Christian Morgenstern

Born Götz-Christian Morgenstern in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1975, Christian Morgenstern was a figure in the emergence of European electro-techno in the mid- to late ’90s. He regularly experimented with his own style, which spanned punchy techno, more haunting electronica, and even stylized electropop over the course of several releases in the ’90s and 2000s. Morgenstern began making music is his late teens with the aid of a Commodore Amiga that he’d been using for the purposes of graphic design and early computer animation. His first encounter with a synthesizer came in 1995 by way of friend Elef Tsiroudis, who had just acquired a Yamaha SY85 digital workstation. After a few months and the purchase of some additional equipment, the duo released a 12″ single on their own label, ? Records, calling themselves Human Target. Morgenstern then set out on his own and released the single ”… Minus 38 and Counting…” as CHRS on the Important Extracts label in 1997. As Christian Morgenstern, the EP Miscellaneous followed just a few weeks later on Kanzleramt Music, which added Miscellaneous II the same year. Morgenstern then started his own label, Forte, and released Death Before Disko and the remixes re: Death Before Disko in 1999 and 2000, respectively. A year later, among other singles, remixes, and EPs, The Lydia EP experimented with a version of tech-house. The smoother full-length Hawaii Blue followed in 2001. On June 19, 2003, Morgenstern died unexpectedly, alone in his apartment, at the age of 27. His final album, Carolea, which featured more structured electropop, was released that fall on Forte by friends. Konsequent later oversaw the digital release to his entire catalog in 2016, alongside a series of eight tribute remix EPs featuring artists such as Henning Baer, Jeroen Search, and Maral Salmassi. ~ Marcy Donelson