November 19, 2025 • 23 mins
Intrepid correspondents Graham and John Paul dive into the gear and belongings of Kraftwerk's Florain Schneider up for auction - from Volks-Trautoniums to Volkswagons and everything in between.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
From Major Label Debut podcast network. This is MLD News.
I am your host, your anchor, if you will. My
name is Graham Wright, and joining me, as always is
Major Label Debut producer my good friend John Paul Bullock.
John Paul, do you think we need to start calling
this something other than news given the frequency with which
(00:26):
we are talking about things that are not strictly breaking
Journalist news.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Absolutely not MLD news forever. Also, Hello Graham.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Also, the topic of today's podcast is something very urgent,
as it will be happening tomorrow from when we're recording this,
but today from when you amazing listener are consuming this
with your years, and so as soon as this hits
whatever podcast platform they are on, I urge you to
(00:58):
turn on your computer or your hand held device of
some kind and rush over to the Julian's auction site
for what Graham.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
For the Florian Schneider collection. Florian Schneider, of course, best
known as a founding member of the Dusseldorfian electronic music
group Kraft Verk, who themselves are of course best known
for contributing a sample to the hit Coldplay song Talk
No No. I believe they're most most and perhaps only
(01:29):
known for their work with the great band Coldplay.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
The sorrow that heart as you said that, it's just
genuine pain. It was like a large.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Spear that just came through my body, the cold place
spear that you have there in the bag. It's like
when a Jedi has it just sort of radiated out
like a lightsaber, and just I've been cleaved in half
like Darth Maul.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I'm one with the force, and the forces with me.
And by the force, I mean Chris Martin's aura. We
are knit together like Kylo w Ren and Red. We've
been watching a lot of Star Wars in my home.
Do you want to give a real capsule summary of
the great life and legacy of Kraft Work one of
the most influential music groups literally ever.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I mean, what is there to say? Honestly? That profound
like originators of so many electronic music ideas, pretty much
flawless discography still continuing, I think to this day, I
think they're still doing it without him.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, but I saw him twice.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I saw them once at Disney Hall and once at Coachella,
and endlessly enjoyable.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I mean, they did a thing.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
That that sort of one of one right, they could
not be copied, but everybody bent a little piece off,
and they really truly are of the most important musical
acts in history. And this guy's collection of stuff, thanks
again to the good people at Julian's, I can ghoulishly
(03:12):
paw through this man's stuff. And this man's stuff is
gorgeous like it is.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
It's truly.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I know that David Lynch that I have a more
intimate relationship with David Lynch's art, but I think in
part because of the way that kraftworks, like whole aesthetic
is so cold and distant, I don't connect to it
as directly. But going through this I connected to his
objects more in a lot of ways than I did
(03:40):
to the David Lynch stuff.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
I know what you mean.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
It's it's certainly more recognizable to me, well, needless to say,
as the contents of a recording studio. And so there's
just a lot more music stuff that I understand versus
Lynch's more broads I always say, collection, more coffee based, Yeah, femera.
There's also, though, as befits a you know, a German
(04:03):
electronic genius. There's also a lot of beautiful mid century
furniture there's a I don't want to give away my picks,
but there's an ash tray that I've got.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
My eye on.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Ooh, okay, I among the collection, all right, So if
we have, we've both given ourselves the assignment of picking
three objects from this auction that we're definitely going to
bid on tomorrow and to see if we were going
to definitely win endanger ourselves financially.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
This is our wish list. This is like, we're like
OnlyFans girls, and this is our Amazon wish list for
any benefactors out there who Christmas is coming, and if
anyone we both wants to bid one thousand dollars for
an art deco floor ash tray stand with red nose
smoking sticker applied to the base from the personal collection
(04:48):
of craft work founding member Florin Schneider. I will DM
you my shipping information after you win it for me.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Okay, let's just get to it. Tell me your number
three pick. My number three pick. I like this going
in reverse. I will not actually pick the ashtray. My
number three pick is this k L violin horn, which
is a sort of almost like Whovil looking fandanglar sort
of instrument. It's one part violin, one part trumpet, and
(05:17):
one part water bong. It looks like, and you know,
it's sort of obviously intended to amplify the sound of
the string instrument of the violin through these glass horns.
And I'm sure I can look up on YouTube what
this sounds like, but right now I'm just imagining it.
And I was going to say something amazing about craft work.
That's so, you know, I don't even know how accessible
(05:39):
this is to any musician anymore. Is they committed to
tape just this plethora of brand new sounds, sounds that
have never been heard by the people that listen to it,
let alone incorporated into art, into music. And I look
at this thing, and although it's not a synthesizer, it's
not the kind of you know, electronics that I might
associate with kraftfurk. It's clearly unique and beautiful and strange.
