It was with great sadness that we woke up today to learn about the death of Pete Kuhlmann, better known as Pete Namlook, at his farm in Traben-Trarbach, Germany. Namlook was 51.
His daughter Fabia provided this statement to Resident Advisor earlier today:
It is with much grief that we announce the passing of Peter Kuhlmann, AKA Pete Namlook. We are still shocked and are working on an official announcement that will follow soon to bring clarity to our minds. As word spreads on the internet more and more we just want to make clear that he died peacefully from as yet unspecified causes on 8th November 2012. We will announce more details as and when they surface.
In the early '90s, Namlook's Fax label was a flagship for the fledgling ambient movement. Sometimes he released up to two CDs per week, many of which were his own collaborations with electronic music luminaries such as David Moufang (Move D), Klaus Schulze, Geir Jenssen (Biosphere), Uwe Schmidt (Atom Heart), Richie Hawtin, Bill Laswell, Tetsu Inoue and many more.
Namlook's early Fax 12"s helped establish trance in Germany during the early '90s. It was through many of these early trance records that he exposed club-going crowds to expansive, often beat-less soundscapes by including ambient tracks as B-sides. Namlook, however, quickly became disenchanted with the direction trance was moving and abandoned that approach.
When he heard Jonah Sharp (Spacetime Continuum) was bringing Mixmaster Morris into San Francisco for North America's first large-scale ambient rave, the genre evangelist flew himself over and demanded to be added to the bill, much to the joy of those attending. The live improvised performance was later released as Namlook IV on Fax.
Richie Hawtin has released "A Million Miles to Earth," the first song he and Namlook wrote together, on his SoundCloud page, and had this to say on his Facebook:
It MUST be said that Pete was an Electronic Music pioneer, a pillar of the modern Germany Electronic Music scene AND single handedly created & sustained the Ambient movement of the 1990's and beyond. Inspired by those who came before him, Pete continually inspired all of us and his sonic blueprint is part of the foundation of Electronic Music that we all stand upon today.
Namlook was an inspiration to electronic music producers around the world, and his death comes as a shock to all those he's influenced around the world. Our condolences to his family and all who were close to him.
Slice magazine's 2007 feature on Pete Namlook (YouTube)
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