Biography
In a Berlin record shop during 1974, Ash Ra Tempel guitarist Manuel Göttsching encountered unfamiliar yet distinctly cosmic guitar lines emanating from the loudspeakers. To his astonishment, the performance belonged to him and formed part of an album by a supposed Krautrock supergroup called the Cosmic Jokers. The project existed only on paper, assembled without the knowledge of most participants, who had never agreed to join any collective.
Earlier, throughout several months in 1973, producer Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser hosted extended LSD-fueled gatherings at Dieter Dierks’ studio. Participants received modest payment plus unlimited access to hallucinogens in exchange for their playing. Those involved were Göttsching and Klaus Schulze from Ash Ra Tempel, Jurgen Dollase and Harald Grosskopf from Wallenstein, and Dierks himself. All had previously contributed to the loose collective known as the Cosmic Couriers, supplying music for Kaiser-produced albums by Swiss artist and poet Sergius Golowin, Tarot interpreter Walter Wegmuller, and psychedelic advocate Timothy Leary during the preceding year.
Kaiser and Dierks subsequently edited the tapes, added mixes, and issued the results on the Kosmische Musik imprint, placing the musicians’ photographs on the sleeves without prior consent. Three albums appeared in 1974: the self-titled Cosmic Jokers, Galactic Supermarket (initially released without the group name attached), and Planeten Sit-In. Two additional 1974 releases later attributed to the project were the label sampler Sci-Fi Party and Gilles Zeitschiff, the latter featuring narration by Kaiser’s then-girlfriend Gille Lettmann, also called Sternenmadchen, over repurposed tracks from earlier Kosmische Musik releases.
Resentment among the unpaid musicians intensified, reaching a breaking point for Schulze when he found himself overshadowed by Lettmann on Gilles Zeitschiff. He initiated legal proceedings against the increasingly overreaching Kaiser. By 1975 authorities had expelled Kaiser from the country, dismantled his label operations, and pulled every title from circulation pending resolution of rights issues. Although contemporary listeners dismissed the recordings as cynical commercial contrivances that exploited the performers, and although Schulze continues to condemn them, the albums remain among the most compelling examples of fully immersive German cosmic space rock ever committed to tape.
Earlier, throughout several months in 1973, producer Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser hosted extended LSD-fueled gatherings at Dieter Dierks’ studio. Participants received modest payment plus unlimited access to hallucinogens in exchange for their playing. Those involved were Göttsching and Klaus Schulze from Ash Ra Tempel, Jurgen Dollase and Harald Grosskopf from Wallenstein, and Dierks himself. All had previously contributed to the loose collective known as the Cosmic Couriers, supplying music for Kaiser-produced albums by Swiss artist and poet Sergius Golowin, Tarot interpreter Walter Wegmuller, and psychedelic advocate Timothy Leary during the preceding year.
Kaiser and Dierks subsequently edited the tapes, added mixes, and issued the results on the Kosmische Musik imprint, placing the musicians’ photographs on the sleeves without prior consent. Three albums appeared in 1974: the self-titled Cosmic Jokers, Galactic Supermarket (initially released without the group name attached), and Planeten Sit-In. Two additional 1974 releases later attributed to the project were the label sampler Sci-Fi Party and Gilles Zeitschiff, the latter featuring narration by Kaiser’s then-girlfriend Gille Lettmann, also called Sternenmadchen, over repurposed tracks from earlier Kosmische Musik releases.
Resentment among the unpaid musicians intensified, reaching a breaking point for Schulze when he found himself overshadowed by Lettmann on Gilles Zeitschiff. He initiated legal proceedings against the increasingly overreaching Kaiser. By 1975 authorities had expelled Kaiser from the country, dismantled his label operations, and pulled every title from circulation pending resolution of rights issues. Although contemporary listeners dismissed the recordings as cynical commercial contrivances that exploited the performers, and although Schulze continues to condemn them, the albums remain among the most compelling examples of fully immersive German cosmic space rock ever committed to tape.