(06:04):
And although I am no violinist, I would like to
buy this and try to learn it and if not,
smoke weed out of it. I want that for you
very badly. My number three pick is the exact opposite
of what you were saying, which is a lot one
hundred and sixty two, which is the Mogue vocoder that
was part of Clean Clang Studios, and it is a
(06:27):
black box with a dozen or more red patch cables
coming out of it. That is the thing that I
would have thought that this man had in his life
just was surrounded by. And also because it's mog and
it's like that is the synth brand that I have
the most warm feelings towards.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I just want that. I have no reason for it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
It is wildly outdated technology that exists. You can do
a version of this, I think now on like garage
band you can do a vote.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
But there's probably an app for it. You can talk
through yours get a five in real time.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
For free that just tracks your location everywhere you're going
and gives it to the Canadian government. But yeah, that's
what I want. That's my number three pick. What's your
number two pick?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
My number two pick is a little bit of a
weird piece, and it's another thing that its entire purpose
is wildly obviated by like the most simple computer recording
system from honestly the last twenty years. It's the high
and low pass filter. I believe this is a lot
number one seventy eight and all this is it's from
nineteen fifty. It is an enormous it's a tripod stand
(07:35):
with this humongous box that has two faders on it
and it's an EQ. Yeah, you can either you can
make it sound a little more high or a little
more low. And I'm just so fascinated by technology like this,
which it's from nineteen fifty. The serial number is thirty
six to the thirty six to one. It's totally passive
(07:56):
and just it's full of electrical components as they were
able to construct them and control the mean nineteen fifty
that will using electricity change the sound of the music
or whatever audio input you're putting through it. And it's
a beautiful object. I bet that it imparts a barely
(08:18):
tangible sonic quality that I could really convince myself made
a huge difference. And it's just an artifact of a time,
and so many things on this auction are like this.
It's an artifact of a time when everything about creating
sound was a process. I now have like a one
million band EQ probably on this microphone right now as
(08:40):
I talk to you on a podcast that choose I
chose a preset and set it and forget it. You know,
this stuff is not complicated. Any stereo system with a
treble and base knob is doing basically the same thing.
But there was a time when you needed a whole
special unit if you wanted to high pass a little
bit of your music. And that's nearer and dearer to
my heart than just about anything at this point. So
(09:00):
that would be my pick. Current bid one thousand dollars.
What's your number two?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I Well, before we get there, I was going to say,
I wonder how many of these beautiful old objects also.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Have like.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Dangerous components inside them, Like if you touch the box,
you know, there's like the kill diode or whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
But it's it's perfectly encased in you know, fifty years
of like secondhand smoke tar build up, so it's entirely
neutralized as long as you never clean it.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Well, so my second is lot number sixty two, which
is sort of the industrial design object of my dreams.
It is a metal clipboard that has handwritten notes from
the studio on it, and it is it's just like
a so sweet and intimate for a person who's you know,
(09:53):
obviously a real person and made incredibly sensitive thoughtful art
it is. It also has the kind of clean lines
and harshness and distance that I was talking about earlier.
So I uh, I think it's like a perfect encapsulation
of what this guy's thing was, maybe I mean as
(10:16):
to the extent in which I know him and he
presented his identity to the public. It's also just very
I don't know if this is being stereotypical or whatever,
like Germans seeming from the period, like it has a
kind of brutal functionality to it that I respect.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Yes, it looks like yeah, back when, back.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
When people still gave a shit about the esthetic quality
of their phones, they would always be trumpeting about Buddy
Jony I of who designed all the Apple products, and
there would always be these glossy articles about here's all
the beautiful German brawn radios and razors or whatever that
inspired him. And the clipboard really looks like the kind
of thing that inspire the design of you know, an
(11:01):
ill fated eight thousand dollars Macintosh pro that I wanted.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Totally, And at the end of the day, it's also
just like an artist who has made notes that help
him make his art, which I think with just a
pencil on a piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
And those things in a recording studio are as much
a part of the aura of the place as the
equipment is, and sometimes more so because as the artist,
you're probably interacting with your clipboard multiple times a day,
compared to your high pass low pass EQ machine, which
you know might be more of a once a weeker.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
All right, what's your number one?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
My number one, not just in this auction, but in
terms of instruments that I want and have wanted for
as long as I can remember, is a lot number three.
The nineteen thirties Telefunken Volkstratonium, which is sort of like
before synthesizers, There was this really really bizarre early electronic instrument.
