Conrad Schnitzler was a highly prolific experimental electronic musician and a massively influential figure of the German avant-garde. An early member of Tangerine Dream and Kluster, he co-founded the Zodiak Free Arts Lab, a short-lived but groundbreaking venue for improvised music. Beginning with 1973's Rot, he frequently released challenging yet hypnotic records consisting of tape manipulations and expansive electronics, as well as countless homemade cassettes and later, CD-Rs. Some of his work from the early '80s, including 1983's Con 3, resembled abstract synth pop. By the late '90s, he had begun releasing acoustic piano compositions on albums like The Piano Works, Vol. 1 (1997). He remained productive until his death in 2011, and numerous archival releases and reissues have appeared since, as well as the Con-Struct series, containing new works created from Schnitzler's massive sound archive by artists such as Schneider TM, Pole, and Baal & Mortimer.