Each month in the magazine we play an artist or group a series of tracks which they are asked to comment on – with no prior knowledge of what they are about to hear.

In The Wire 507 it is the turn of Can founder Irmin Schmidt.

Here you can listen to a mix of the tracks our correspondent Leah Kardos played to Schmidt during the interview, which is published in full in The Wire 507. To find out what he said about them, subscribers can read the interview in our online magazine library here. Or you can buy a copy of the magazine in our online shop.

But first, a brief biography of our subject:

German musician and composer Irmin Schmidt is a founding member of Can. Formed in Cologne in 1968 with bassist Holger Czukay, guitarist Michael Karoli and drummer Jaki Liebezeit, the group made music through collective improvisation, tape editing, and an approach to rhythm and repetition drawing as much from non-Western music and the avant garde as rock. With vocalist Malcolm Mooney, they recorded Monster Movie (1969), and with replacement Damo Suzuki, Tago Mago (1971), Ege Bamyasi (1972) and Future Days (1973). Schmidt played keyboards and, alongside Czukay, developed the cut and splice techniques that shaped the band's music across 18 albums before they first disbanded in 1979.

Before Can, Schmidt trained as a classical conductor and pianist, studying composition with György Ligeti at the Folkwang Academy in Essen and later with Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Cologne Courses for New Music. He was prompted to abandon a conducting career in favour of starting a band after visiting New York in 1966, where he encountered the work of Steve Reich, La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and the scene at Andy Warhol's Factory.

Schmidt has composed more than 100 film and television scores, some dating back to Can's active years. His solo discography includes the electronic album Toy Planet (1981, with Bruno Spoerri), vocal-driven records like Musk At Dusk (1987) and Impossible Holidays (1991), and a series of electronic dance collaborations with his son-in-law Jono Podmore aka Kumo. He wrote an opera based on Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast (1998), composed the ballet La Fermosa (2008), and in 2017 London Symphony Orchestra premiered Can Dialog, co-composed with Gregor Schwellenbach and interpolating his old band's music. He also co-authored the biography All Gates Open: The Story Of Can (2018) with former Wire editor Rob Young.

Schmidt's new solo album Requiem is released by Mute/Future Days Music. He lives in the South of France with wife Hildegard Schmidt, who managed Can and continues to oversee the band's catalogue. The Jukebox took place online, with Schmidt at home.

Tracklist (with time stamps):

The Fall (00:00)
“I Am Damo Suzuki"
From This Nation's Saving Grace
(Beggars Banquet) 1985

Paul McCartney (05:45)
“Coming Up”
From McCartney II
(Parlophone) 1980

Fela Ransome Kuti & Africa 70 (09:38)
“Water No Get Enemy”
From Expensive Shit
(Editions Makossa) 1975

James Brown (20:40)
“Get Up I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine”
From Sex Machine
(Polydor) 1970

Neu! (25:56)
“Hallogallo”
From Neu!
(United Artists) 1972

Mica Levi (36:05)
“Love”
From Under The Skin OST
(Milan/Rough Trade) 2014

Conlon Nancarrow (41:16)
Study For Player Piano No 21
(Canon X) YouTube

Aphex Twin (45:06)
“Xtal”
From Selected Ambient Works 85-92
(Apollo) 1992

Alban Berg/Vienna Philharmonic (50:02)
“Interlude”
from Wozzeck
YouTube

Holger Czukay (53:50)
“Persian Love”
From Movies
(Harvest) 1979