Sky Records was a Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 based independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 specializing in Krautrock

Krautrock

Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...

/Kosmische Musik and electronic music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

. Some of their releases could be classified as progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 or art rock

Art rock

Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...

, experimental music

Experimental music

Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...

, industrial

Industrial music

Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...

, ambient

Ambient music

Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

, or New Age

New Age music

New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...

. No new releases appeared after 1998.

History

Sky Records was founded in 1975

1975 in music

-January–April:*January 2 - New York City U.S. District Court Judge Richard Owen rules that former Beatle John Lennon and his lawyers can have access to Department of Immigration files pertaining to his deportation case....

 by Günter Körber after he left Metronome Musik, the parent company of influential Krautrock/Kosmische label Brain Records

Brain Records

Brain was a Hamburg-based record label prominent in the 1970s releasing several important Krautrock records by bands such as Neu!, Cluster and Guru Guru...

. Körber was able to sign several former Brain Records recording artists to his new label, most notably Cluster

Cluster (band)

Cluster is a German experimental musical group who influenced the development of contemporary popular electronic and ambient music. They have recorded albums in a wide variety of styles ranging from experimental music to progressive rock, all of which had an avant-garde edge. Cluster has been...

 just as they began a successful collaboration with Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

. The success of the albums Cluster & Eno

Cluster & Eno

Cluster & Eno is a collaborative album by the German electronic music group Cluster and British ambient musician Brian Eno. The style of this album is a collection of gentle melodies: a mixture of Eno’s ambient sensibilities and Cluster's avant-garde style.In June, 1977 the duo of Hans-Joachim...

in 1977 and After the Heat

After the Heat

After the Heat is a 1978 album by Brian Eno, Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius . The album represents the second collaboration by the trio, the first being 1977's Cluster & Eno...

in 1978 helped put Sky on a solid financial footing. Other former Brain artists signing with Sky included Thirsty Moon

Thirsty Moon

Thirsty Moon is a German Krautrock band. The band was founded in the early seventies in Bremen and plays progressive rock with strong jazz influences. Band members were the brothers Jürgen and Norbert Drogies, Michael Kobs, Harald Konietzko, Erwin Noack, Willi Pape and Siegfried Pisalla, although...

 and Michael Rother

Michael Rother

Michael Rother is a German experimental Krautrock musician and composer.- Early life and education :Born in 1950, Rother went to school in Munich, Wilmslow , Karachi, and Düsseldorf. He also lived in Pakistan in the early 1960s where he was exposed to Pakistani music that would influence his own...

 shortly after his departure from Neu!

Neu!

Neu! was a German band formed by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother after their split from Kraftwerk in the early 1970s...

 and Harmonia

Harmonia (band)

Harmonia is a Krautrock supergroup from Germany. They formed as a collaboration between Michael Rother of Neu! and Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Möbius of Cluster and later included the British musician Brian Eno.-Musical style:...

.

Other notable artists who recorded for Sky Records include Nik Tyndall, Moebius & Plank

Moebius & Plank

The duo of Dieter Moebius and Conny Plank recorded three albums between 1979 and 1986. Plank died of cancer in 1987. Their final album and an album with Mayo Thompson were released posthumously in 1995 and 1998 respectively...

, Conrad Schnitzler

Conrad Schnitzler

Conrad Schnitzler was a prolific German experimental musician.Schnitzler was born in Düsseldorf. He was an early member of Tangerine Dream and a founder of the band Kluster. He left Kluster in 1971, first working with his group Eruption and then focusing on solo works...

, Asmus Tietchens

Asmus Tietchens

Asmus Tietchens , who also records under the monikers Hematic Sunsets and Club of Rome, is a German composer of avant-garde music....

, Earthstar

Earthstar (band)

Earthstar was an electronic music group originally from Utica, New York, in the United States. Earthstar was encouraged by Krautrock/Kosmische Musik/electronic music artist, composer, and producer Klaus Schulze to relocate to Germany where they were signed by Sky Records. Schulze produced their...

, Serge Blenner, Harald Grosskopf, Adelbert von Deyen and Dieter Schütz. Both Dieter Moebius

Dieter Moebius

Dieter Moebius is a German/Swiss experimental/krautrock/ambient/electronic musician.Moebius studied art in Brussels and Berlin and met there Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Conrad Schnitzler . They founded a band Kluster in 1969. After the departure of Schnitzler, they changed their name to Cluster...

 and Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster released solo albums and collaborations on Sky.

In the 1990s Sky Records mainly reissued earlier albums from their catalog on CD. It closed down in 1997. The Discogs website entry for Sky Records lists them as defunct.

External links

• Music Archive Sky discography
• Elmulab The complete Sky discography (accredited by G.Körber)
• Discogs Sky Records discography Retrieved October 8, 2007.
• Keyboards funtasten Keyboards - labels Retrieved October 8, 2007.