Apollo unearths 'lost classic' album from Roman Flügel and Jörn Elling Wuttke

Apollo will reissue The Primitive Painter’s self-titled 1994 album in June.

The cult classic album was made by two Frankfurt producers who continue to be staples of the scene to this day—Roman Flügel and Jörn Elling Wuttke. Bonding over a love of Transmat and The Black Dog, they’d start releasing music in the early ’90s as Acid Jesus on their own Klang Elektronik label. Shortly thereafter, they fell under the spell of the KLF, filmmakers like Wim Wenders and Jim Marmusch and the self-titled 1993 compilation on Apollo, which includes cuts from the lieks of Model 500, Biosphere and Aphex Twin. Naturally, they set out to make their own album influenced by IDM, braindance and ambient house.

Naming the project after Felt’s album of the same name (a nod to the DIY attitude behind their pursuits), Wuttke and Flügel made ten tracks which they managed to sign to Apollo. Unfortunately, the release was mistakenly attributed to the duo’s Klang imprint, which confused fans and distributors and relegated the LP to obscurity. Since then, it has become a cult classic, changing hands for high prices on the secondhand market, which has led Apollo to finally give the album its “first” official release on the R&S ambient offshoot. It’ll come with a recreated version of the original artwork, includes a bonus track from the CD release as well as a digital-only bonus track, “Testing.”

Listen to The Primitive Painter’s “Hope.”

Tracklist
01. Hope

02. Disfigured Phantasy

03. Levitation

04. Psycho Kinesis

05. Cathedral

06. Invisible Landscapes

08. A Pagan Place

09. Orgon Akkumulator

10. Stoned Soul Picnic

11. Testing

Apollo will release The Primitive Painter on June 26th, 2020.