(11:56):
It doesn't actually say it his nineteen thirties, doesn't say
the exact year, but this is a you know, pre
war or war era machine that you know, it looks
kind of like a you know, an Enigma.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Machine or something.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, it was probably built by some of the same people,
not that you need to get into that. And it's
just this beautiful wood box with some knobs and then
this long sort of metal depressible strip that depending on
where you press it creates this incredibly incredibly people talk
about like the warmth of analog synthesis. I've never heard
(12:32):
a warmer sound than what one of these old machines
puts out. I think it's mostly tube based. I follow
a guy on Instagram. I think his name is Ludovic,
who is a tritonium composer. And it doesn't matter what
you play on it. It just sounds like no other instrument.
It sounds like the pad of my dreams. And I've
always felt that way, and I've always wanted one, But
(12:53):
they are wildly rare, and as far as I know,
there's no you know, modern equivalent or God forbid soft
synth that duplicates it. So current bid eight thousand dollars
with time still to go. So I'm not holding my
breath for it. But if anyone out there wants to
buy me any tritonium, I won't say no.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I think that would be amazing and I desperately want
you to have it. If not this one, another one.
There's got to be plenty of them right out there
in the world. How many, I don't know about plenty.
There are some, but you say something, you could make it.
It's from it's nineteen thirty technology, or maybe this is
like that meme where it's like I asked my father,
a master builder, how long it would take to build
(13:35):
this mighty cathedral now, and he said, we can't.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
We don't know how anymore.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
All right, Okay, I don't know if it is like
that actually, but I will.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Josh Hook, if you're editing this, please construct us a tratonium.
As a Josh, as I've noticed, has a lot of
free time. He's sitting around twiddling his thumbs all the time,
just do nothing but time. Yeah, so I need him
to invent us a tetonium. Thanks buddy, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Josh.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Please blank me one two when you've got the chance.
My number one is So. When I was a teenager,
I was obviously obsessed with learning to drive. Although it's
funny because I keep encountering teens now that don't care
about driving at all. But as I got my learner's permit,
I started looking around for automobiles that I could afford,
(14:23):
and the automobile that I sort of got focused on,
especially because, believe it or not, I had very long
hair and listened to a lot of classic rock at
the time.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Let's say that's nice.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I was very focused on getting a Volkswagen and two
of my friends had My friend Lucius had a VW
Bug that no matter when you were in it, what
time of year, whatever, it always was, the heater was
always on and it always.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Smelled like gasoline.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
And then my friend Todd had like a more kind
of mint yellow beetle. It was like Bumblebee from Transformers. Yes,
getting in that in my memory of it, and I
just remember listening to his cassette copy of Nine is Nails.
Pretty hate machine a lot in it. But I found
(15:18):
a VW Bus that was seven hundred and fifty dollars
and I got very serious about getting it. And then
my parents like confronted me and they're basically like, this
is the least safe car there is. It is a
sheet of metal that is about a quarter range thick
at the front and nothing else, and you will die
(15:40):
in this car. And I was like, but I want
a car, and they were like, chill out, figure out
something better, which I did eventually.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
But this nineteen sixty.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Four lot number four forty one, it is currently thirty
five thousand dollars. It is painted. I don't know how
did you call industrial gray.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
It looks like it was built out of spare summarine parts.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
The costin wagin panel Van Type two slash T one.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
It is glorious.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
The color is a specific shade of gray painted like
that is associated with the van. I'm not sure exactly
what that means, but it is that there. I got
their signature color I which I love that that's the
metal gray like. It looks like a World War two
battleship and it is.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I look at it. It has a.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
It was literally inspected and was okayed for the road
in twenty twenty three. It is glorious and in our
OnlyFans style asks if you can get it to the
United States. You have to purchase the thirty five thousand
dollars van and then arrange for its shipping across the
(16:59):
world and get it to the United States. I will
find a place to park it not on the street,
and I will drive it every day for a year,
and I will take a picture of myself in this
car rain or shine, and I will send it to
you as thanks for purchasing this van for me.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
The ball is in your court listeners.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Thank you. I appreciate in advance.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
The whole auction is really worth looking at. It's full
of musical instruments, It's full of wind instruments. There are
tons of weird saxophones and like trumpet saxophones, and you know,
a lot of Who instruments. There are a number of
sharp suits shoes, there's a lot of hats that all
look like Tim Robinson hats. It's it's like all his stuff.
