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Irmin Schmidt

Season 6 · Episode 5

Irmin Schmidt is the last founding member still alive of the seminal cosmic music group CAN from Cologne, Germany. Just like their contemporaries Kraftwerk, CAN have significantly inspired generations of musicians after them, including Portishead, Primal Scream and The Fall. Founded in 1968 as an avantgarde rock band with notable influences from classical composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen and György Ligeti, CAN have rewritten the codex of popular music. While the band split up in 1979, Irmin Schmidt has continued to record numerous solo albums, has conducted orchestras, written film scores for Wim Wenders and others, and has even penned a pop opera, »Gormenghast«. In 2018 the London based publishing house Faber & Faber released Irmin Schmidt’s long awaited biography »CAN – All Gates Open«, co-written by Irmin Schmidt, Rob Young and Max Dax. In his STRRR episode Irmin Schmidt is sharing with us the video clips that changed his life – from Chris Cunningham’s groundbreaking video to Aphex Twin’s »Rubber Johnny« and Barbara Hannigan conducting György Ligeti’s »La Grande Macabre« in an unprecedented way to videos that feature Alberto Giacometti and Cy Twombly – a sculptor and a painter who had a bigger influence on Schmidt than you knew.

Interview by Max Dax, Shot by Luci Lux and Max Dax, Edited by Luci Lux, Introduction: Craig Holiday Haynes, Animations: Tope