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German composer, musician and producer Stefan Erbe is living, at least in part, the dream of many a contemporary musician. How many artists spend hours by themselves as young adults working with an instrument, even a primitive synthesizer, wondering how they could ever realize the dreams of composing full-blown albums, pushing their own artistic limits and being heard by thousands? The number is no doubt countless, but it's nonetheless reassuring to see someone who has done it on their own and succeeded. Stefan Erbe is such a man.
Erbe’s journey towards becoming an electronic music genius perhaps could be traced back to a day in his youth when his father placed a Korg MS20 synthesizer on an old Farfisa organ in the family home. Erbe doesn’t cite any magical first moment of touching the keyboard or a single prodigal composing moment that brought attention from near and far. In fact, it was the dichotomy of early frustrations and a proclivity for working with electronics that both limited Erbe and kept him in the game. After an unsuccessful experience with a music school, Stefan went back to the basics: the magical sounds of a synthesizer and his own personal drive. With a basic piece of equipment and growing inspiration from innovators on the major music scene such as Tangerine Dream and Thomas Dolby, Erbe’s work began to mature and take shape. Even Stefan’s brother, himself a talented musician, began to take an interest in his output and likewise provide motivation.
Erbe’s first recorded tracks
of the late 1980s reflected the influences of artists whose use of electronics
were succeeding in popular culture such as Kraftwerk, Saga and the aforementioned
Tangerine Dream and Dolby. As Erbe’s work continued to build on an increasingly
solid equipment base, a true breakthrough opportunity emerged. An old school
friend connected Erbe with management at the Hagen Observatory. Erbe landed
the gig of mixing and producing a multimedia show comprised of his own music
within a production in the Observatory’s excellent planetarium. 
Before long, Erbe was able to release a few studio albums and receive airplay on the highly influential German radio show "Schwingungen." Erbe’s talent finally had a broad stage and the results were perhaps predictable. His immediately recognizable style won fans quickly. In a field that had become laden with drifting, sometimes improvisational music that harked back to the free from styles of the 1970s, Erbe's contemporary compositions sounded like a breath of fresh air. From the its crisp beats and rhythms to the engaging melodies and chord work, a Stefan Erbe song is a hard thing to ignore or dislike. After 10 solo albums and more than 30 concerts, Erbe has risen to become an important voice in contemporary progressive music. His studio album Intermediate is a work of such remarkable quality that it should hold a position of prominence in the collection of virtually anyone who admires music with a modernistic vision.
When asked why music is his art of choice, Erbe's answer reflects respect for his journey and his audience.
“The main thing for me to make music is to produce something which is individual, unique and previously unheard. It is great to build [compositions] which are able to impress, to be the reason that someone will take time to listen to something that sounds like music, to be a recognized musician. It hits a critical point in my creative progress if I find, after beginning a new song, the thing that lets you go on,” he states.
The process, as with all well produced music can be grueling but rewarding—almost a necessary release.
“Sometimes you feel like you’re under a drug if you look up after six hours unbroken making music in front of your electronics. You don’t have any feeling of time and day, so it is really incomparable to any other thing... but if you do it, you can’t leave it. And I’m be sure that making music will be a companion my whole life,” Erbe says
Let’s hope so.
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Blue Mango Cafe connected with Stefan Erbe recently to get his views on music and more.
Music with a strong electronic element continues to grow in both depth and breadth with styles as diverse as down-tempo, electronica, and ambient jazz. Where do you see interesting innovation going on right now?
I think the main thing required will be the individuality of the realization when making new music. It is not important what you prefer or what is trendy. You need to find a unique combination that is both new and fresh. This way was found by musicians in the past, even in popular music history, for example: ELO, Kraftwerk, TD or Mike Oldfield. All of them were unique and very special and combined their typical character with new electronic parts. I like all kinds of different electronic styles with a fresh fusion and hope that more radio stations find a way back to the roots of the eighties and play more new independent electronic projects.