(17:40):
It just seems like it's like they unlock the door
to his studio and everything is for sale, including and
I said this about the Lynch thing too, But I'm
also always tickled when I come across stuff in here
that has no fancy old esthetic, you know value where
it's like, oh, this is the Eederall MIDI controller that
I also had in two thousand and three with my
(18:02):
first home recording setup, and you know, purely utilitarian and
only at.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Two hundred dollars compared to the rest of the stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
But wouldn't if you had someone over and said, you know,
this mini controller used to belong to craft work, they
would not be impressed, nor would they like it looks
like you bought it at Savers Value Village for forty
five cents.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
You would know and you could go to bed every
night just feeling the warmth.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Of that object in your home, and I would do it.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I please let us know.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
If you like these Julians' auctions recaps Julian's this is
providing me a lot of joy, and I would do
this more frequently if you want. But like this, these
two back to back, I mean, they provide me hours
of pleasure looking through people's dead man's objects.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
So it's worth celebrating the rare occasion where the Internet
affords us a little bit of delight and something new.
And I think that you know my whole life, and
I'm sure yours too, and I'm sure a lot of
the listeners that's probably why we do this podcast is
has been yearning to peek behind the curtains, you know,
to say, oh, what what does Radiohead studio look like? Inside?
(19:06):
Show me one snapshot and I'll spend all day pouring
over it. Is that a telecaster? And to now get
these not just this full list of all the items,
but these glorious HD multi angle auction photographs of every
single piece of gear in David Lynch's collection in Florin
Schneider's collection is just it's a real joy for me
as a nerd about this kind of thing. And if
(19:28):
you too are a nerd and I suspect our demographic
excuse heavily in that direction, then this is your kind
of thing. And there's like hundreds of items to look
at that we didn't even get to talking about today.
So check it out. This is true, this is news,
this is We should get kickbacks from Florian's. Sure not Florian's.
What's it called Julian's. Julian's and and Florian We should
(19:49):
get it. Everyone send me kickbacks. Everyone should send me kickbacks.
What's with this?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
The surviving members of kraft Work, let's send you. Yes. Yeah,
I want to say craft work because that's how I
usually say it. But you came on strong with the
correct pronunciations of things, and I am inspired by your
ability to do that.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Also, I read on Florine Scheider's Wikipedia page a citation
needed rumor that his departure from Kraft of Work was
precipitated by a dispute over eight bicycle pump. That seems
like it's probably not true, But also if it's true
of anyone, it does seem like it would be true
of a German person. So I love, I love. It
was like a really nice bicycle pump, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, Well, go listen to as many of those records
as you can in a row.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And X and Y is the Coldplay album with talk
on this their third record. We'll we'll discuss it more
on a rush of Pod to the head.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
On a rush of Pod the Head.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Can we alternate Coldplay and graph Work records and then
talk about the the unique parallelisms between that to write
a college thesis about it?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yes, we'll do a special episode the Resonance. Well, this
has been a delight. I'm glad you suggested this. I
hope someone else decides to auction off their beautiful collection.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I'm sure they will. I'm so I'm so glad you
enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it too, and thank you
for giving me a reason to spend more time looking
on this website.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
All benefactors feel free to reach out to Major label
Debut via any of our social media's with your cash
app transfers or your Volkswagen bus delivery details schedule for
it looks seaworthy, That's all I'm saying. I think we
can does it looks clean? It looks clean. It looks
very clean. So that's today's MLD news. I think you
(21:31):
have been and so yeah, right now, right now. If
you're listening to this the day it comes out, go
to the auction because I don't even know if the
website will stay there tomorrow. If not, this is now
the only place a bid register to bid. Get that
ash tray. John Paul, thank you so much. It's such
a delight to pod with you. Every day better than
the last.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Thank you, Graham. I feel the exact name Way.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Major label Debut is produced by John Paul Bullock as
well as Josh Hook, who is currently busily constructing synthesizers
for us.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Josh, we appreciate you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Our theme music is by the great Greg Alsop, whose
studio contents I will one day auction off and will
do a very special episode.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
I love the idea that you will live longer than Greg.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
No way, oh no, no, I'm going to do it
like next year.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
I'm going I'm just going to go out there when
he's not home, and I'm going to sell all his
stuff on the web, on the internet, and I'll split
the money with him.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
He'll be fine, He doesn't need it. It'll be cool.
We'll do an episode about it. Greg. We love a few.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Major label debut is of course accessible via all the
various socials media get at us dm US with suggestions, requests, comments,
and again.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Shipping information for our Christmas gifts. We will jam on
the instruments you send us. That'll be what we do
for you.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
That's today's major label debut. But of course, as always,
the show will return with more tales, news, analysis and
commerce from the intersection of art and commerce. Solo craft
work Forever Rest in peace, Florian. Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
You can take a pictures something you see. No no, no,
From Major Label Debut podcast network. This is MLD News.
