1986

CD3: Reunification Fallout

01 Samsara Blues Experiment - Double Freedom 22:44 2011

02 Kadavar - Black Sun 6:14 2012

03 Colour Haze - Aquamaria 8:46 2004

04 Vibravoid - Colour Your Mind 5:23 2013

05 My Sleeping Karma - Sandi 8:06 2008

06 Camera - Ausland 5:52 2012

07 Magnificent Brotherhood - Mindgarage 4:11 2009

08 Coogans Bluff - Magic Bubbles 4:52 2011

09 Spacelords - Spaceship Breakdown 9:38 2011

10 Rotor - Rotor - 3 5:30 2006

11 Pancakes - Stars in The Underground 8:27 2005

12 Space Invaders - Two Skulls 12:48 2013

13 Space Debris - Phonomorphosis 19:43 2008

14 Liquid Visions - Morning Rain 10:07 1998

15 Neumeier-Genrich-Schmidt - Moonlight Flight 11:43 1996

16 Pancakes - Man on The Moon 11:11 2005

17 Electric Orange - Wald 10:12 2014

18 Hypnos 69 - My Journey to The Stars 6:53 2004

19 Zone Six - Stoned Wash 21:30 1998

20 Samsara Blues Experiment - Singata (Mystic Queen) 11:30 2010

CD4: Neukölln Nights

01 Camera - Ego 6:54 2012

02 Zement - Journeys to a Beautiful Nowhere 9:29 2023

03 Third Sound - You Are Not Here 3:47 2022

04 Heat - Daymare 8:11 2021

05 Samavayo - Intergalactic Hunt 5:12 2018

06 Sun Or The Moon - Trippin' on Mars 8:11 2023

07 Zement - Station to Station 3:06 2023

08 Underground Youth - Fill The Void 5:19 2021

09 Odd Couple - Flügge 4:12 2016

10 Tarwater - 70 Rupies to Paradise Road 2:43 2000

11 Kombynat Robotron - Wallinghausen 9:44 1998

12 Toresch - Laquella 5:54 2016

13 Janitors - Long Way Back 7:05 2018

14 Schneider TM vs. KPT.Michi.Gan - The Light 3000 4:10 2003

15 Minami Deutsch - Tunnel 5:46 2018

16 Apparat - Black Water 4:43 2011

17 Günter Schlienz - Two Big White Dogs 5:44 2018

18 Pretty Lightning - Jangle Bowls 3:30 2019

19 Dharma Chain - Somewhere 5:21 2023

20 My Sleeping Karma - Glow 11 7:11 2009

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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