Ashra

Manuel Göttsching launched Ashra as the next chapter of the expansive Krautrock group Ash Ra Tempel, redirecting its emphasis toward electronic textures while often serving as its only participant. Even during Ash Ra Tempel’s rotating personnel, Göttsching supplied its core identity through his expansive, otherworldly guitar lines embedded in lengthy psychedelic explorations. At Ashra’s start he functioned strictly alone, supporting those guitar passages with synthesizers and sequencers that yielded a clearer, more contemplative mood. Ash Ra Tempel’s continuation looked uncertain after 1973 once it settled into a format of Göttsching augmented by visiting musicians; he issued the solo album Inventions for Electric Guitar in 1974, allowing his growing focus on electronics to take clearer shape. Ashra’s first album, New Age of Earth, appeared in 1976 and stands among Göttsching’s strongest statements in any configuration, functioning essentially as a name change rather than a true reunion. Blackouts followed in 1977, again recorded without additional players. On 1979’s Correlations the project expanded into a stable trio once guitarist Lutz Ulbrich and drummer Harald Grosskopf joined permanently. After Belle Alliance in 1980 the group paused; Göttsching released the proto-techno landmark E2-E4 under his own name, and Ashra resurfaced only with the 1989 sessions that produced Walkin’ the Desert. Tropical Heat arrived in 1991, and further recordings appeared at irregular intervals throughout the 1990s.