We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Volume Four

by Kosmischer Läufer

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    PDF sleevenotes also included.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £5 GBP  or more

     

  • ÜBER Limited Edition 180G Blue Vinyl + Artcards + Promo CD
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    ***ALL GONE, Danke***
    From the same batch of 500 - only approx 160 available. As well as the beautiful 180G blue vinyl and edition card you also get three sweet Kosmischer Läufer A6 postcards and a press only promo CD.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Volume Four via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • 180G Heavy Blue Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Heavy, HEAVY 180G East German Racing Blue 12" vinyl album with full colour sleeve and label artwork.Comes with download of album.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Volume Four via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
2.
Goldene Tage 08:56
3.
4.
5.
DEUTSCH: Herzlich Willkommen. Um den Effekt dieses Programms gaenzlich zu spueren, müssen Sie die Anweisungen die Ihr Lehrer Ihnen bei der Ankunft gegeben hat, genau befolgen. Atmen Sie jetzt tief durch und geben Sie Ihre ganze Aufmerksamkeit dem Bildschirm. Es ist Zeit zuzuhören. Zeit zu lernen. Zeit zum Laufen. ENGLISH: Welcome. To feel the effect of this programme fully you must carefully follow the instructions your teacher gave you on arrival. Now - breathe deeply and focus your full attention on the screen. It is time to listen. Time to learn. Time to run.
6.
7.
8.
9.

about

Herzlich Willkommen.

While working as a sound editor for DEFA in the 1970’s and 80's Martin Zeichnete led a secret, parallel life writing music to train and inspire East Germany’s athletic elite. This fourth compilation of Zeichnete’s work will take us on a cosmic voyage of both the body and the mind...

Tracks 1 to 4 of this collection contains a running program at 150 bpm taken from various years of the project. After the warm-up fanfare of ‘Zeit zum Laufen 150’ (1977) we launch into the sleek, motorik engine of ‘Goldene Tage’(1982). The second running piece ‘Lichtgeschwindigkeit’ (1983) comes from one of the final Kosmischer Läufer sessions where Zeichnete used a drummer and bass player in the studio. The haunting waltz ‘Der Leuchtturm am Ende der Zeit’(1976) provides a calming warm-down.

Tracks 5 to 9 give us a first listen to a different aspect of Zeichnete’s work.1978’s ‘Der Weg’ (The Path), was the culmination of his experiments to bring focus to athletes’ minds using music and images.

As Zeichnete recalls:

‘As early as 1974 we were looking to provide a mental stimulus for the athletes as well as physical. We began with alpha wave projection and used dream-machine-like devices with an instructor reading inspirational messages. These early attempts appeared to have no real value to the athletes so I progressed to making a film with a suitable soundtrack.
To view ‘Der Weg’ the subject would be comfortably seated in a darkened room wearing headphones. The film would be projected large-scale onto a concave wall filling their field of vision’.

The film began with a voice-over while a light pulsing gently at 10hz appeared on the screen. Once the subject was attuned to their surroundings the film then progressed as follows:

Phase I – Forst - As the music begins we see scenes of the universe, of life on earth and nature. We end up in a beautiful forest with sunlight playing through the leaves. This section evoked a sense of calm.

Phase II – Das Meer - The deepest part of the meditation. We are flying across the ocean as the sun is rising. Then we are under the sea. All is tranquil as we move among the shoals of fish.

Phase III – Heimat - We are now in modern East Germany. We see the country we love. We see the faces of the people we as athletes will represent. Positive messages appear on the screen.

Phase IV – Morgen - We see our fellow athletes training and winning great victories for our country. Captions on the screen tell us that this is our future!

Sadly, the film has been lost to time but it lives on in Zeichnete’s vibrant soundtrack.


Zeit zum Laufen!

credits

released November 19, 2018

Music by Martin Zeichnete.
Curated & Mixed by Drew McFadyen.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Kosmischer Läufer Berlin, Germany

For the first time since it was recorded in East Berlin over 40 years ago the music of Martin Zeichnete can finally be heard.
A disciple of the Kosmische Muzik of the likes of Kraftwerk, Can and Neu! that was drifting across the Wall from the West, Martin's idea of using the motorik, hypnotic beat of krautrock in the training of athletes was taken and exploited by the DDR's Olympic Committee.
... more

contact / help

Contact Kosmischer Läufer

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Kosmischer Läufer, you may also like: