Pete Namlook is an ambient

Ambient music

Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

 and electronic-music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 producer and composer. In 1992, he founded the German record label FAX +49-69/450464

FAX +49-69/450464

FAX +49-69/450464, known simply as Fax Label, is a German record label that releases ambient music and other kinds of electronic music. It was started in 1992 by Peter Kuhlmann and has since released hundreds of titles, with artists as notable as Klaus Schulze, Atom Heart, Bill Laswell, Geir...

, which he oversees. Inspired by the music of Eberhard Weber

Eberhard Weber

Eberhard Weber is a German double bassist and composer. As a bass player, Weber is known for his highly distinctive tone and phrasing...

, Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

, Antonio Carlos Jobim

Antônio Carlos Jobim

Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim , also known as Tom Jobim , was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within...

, Chopin

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....

, Wendy Carlos

Wendy Carlos

Wendy Carlos is an American composer and electronic musician. Carlos first came to notice in the late 1960s with recordings made on the Moog synthesizer, then a relatively new and unknown instrument; most notable were LPs of synthesized Bach and the soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick's film A...

, Tangerine Dream

Tangerine Dream

Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...

 and Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...

, he also composes his own albums.

Overview

As of August 2005, Namlook and company had released 135 albums (excluding re-releases, vinyl singles, compilations of existing material, and FAX releases beginning with PS, in which he personally is not involved in the music making).

Pete Namlook has released many solo albums, as well as collaboration albums with notable artists such as Klaus Schulze

Klaus Schulze

Klaus Schulze is a German electronic music composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was briefly a member of the electronic bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums released across five decades.-1970s:In...

, Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

, Geir Jenssen (alias Biosphere

Biosphere (musician)

Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen , a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his "ambient techno" and "arctic ambient" styles, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His track "Novelty...

), Atom Heart, Richie Hawtin

Richie Hawtin

Richard Hawtin is an English-Canadian electronic musician and DJ who was an influential part of Detroit techno's second wave of artists in the early 1990s and a leading exponent of Minimal techno since the mid 1990s...

, Tetsu Inoue

Tetsu Inoue

Tetsu Inoue is a producer of electronic music. His style could be described as ambient with a heavy minimalist influence. He has lived in Japan, San Francisco, and New York, and has collaborated with musicians such as Pete Namlook, Bill Laswell, Andrew Deutsch, Jonah Sharp, and Taylor Deupree.His...

, Dr. Atmo

Uwe Schmidt

Uwe Schmidt , is a German composer, musician and producer of electronic music. He is often regarded as the father of electrolatino, electrogospel and acitón music.- Career :...

, and Tying Tiffany

Tying Tiffany

-Biography:Tying Tiffany was born in Padua. In the early years of her career she has travelled Europe as bass player and singer in various indie rock bands and she has acted in some independent movies, artistic films and theatrical performances....

.

“Namlook” is “Koolman” spelled backwards, which is the German pronunciation of his real name.

Projects

These are all of Namlook's project series on the FAX label, with the number of albums in each series. For one-shot albums, the title is given without a number after it.

(Note: These are only the CD releases. Vinyl singles and EPs are not included. There are no full length LPs on FAX.)

Solo

• 4Voice (3 releases; 4Voice with Maik Maurice as "arrangement assistant" on two tracks; 4Voice III with Marc Romboy on one track)
• Air (5 releases)
• Atom
• Electronic Music Center
• Music for Ballet
• Namlook (25 releases)
• Season's Greetings (4 releases; 1 compilation titled The Four Seasons)
• Silence (3 releases of 5 total; first two are with Dr. Atmo)
• Syn (2 releases)
• Music for Babies

with Dr. Atmo

• Escape
• Silence (2 releases of 5 total; latter three are Namlook solo)

with Atom Heart

Uwe Schmidt

Uwe Schmidt , is a German composer, musician and producer of electronic music. He is often regarded as the father of electrolatino, electrogospel and acitón music.- Career :...

• Jet Chamber (5 releases)

with Karl Berger

Karl Berger

Karl Hanns Berger is a musicologist with a PhD in Music Sociology, jazz composer, jazz vibraphone and piano player.-Biography:...

• Polytime

with Dandy Jack

• Amp (2 releases)
• Silent Music

with DJ Brainwave

• Limelight

with DJ Criss

• Deltraxx
• Sequential (one track is Namlook with Tetsu Inoue
  Tetsu Inoue
  Tetsu Inoue is a producer of electronic music. His style could be described as ambient with a heavy minimalist influence. He has lived in Japan, San Francisco, and New York, and has collaborated with musicians such as Pete Namlook, Bill Laswell, Andrew Deutsch, Jonah Sharp, and Taylor Deupree.His...
  
  , not DJ Criss)

with DJ Dag

• Adlernebel

with Pascal F.E.O.S.

• Hearts of Space
• Minimalistic Source

with Gaudi

• Re:sonate

with Rob Gordon

• Ozoona

with Robert Görl

• Elektro (2 releases)

with Richie Hawtin

Richie Hawtin

Richard Hawtin is an English-Canadian electronic musician and DJ who was an influential part of Detroit techno's second wave of artists in the early 1990s and a leading exponent of Minimal techno since the mid 1990s...

• From Within (3 releases)

with Hubertus Held

• Pete Namlook/Hubertus Held

with Higher Intelligence Agency

Higher Intelligence Agency

Higher Intelligence Agency, often also referred to by its acronym HIA, is the main electronic music project of Birmingham UK based Bobby Bird....

• S.H.A.D.O (2 releases)

with Tetsu Inoue

Tetsu Inoue

Tetsu Inoue is a producer of electronic music. His style could be described as ambient with a heavy minimalist influence. He has lived in Japan, San Francisco, and New York, and has collaborated with musicians such as Pete Namlook, Bill Laswell, Andrew Deutsch, Jonah Sharp, and Taylor Deupree.His...

• 62 Eulengasse
• 2350 Broadway (4 releases)
• Sequential (only one track)
• Shades of Orion (3 releases)
• Time²

with Geir Jenssen

Biosphere (musician)

Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen , a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his "ambient techno" and "arctic ambient" styles, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His track "Novelty...

• The Fires of Ork (2 releases)

with Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

• The Dark Side of the Moog (4 releases of 11 total also with Klaus Schulze
  Klaus Schulze
  Klaus Schulze is a German electronic music composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was briefly a member of the electronic bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums released across five decades.-1970s:In...
  
  ; other seven are only Namlook and Schulze)
• Outland (5 releases)
• Psychonavigation (5 releases)
• Outer Dark

with Mixmaster Morris

Mixmaster Morris

Mixmaster Morris is an English ambient DJ and underground musician. Relating specifically to ambient music, Morris stated "It's exactly what you need if you have a busy and stressful life".-Life and career:...

• Dreamfish (2 releases)

with David Moufang

David Moufang

David Moufang is a German ambient techno musician. He records with his partner, Jonas Grossmann as Deep Space Network project and his solo releases as Move D...

• Koolfang (3 releases)
• Move D / Namlook (23 releases)

with New Composers

• Planetarium (2 releases)
• Russian Spring

with Burhan Öçal

• Sultan (3 releases)

with Jochem Paap

Speedy J

Speedy J , is a Dutch electronic music producer based in the city of Rotterdam. His breakthrough came with the release in 1992 of the minimal techno track Pullover...

• pp-nmlk

with Peter Prochir

• Miles Apart
• Possible Gardens

with Ludwig Rehberg

• The Putney (2 releases)

with Robert Sattler

• Kooler

with Klaus Schulze

Klaus Schulze

Klaus Schulze is a German electronic music composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was briefly a member of the electronic bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums released across five decades.-1970s:In...

• The Dark Side of the Moog (11 releases)

with Jonah Sharp

Spacetime Continuum

Jonah Sharp alias Spacetime Continuum is a producer of electronic music. After starting his musical career as a jazz drummer in London, UK, he moved to San Francisco, USA. During the 1990s Sharp released a series of albums on the Astralwerks record label...

• Alien Community (2 releases)
• Wechselspannung (2 releases)

with Wolfram Spyra

Wolfram Spyra

Wolfram Spyra is a German composer of ambient music.Spyra was born in Eschwege. He began his career in the early 1990s constructing 'soundscapes' and installations around Germany. He has collaborated with a wide range of visual artists, musicians, producers and DJs. He has released several...

• Virtual Vices (6 releases)

with Steve Stoll

• Hemisphere

with Charles Uzzell-Edwards

• A New Consciousness (2 releases)
• Create (2 releases)

with Lorenzo Montanà

• Labirynth (3 releases)

Yesterday & Tomorrow

This was a short-lived sub-label of FAX that was created to showcase a more classical side of ambient music. On these releases he goes by Peter Kuhlmann, his real name, rather than Pete Namlook.

• Passion, with Jürgen Rehberg
• Wandering Soul, with Alban Gerhardt
• The Sunken Road, with Jürgen Rehberg and Lucia Mense

External links

General

• Namlook.de - Official Pete Namlook Web site
• Pete Namlook photographies at Discogs (1) - Discogs (3) - Analogue-Alien (center)

Discographies

• [ Pete Namlook] at AMG
• Discography of his FAX recordings

Misc

• Samples and quotes in FAX albums (including many Namlook) at FAX Galleria
• Fax Label review site