I am your host, your anchor, if you will. My
name is Graham Wright, and joining me, as always is
Major Label Debut producer my good friend John Paul Bullock.
John Paul, do you think we need to start calling
this something other than news given the frequency with which
(00:26):
we are talking about things that are not strictly breaking
Journalist news.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Absolutely not MLD news forever. Also, Hello Graham.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Also, the topic of today's podcast is something very urgent,
as it will be happening tomorrow from when we're recording this,
but today from when you amazing listener are consuming this
with your years, and so as soon as this hits
whatever podcast platform they are on, I urge you to
(00:58):
turn on your computer or your hand held device of
some kind and rush over to the Julian's auction site
for what Graham.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
For the Florian Schneider collection. Florian Schneider, of course, best
known as a founding member of the Dusseldorfian electronic music
group Kraft Verk, who themselves are of course best known
for contributing a sample to the hit Coldplay song Talk
No No. I believe they're most most and perhaps only
(01:29):
known for their work with the great band Coldplay.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
The sorrow that heart as you said that, it's just
genuine pain. It was like a large.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Spear that just came through my body, the cold place
spear that you have there in the bag. It's like
when a Jedi has it just sort of radiated out
like a lightsaber, and just I've been cleaved in half
like Darth Maul.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I'm one with the force, and the forces with me.
And by the force, I mean Chris Martin's aura. We
are knit together like Kylo w Ren and Red. We've
been watching a lot of Star Wars in my home.
Do you want to give a real capsule summary of
the great life and legacy of Kraft Work one of
the most influential music groups literally ever.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I mean, what is there to say? Honestly? That profound
like originators of so many electronic music ideas, pretty much
flawless discography still continuing, I think to this day, I
think they're still doing it without him.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, but I saw him twice.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I saw them once at Disney Hall and once at Coachella,
and endlessly enjoyable.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I mean, they did a thing.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
That that sort of one of one right, they could
not be copied, but everybody bent a little piece off,
and they really truly are of the most important musical
acts in history. And this guy's collection of stuff, thanks
again to the good people at Julian's, I can ghoulishly
(03:12):
paw through this man's stuff. And this man's stuff is
gorgeous like it is.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
It's truly.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I know that David Lynch that I have a more
intimate relationship with David Lynch's art, but I think in
part because of the way that kraftworks, like whole aesthetic
is so cold and distant, I don't connect to it
as directly. But going through this I connected to his
objects more in a lot of ways than I did
(03:40):
to the David Lynch stuff.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
I know what you mean.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
It's it's certainly more recognizable to me, well, needless to say,
as the contents of a recording studio. And so there's
just a lot more music stuff that I understand versus
Lynch's more broads I always say, collection, more coffee based, Yeah, femera.
There's also, though, as befits a you know, a German
(04:03):
electronic genius. There's also a lot of beautiful mid century
furniture there's a I don't want to give away my picks,
but there's an ash tray that I've got.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
My eye on.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Ooh, okay, I among the collection, all right, So if
we have, we've both given ourselves the assignment of picking
three objects from this auction that we're definitely going to
bid on tomorrow and to see if we were going
to definitely win endanger ourselves financially.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
This is our wish list. This is like, we're like
OnlyFans girls, and this is our Amazon wish list for
any benefactors out there who Christmas is coming, and if
anyone we both wants to bid one thousand dollars for
an art deco floor ash tray stand with red nose
smoking sticker applied to the base from the personal collection
(04:48):
of craft work founding member Florin Schneider. I will DM
you my shipping information after you win it for me.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Okay, let's just get to it. Tell me your number
three pick. My number three pick. I like this going
in reverse. I will not actually pick the ashtray. My
number three pick is this k L violin horn, which
is a sort of almost like Whovil looking fandanglar sort
of instrument. It's one part violin, one part trumpet, and
(05:17):
one part water bong. It looks like, and you know,
it's sort of obviously intended to amplify the sound of
the string instrument of the violin through these glass horns.
And I'm sure I can look up on YouTube what
this sounds like, but right now I'm just imagining it.
And I was going to say something amazing about craft work.
That's so, you know, I don't even know how accessible
(05:39):
this is to any musician anymore. Is they committed to
tape just this plethora of brand new sounds, sounds that
have never been heard by the people that listen to it,
let alone incorporated into art, into music. And I look
at this thing, and although it's not a synthesizer, it's
not the kind of you know, electronics that I might
associate with kraftfurk. It's clearly unique and beautiful and strange.
