Klaus Schulze’s 101 Milky Way was discovered by his record label when they were going through his tape vaults following his death in 2022. It had been commissioned as the soundtrack music for Hacker, a film about computer criminals. Only a fraction of it appeared in the movie, but Schulze had composed a full suite, coming in at a shade under 80 minutes.
From the late 60s, influenced by Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix, Schulze was the drummer in Psy Free and played on the self-titled 1971 debut of Ash Ra Tempel, whom he’d described as “space rock.” Schulze also played drums on Tangerine Dream’s 1970 debut Electronic Meditation; and with his friend Edgar Froese, he was one of the founders of the Berlin school of electronic music. His 70s solo albums were rather overshadowed by the unexpected commercial success of Tangerine Dream’s 1974 album, Phaedra.
