Mythos

Mythos never attained the commercial reach enjoyed by fellow Berlin outfits Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, both launched in the closing years of the 1960s. Over subsequent decades, however, several of its recordings attained classic status and continue to appear in periodic reissues. Whereas numerous other Krautrock ensembles cultivated a distinctly Teutonic identity, Mythos absorbed elements from British and American groups and blended them into its own palette. Although the ensemble repeatedly altered its stylistic course, an underlying thread connects the psychedelic explorations of its earliest phase with the new-age orientation that emerged by the close of the 1990s.

During 1996 Stephan Kaske revisited Händel’s “Feuerwerksmusik” through his M.A.S.S. side project; the same piece had already surfaced, albeit in markedly different form, on the initial Mythos long-player of 1971. Three years earlier, in 1969, Berlin high-school dropouts Stephan Kaske (born October 26, 1951), Harald Weisse, and Thomas Hildebrand—all self-taught—assembled the group. Following the release of the debut album Mythos, the band served as support for British artists including Family, Colosseum, Humble Pie, and Steamhammer across numerous engagements. That original configuration dissolved after three years; its immediate successor never issued any recordings.

A 1975 contract with the Cosmic Couriers label introduced yet another incarnation centered on Kaske. Several television-film and documentary scores were completed during this period. The instrumental foundation, previously dominated by flute and guitar, now incorporated cosmic synthesizers that underscored the ensemble’s distinctive, heavily processed vocals. From 1976 onward a stable quartet—Kaske on guitar, flute, keyboards, and vocals, guitarist Sven Dohrow, bassist Eberhard Seidler, and drummer Ronnie Schreinzer—lasted three years and produced two albums. The sound grew heavier, pairing synthesizers with hard-rock guitars. After years of personnel flux, Kaske disbanded the project in 1980 to pursue independent work; the arrival of sequencers and drum machines rendered additional musicians superfluous. Dohrow and Schreinzer subsequently formed The Twins, shifting into synth-pop and achieving modest chart success while remaining intermittently active.

Kaske established Mythos Studio Berlin in 1981. Its immediate commercial viability left him little opportunity to record under his own name until 1989. In the interim, numerous radio and television advertisements drew upon his stored ideas and compositions. To date he has produced or overseen more than one thousand bands and artists at the facility. A live EP appeared in 1989, followed by a full-length album the next year. By the middle of the 1990s Kaske had returned his attention to personal projects, now oriented toward meditation and new-age material, resulting in several album releases. Through M.A.S.S. he also fulfills label commissions that include synthesizer adaptations of Mozart, Händel, and Beethoven as well as covers of Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, and Ennio Morricone. A separate techno endeavor operates under the name Momentum.