(06:04):
And although I am no violinist, I would like to
buy this and try to learn it and if not,
smoke weed out of it. I want that for you
very badly. My number three pick is the exact opposite
of what you were saying, which is a lot one
hundred and sixty two, which is the Mogue vocoder that
was part of Clean Clang Studios, and it is a
(06:27):
black box with a dozen or more red patch cables
coming out of it. That is the thing that I
would have thought that this man had in his life
just was surrounded by. And also because it's mog and
it's like that is the synth brand that I have
the most warm feelings towards.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I just want that. I have no reason for it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
It is wildly outdated technology that exists. You can do
a version of this, I think now on like garage
band you can do a vote.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
But there's probably an app for it. You can talk
through yours get a five in real time.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
For free that just tracks your location everywhere you're going
and gives it to the Canadian government. But yeah, that's
what I want. That's my number three pick. What's your
number two pick?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
My number two pick is a little bit of a
weird piece, and it's another thing that its entire purpose
is wildly obviated by like the most simple computer recording
system from honestly the last twenty years. It's the high
and low pass filter. I believe this is a lot
number one seventy eight and all this is it's from
nineteen fifty. It is an enormous it's a tripod stand
(07:35):
with this humongous box that has two faders on it
and it's an EQ. Yeah, you can either you can
make it sound a little more high or a little
more low. And I'm just so fascinated by technology like this,
which it's from nineteen fifty. The serial number is thirty
six to the thirty six to one. It's totally passive
(07:56):
and just it's full of electrical components as they were
able to construct them and control the mean nineteen fifty
that will using electricity change the sound of the music
or whatever audio input you're putting through it. And it's
a beautiful object. I bet that it imparts a barely
(08:18):
tangible sonic quality that I could really convince myself made
a huge difference. And it's just an artifact of a time,
and so many things on this auction are like this.
It's an artifact of a time when everything about creating
sound was a process. I now have like a one
million band EQ probably on this microphone right now as
(08:40):
I talk to you on a podcast that choose I
chose a preset and set it and forget it. You know,
this stuff is not complicated. Any stereo system with a
treble and base knob is doing basically the same thing.
But there was a time when you needed a whole
special unit if you wanted to high pass a little
bit of your music. And that's nearer and dearer to
my heart than just about anything at this point. So
(09:00):
that would be my pick. Current bid one thousand dollars.
What's your number two?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I Well, before we get there, I was going to say,
I wonder how many of these beautiful old objects also.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Have like.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Dangerous components inside them, Like if you touch the box,
you know, there's like the kill diode or whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
But it's it's perfectly encased in you know, fifty years
of like secondhand smoke tar build up, so it's entirely
neutralized as long as you never clean it.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Well, so my second is lot number sixty two, which
is sort of the industrial design object of my dreams.
It is a metal clipboard that has handwritten notes from
the studio on it, and it is it's just like
a so sweet and intimate for a person who's you know,
(09:53):
obviously a real person and made incredibly sensitive thoughtful art
it is. It also has the kind of clean lines
and harshness and distance that I was talking about earlier.
So I uh, I think it's like a perfect encapsulation
of what this guy's thing was, maybe I mean as
(10:16):
to the extent in which I know him and he
presented his identity to the public. It's also just very
I don't know if this is being stereotypical or whatever,
like Germans seeming from the period, like it has a
kind of brutal functionality to it that I respect.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Yes, it looks like yeah, back when, back.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
When people still gave a shit about the esthetic quality
of their phones, they would always be trumpeting about Buddy
Jony I of who designed all the Apple products, and
there would always be these glossy articles about here's all
the beautiful German brawn radios and razors or whatever that
inspired him. And the clipboard really looks like the kind
of thing that inspire the design of you know, an
(11:01):
ill fated eight thousand dollars Macintosh pro that I wanted.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Totally, And at the end of the day, it's also
just like an artist who has made notes that help
him make his art, which I think with just a
pencil on a piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
And those things in a recording studio are as much
a part of the aura of the place as the
equipment is, and sometimes more so because as the artist,
you're probably interacting with your clipboard multiple times a day,
compared to your high pass low pass EQ machine, which
you know might be more of a once a weeker.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
All right, what's your number one?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
My number one, not just in this auction, but in
terms of instruments that I want and have wanted for
as long as I can remember, is a lot number three.
The nineteen thirties Telefunken Volkstratonium, which is sort of like
before synthesizers, There was this really really bizarre early electronic instrument.