Who are some of the artists or groups you are listening to today?
Der Dritte Raum
RMB
Thomas Dolby
Orbital
Telex
Underworld
Your music, while staying true to your own unique style, has grown to incorporate more and more musical influences. Can you preview some of the musical ideas you are working on for your next studio album?
Of course, my point of view is to
continue to go forward, but sometimes I look back to my older works to see how
my music changed in the last ten years. It is important to see that. Without
realizing that you don’t find out "how your music worked." One
of these ideas has resulted in me looking into mixing the songs on a CD without
silence and breaks between the tracks so you have the continuous imagination
of songs telling a story. So, my next album will be produced in the same way.
The first two or three songs which are finished in a pre production level are
more experimental than my last works. There would be more songs that are longer
than five or six minutes--nearly to 10 minutes. This supports losing the mainstream
level of the works but not my identity. Some of my friends that have listened
to the new songs have told me that they sound like a combination of "Yello
meet the Future Sound of London." Hmmm--very interesting!
At this time, I have also bought some new instruments with motivating characters like the Korg Electribe and an old Kawai xd5 percussion synth. I also moved into a new studio but it is not finished yet. These technological elements also support the process of beginning a new album and I feel the drive to get it going.
Some good news for all consumers: I’m planning to place all Erbe-music as free downloads on my web site (include the new ones). All CDs will be available as various MP3 files with the printings. Why that? I have a favorite in future a freeware system. If you download it and you like it, you can submit an amount you like. If you don’t like my music there is no risk to buy an Erbe CD and then find out that you didn’t like it. (This system starts in Spring 2004. A regular CD would be offered also!)
Many of your compositions include clever melodies, sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious. Do you often begin with melody when you compose or do you start with more of a tone or rhythm?
It is different. But all ideas will be built first to a main theme and then it expands to the complete track. This is important to get an early impression if the song will be good or not. I have a full hard disk of tries with only one minute main themes. The melodic part of each Erbe song makes it unique and take sometimes hours and hours. It is like taking drugs because you don’t have any relation about time and place if you look after six hours on your clock and wonder where is the time? Often I wonder also about the result because I cannot explain how I made it. This is the greatest feeling of all: to create something that is unique and was produced by your own hands. A music picture painted with your own ideas. The rhythms of the Erbe songs are very important for the success because I try to produce the drums in an atypical way. I don’t want to categorize the percussions to stylistic genres like techno, ambient, chill or anything else. I want to create my own style as it happens.
Your recent, and very entertaining, song "Precinct of Sound" and remake of "Follow Me" both utilized guitar. Do you see much of your near future music involving other instrumentation or vocals?
The main problem is that I am a soloist
and can’t easily work with other musicians in a
direct way. The songs you named were produced in a way where I didn’t
see the guest musicians at any time. I gave them the master and asked them to
help me make something new on it. The results were great but I can’t work
this way any longer. But I’m open for new things regarding vocals or that.
What would you say are some the biggest outside influences on the music you write--other art, philosophical ideas, nature, key relationships or something else entirely?
Oh-ha! That is very difficult. I’m sure that one thing is that you open you door to your studio, sit down in front of your blinking and lighting equipment and think: wow! This offers so much. And then you start your engine and drive with your machines to a goal that you didn’t know at this time. That sounds a little bit funny, but I think every man who fills a white paper, who creates a web site, designs an artificial thing or paints a picture will know what I mean. The way is the goal and the result the mirror of the method!
Selected Discography
The Cosmic Dreamland (1994)
Light of Sirius (1994)
Digital Entrance (1995)
Kunststoff (1997)
Intermediate (1998)
United (compilation of unreleased tracks, 1998)
Spaceworks (compilation from Hagen Observatory, 2001)
Worlds Away (live album, 2002)
Querbeat deLuxe (re-mixed and re-visioned songs, 2002)
Particular X (collection of unreleased tracks, 2003)