Sky Records was an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

specializing in

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

Kosmische Musik Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electroni ...

and

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

. They were based in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Some of their releases could be classified as

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

, industrial,

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

, or

new age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

. No new releases appeared after 1998.

History

Sky Records was founded in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

by Günter Körber after he left Metronome Musik, the parent company of influential krautrock/Kosmische label

Brain Records Brain was a Hamburg-based record label prominent in the 1970s releasing several important Krautrock records by bands such as Neu!, Cluster and Guru Guru. Many of its more prominent records are currently being reissued on CD by Repertoire Rec ...

. Körber was able to sign several former Brain Records recording artists to his new label, most notably

Cluster may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study the magnetosphere * Asteroid cluster, a small ...

just as they began a successful collaboration with

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

. The success of the albums '' Cluster & Eno'' in 1977 and '' After the Heat'' in 1978 helped put Sky on a solid financial footing. Other former Brain artists signing with Sky included

Thirsty Moon Thirsty Moon is a German Krautrock band. The band was founded in the early 1970s in Bremen and plays progressive rock with strong jazz influences. Band members were the brothers Jürgen and Norbert Drogies, Michael Kobs, Harald Konietzko, Erwin ...

and

Michael Rother Michael Rother (; born 2 September 1950) is a German experimental musician, best known for being a founding member of the influential bands Neu! and Harmonia (band), Harmonia, and an early member of the band Kraftwerk. Early life and educat ...

shortly after his departure from

Neu! Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plank, w ...

and

Harmonia In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; /Ancient Greek phonology, harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the goddess of harmony and concord. Her Greek opposite is Eris (mythology), Eris and her Roman mythology, Roman counterpart is Concordia (mythol ...

. Along with several subsequent Cluster albums, group members

Dieter Moebius Dieter Moebius (16 January 1944 – 20 July 2015) was a Swiss-born German electronic musician and composer, best known as a member of the influential krautrock bands Cluster and Harmonia. Career Moebius was studying art at Berlin's Akademie Gr ...

and

Hans-Joachim Roedelius Hans-Joachim Roedelius (born 26 October 1934) is a German electronic music, electronic musician and composer, known as a co-founder of the influential 'kosmische musik, kosmische' groups Cluster (band), Cluster and Harmonia (band), Harmonia. He ...

also released several solo albums and collaborations on Sky. Other notable artists who recorded for the label include

Conrad Schnitzler Conrad "Conny" Schnitzler (17 March 1937 – 4 August 2011) was a prolific German experimental musician associated with West Germany's 1970s krautrock movement. A co-founder of West Berlin's Zodiak Free Arts Lab, he was an early member of Tang ...

Asmus Tietchens Asmus Tietchens (born 3 February 1947, in Hamburg), who also records under the monikers Hematic Sunsets and Club of Rome, is a German composer of avant-garde music. Tietchens became interested in experimental music and musique concrète as a chi ...

Harald Grosskopf Harald Grosskopf (born Harald Großkopf) is a German electronic musician. He played with several Krautrock and progressive rock bands of the 1970s in Germany, and released solo music. Biography Grosskopf was born in Hildesheim on October 23, 1 ...

Adelbert von Deyen Adelbert is a given name of German origin, which means "noble bright" or "noble shining", derived from the words ''adal'' (meaning noble) and ''berht'' (shining or bright). Alternative spellings include Adalbart and Adalberto. Related names incl ...

Nik Tyndall Nik is a male nickname/moniker derived from the Ancient Greek word ''νίκη'' (nike), meaning 'victory'. The name Nik is a shortened form that has several origins. One of the interpretations is that the name comes from Nike, the mythological go ...

, Earthstar,

Serge Blenner Serge may refer to: *Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric *Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme *Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name) *Serge (post), a hitchi ...

, Insane Jane, and

Dieter Schütz Dieter or dieter may refer to: * A person committed to dieting People Dieter is a German given name, a short form of Dietrich, from ''theod+ric'' "people ruler", see Theodoric. Rarely, it is a German form of the given name Theodore. Given n ...

. The 1990s mainly saw reissues of earlier albums from the catalog on CD. The label was dissolved in 1997. Günter Körber died in 2013. Many of the label's original releases have since been reissued on the

Bureau B Bureau B (sometimes quoted as ''Bureau-B'') is an independent record label, music publisher and booking agency from Hamburg, Germany, founded in 2005 by Gunther Buskies (B for Buskies) as a sister label to Tapete Records. The label releases varie ...

label.

References

External links

* Music Archiv
Sky discography
* Elmula
The complete Sky discography
(accredited by G.Körber) * Discog
Sky Records discography
Retrieved October 8, 2007. * Keyboards funtaste

Retrieved October 8, 2007. {{Authority control German record labels Electronic music record labels German independent record labels Record labels established in 1975 Record labels disestablished in 1997

History

See also

References

External links