(11:56):
It doesn't actually say it his nineteen thirties, doesn't say
the exact year, but this is a you know, pre
war or war era machine that you know, it looks
kind of like a you know, an Enigma.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Machine or something.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, it was probably built by some of the same people,
not that you need to get into that. And it's
just this beautiful wood box with some knobs and then
this long sort of metal depressible strip that depending on
where you press it creates this incredibly incredibly people talk
about like the warmth of analog synthesis. I've never heard
(12:32):
a warmer sound than what one of these old machines
puts out. I think it's mostly tube based. I follow
a guy on Instagram. I think his name is Ludovic,
who is a tritonium composer. And it doesn't matter what
you play on it. It just sounds like no other instrument.
It sounds like the pad of my dreams. And I've
always felt that way, and I've always wanted one, But
(12:53):
they are wildly rare, and as far as I know,
there's no you know, modern equivalent or God forbid soft
synth that duplicates it. So current bid eight thousand dollars
with time still to go. So I'm not holding my
breath for it. But if anyone out there wants to
buy me any tritonium, I won't say no.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I think that would be amazing and I desperately want
you to have it. If not this one, another one.
There's got to be plenty of them right out there
in the world. How many, I don't know about plenty.
There are some, but you say something, you could make it.
It's from it's nineteen thirty technology, or maybe this is
like that meme where it's like I asked my father,
a master builder, how long it would take to build
(13:35):
this mighty cathedral now, and he said, we can't.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
We don't know how anymore.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
All right, Okay, I don't know if it is like
that actually, but I will.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Josh Hook, if you're editing this, please construct us a tratonium.
As a Josh, as I've noticed, has a lot of
free time. He's sitting around twiddling his thumbs all the time,
just do nothing but time. Yeah, so I need him
to invent us a tetonium. Thanks buddy, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Josh.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Please blank me one two when you've got the chance.
My number one is So. When I was a teenager,
I was obviously obsessed with learning to drive. Although it's
funny because I keep encountering teens now that don't care
about driving at all. But as I got my learner's permit,
I started looking around for automobiles that I could afford,
(14:23):
and the automobile that I sort of got focused on,
especially because, believe it or not, I had very long
hair and listened to a lot of classic rock at
the time.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Let's say that's nice.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I was very focused on getting a Volkswagen and two
of my friends had My friend Lucius had a VW
Bug that no matter when you were in it, what
time of year, whatever, it always was, the heater was
always on and it always.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Smelled like gasoline.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
And then my friend Todd had like a more kind
of mint yellow beetle. It was like Bumblebee from Transformers. Yes,
getting in that in my memory of it, and I
just remember listening to his cassette copy of Nine is Nails.
Pretty hate machine a lot in it. But I found
(15:18):
a VW Bus that was seven hundred and fifty dollars
and I got very serious about getting it. And then
my parents like confronted me and they're basically like, this
is the least safe car there is. It is a
sheet of metal that is about a quarter range thick
at the front and nothing else, and you will die
(15:40):
in this car. And I was like, but I want
a car, and they were like, chill out, figure out
something better, which I did eventually.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
But this nineteen sixty.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Four lot number four forty one, it is currently thirty
five thousand dollars. It is painted. I don't know how
did you call industrial gray.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
It looks like it was built out of spare summarine parts.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
The costin wagin panel Van Type two slash T one.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
It is glorious.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
The color is a specific shade of gray painted like
that is associated with the van. I'm not sure exactly
what that means, but it is that there. I got
their signature color I which I love that that's the
metal gray like. It looks like a World War two
battleship and it is.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I look at it. It has a.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
It was literally inspected and was okayed for the road
in twenty twenty three. It is glorious and in our
OnlyFans style asks if you can get it to the
United States. You have to purchase the thirty five thousand
dollars van and then arrange for its shipping across the
(16:59):
world and get it to the United States. I will
find a place to park it not on the street,
and I will drive it every day for a year,
and I will take a picture of myself in this
car rain or shine, and I will send it to
you as thanks for purchasing this van for me.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
The ball is in your court listeners.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Thank you. I appreciate in advance.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
The whole auction is really worth looking at. It's full
of musical instruments, It's full of wind instruments. There are
tons of weird saxophones and like trumpet saxophones, and you know,
a lot of Who instruments. There are a number of
sharp suits shoes, there's a lot of hats that all
look like Tim Robinson hats. It's it's like all his stuff.
