The debut solo album by Harald Grosskopf, the enigmatic percussionist behind Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze, and Cosmic Jokers, Synthesist is a masterpiece electronic album that is widely regarded as a classic. Prior to his work Berlin’s kosmiche scene, Grosskopf played in symphonic rock bands that played highly technical and structured music. “The whole thing was interminably stressful,” Grosskopf says. A connection with Timothy Leary, who had fled the USA, and his “highest grade LSD” would open Grosskopf’s mind. “Suddenly a voice spoke to me: stop trying to sound like Billy Cobham or Ginger Baker. From that moment on I felt liberated…” Synthesist seems like the culmination of those mind-altering experiences and features Grosskopf at his most free, recording solo in a studio in the West German countryside. Melodic, cosmic, and deeply colorful, the album is a perfect mix of Krautrock, Kosmische, and New Age.

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