Magnetfeld by Harald Grosskopf & Ümit Han

At the end of 2023, Harald Grosskopf, legendary Krautrock and Berlin School pioneer and electronic music artist Ümit Han came together to record their first collaborative album "Magnetfeld". Over the course of a year, their sessions took place at On Tape Studio, home to the largest collection of working tape machines in Europe. The recordings were captured on tape through a classic Studer mixing console, bridging the warmth of analog technology with the duo’s forward-thinking sound.

Harald Grosskopf was the first drummer in electronic music to accompany sequenced melodies and basslines with live percussion, merging human rhythm with machine-driven soundscapes. A key figure in German electronic and Krautrock history, he made his name in the early ’70s as the drummer for the art-rock band Wallenstein, before joining forces with Klaus Schulze and Manuel Göttsching’s Ash Ra Tempel (later Ashra). As a core member of Ashra, he recorded 12 albums and toured extensively across France, England and Japan.

In 1980, he released the landmark solo album Synthesist, now recognized as a defining work of Kosmische Musik. Over the decades, he has contributed to more than 100 albums, continually pushing the boundaries of electronic percussion. In 2011, Synthesist had its live premiere in New York, where Grosskopf performed alongside with one of the best German guitarists Axel Manrico Heilhecker.

His musical journey has also included a collaboration with Kraftwerk co-founder Eberhard Kranemann, resulting in the album Krautwerk (2017) and a UK tour. In 2024, Grosskopf released his latest studio album "Storm", followed by his autobiography, Monsieur Séquenceur.

Cologne-based electronic artist Ümit Han is a composer, performer, and sonic architect whose musical path began in 1994. Since his debut release in 2006, he has crafted music for various labels land remixed artists like Max Cooper, Minilogue and Gabriel Ananda.

Since 2006 he released music on various labels such as Traum Schallplatten, Harthouse and Karmarouge. By 2016, he had shifted his focus toward conceptual ambient and experimental compositions, moving beyond the club scene to explore deeper sonic territories.

In 2022, he became part of the Kompakt Records family, contributing to Wolfgang Voigt’s Pop Ambient series. Han’s collaborations extend beyond Grosskopf, he has worked with Dominik von Senger (of CAN-affiliated bands like Phantom Band) and recorded an electronic album with legendary Turkish Paris-based singer Tülây German, set for release in late 2025.

Magnetfeld is a meeting of two worlds; the organic textures of Krautrock and the Berlin School colliding with the pulsating, hypnotic structures of techno and ambient. A space where past and present don’t just coexist but actively reshape each other, giving birth to something both familiar and maybe yet unheard.

At its conceptual core, the album is inspired by Wendelstein 7-X, Germany’s experimental nuclear fusion reactor, operated by the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald. A technology still in its infancy, it represents the quest for a clean, sustainable energy source for the future. In tribute to this vision, Ümit Han and Harald Grosskopf dedicate their album to the scientists and researchers.

electronic picture music

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