(17:40):
It just seems like it's like they unlock the door
to his studio and everything is for sale, including and
I said this about the Lynch thing too, But I'm
also always tickled when I come across stuff in here
that has no fancy old esthetic, you know value where
it's like, oh, this is the Eederall MIDI controller that
I also had in two thousand and three with my
(18:02):
first home recording setup, and you know, purely utilitarian and
only at.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Two hundred dollars compared to the rest of the stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
But wouldn't if you had someone over and said, you know,
this mini controller used to belong to craft work, they
would not be impressed, nor would they like it looks
like you bought it at Savers Value Village for forty
five cents.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
You would know and you could go to bed every
night just feeling the warmth.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Of that object in your home, and I would do it.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I please let us know.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
If you like these Julians' auctions recaps Julian's this is
providing me a lot of joy, and I would do
this more frequently if you want. But like this, these
two back to back, I mean, they provide me hours
of pleasure looking through people's dead man's objects.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
So it's worth celebrating the rare occasion where the Internet
affords us a little bit of delight and something new.
And I think that you know my whole life, and
I'm sure yours too, and I'm sure a lot of
the listeners that's probably why we do this podcast is
has been yearning to peek behind the curtains, you know,
to say, oh, what what does Radiohead studio look like? Inside?
(19:06):
Show me one snapshot and I'll spend all day pouring
over it. Is that a telecaster? And to now get
these not just this full list of all the items,
but these glorious HD multi angle auction photographs of every
single piece of gear in David Lynch's collection in Florin
Schneider's collection is just it's a real joy for me
as a nerd about this kind of thing. And if
(19:28):
you too are a nerd and I suspect our demographic
excuse heavily in that direction, then this is your kind
of thing. And there's like hundreds of items to look
at that we didn't even get to talking about today.
So check it out. This is true, this is news,
this is We should get kickbacks from Florian's. Sure not Florian's.
What's it called Julian's. Julian's and and Florian We should
(19:49):
get it. Everyone send me kickbacks. Everyone should send me kickbacks.
What's with this?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
The surviving members of kraft Work, let's send you. Yes. Yeah,
I want to say craft work because that's how I
usually say it. But you came on strong with the
correct pronunciations of things, and I am inspired by your
ability to do that.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Also, I read on Florine Scheider's Wikipedia page a citation
needed rumor that his departure from Kraft of Work was
precipitated by a dispute over eight bicycle pump. That seems
like it's probably not true, But also if it's true
of anyone, it does seem like it would be true
of a German person. So I love, I love. It
was like a really nice bicycle pump, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, Well, go listen to as many of those records
as you can in a row.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And X and Y is the Coldplay album with talk
on this their third record. We'll we'll discuss it more
on a rush of Pod to the head.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
On a rush of Pod the Head.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Can we alternate Coldplay and graph Work records and then
talk about the the unique parallelisms between that to write
a college thesis about it?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yes, we'll do a special episode the Resonance. Well, this
has been a delight. I'm glad you suggested this. I
hope someone else decides to auction off their beautiful collection.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I'm sure they will. I'm so I'm so glad you
enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it too, and thank you
for giving me a reason to spend more time looking
on this website.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
All benefactors feel free to reach out to Major label
Debut via any of our social media's with your cash
app transfers or your Volkswagen bus delivery details schedule for
it looks seaworthy, That's all I'm saying. I think we
can does it looks clean? It looks clean. It looks
very clean. So that's today's MLD news. I think you
(21:31):
have been and so yeah, right now, right now. If
you're listening to this the day it comes out, go
to the auction because I don't even know if the
website will stay there tomorrow. If not, this is now
the only place a bid register to bid. Get that
ash tray. John Paul, thank you so much. It's such
a delight to pod with you. Every day better than
the last.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Thank you, Graham. I feel the exact name Way.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Major label Debut is produced by John Paul Bullock as
well as Josh Hook, who is currently busily constructing synthesizers
for us.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Josh, we appreciate you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Our theme music is by the great Greg Alsop, whose
studio contents I will one day auction off and will
do a very special episode.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
I love the idea that you will live longer than Greg.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
No way, oh no, no, I'm going to do it
like next year.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
I'm going I'm just going to go out there when
he's not home, and I'm going to sell all his
stuff on the web, on the internet, and I'll split
the money with him.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
He'll be fine, He doesn't need it. It'll be cool.
We'll do an episode about it. Greg. We love a few.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Major label debut is of course accessible via all the
various socials media get at us dm US with suggestions, requests, comments,
and again.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Shipping information for our Christmas gifts. We will jam on
the instruments you send us. That'll be what we do
for you.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
That's today's major label debut. But of course, as always,
the show will return with more tales, news, analysis and
commerce from the intersection of art and commerce. Solo craft
work Forever Rest in peace, Florian. Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
You can take a pictures something you see. No no, no,
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