So why is Wolfgang Gartner’s Back Story on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
WWolfgang Gartner produces exactly the kind of music I love when it comes to high energy electronica: we’re talking huge, crunchy hooks and wildly exciting electro house that’s ideal for hitting the gym (or laptop) hard.
“Wolfgang’s Fifth Symphony” was my initial gateway to Gartner, and it remains one of my favorite tracks. When you throw it on, it’s immediately clear that this is an electronic music ode to a musician by the name of Ludwig van Beethoven and his iconic Fifth symphony.
All of the tracks on Back Story are quite long by design (this is a Wolfgang Gartner trait generally), and this one runs a full seven and a half minutes. The song scales up several levels in intensity and energy from its starting point, and by the middle section it’s going as hard and intensely as any electronic music you’ll ever hear. Then it gracefully and gradually scales back to something like a cooldown section at the end. Again, this is a fairly common element with Gartner’s music.
Okay, I’m going to admit something that’s kind of dumb and I’m a little sheepish about admitting: there’s something about the middle section of “Wolfgang’s Fifth Symphony” that reminds me of Star Wars, and specifically space battle scenes from the original trilogy, TIE fighters and X-wings and the like. Sometimes when I’m working out with this song, it’s fun to imagine the iconic trench run sequence from A New Hope (which we used to call “the first one” back in the day).
“Hook Shot” is a masterpiece of crunching, thumping electro house bliss.
“Clap” layers in sampled hip-hop lines – come on party people just clap your hands – to fantastic effect.
And “Undertaker” reminds me much of deadmau5’s best stuff.
Quick and completely random side note that it would have been wild if the band 311 (they of “Down” fame back in the day) could have somehow landed at the #311 slot on the best 1,000 albums ever project – instead Back Story – but alas it ‘twas not meant to be.
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with Wolfgang Gartner’s Back Story
I should add that my most favorite Wolfgang Gartner-related song of all – and one of my favorite electronic music songs of all time – is credited to Bendji and features Sushy. It’s called “Me and Myself,” and there were multiple edits or mixes produced, two of which are produced by Gartner. All of them are flat-out scorchers.
Here’s the radio edit, which is three minutes of perfection.
Some stats & info about Wolfgang Gartner – Back Story
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Electronic Music, Dance Music, House Music, Electro House, High Octane
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – not rated!
- When was Back Story released? 2013
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #311 out of 1,000
Wolfgang Gartner’s Back Story on Spotify
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.