Interview: Intaktlos - Between sound journey and life's work 🔊 WhatsMusic.de

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Interview: Intaktlos – Between sound journey and life’s work

written by Intaktlos and WhatsMusic.de

Interview summary: Intaktlos – Between sound journey and life’s work

Olaf Ryschka, known by his stage name Intaktlos, is a 58-year-old musician from the Lower Rhine region who offers a musical journey through over 30 years of life experience with his mature debut album “Gestern morgen ewig”. Influenced by icons such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Kraftwerk and the Yellow Magic Orchestra, his music combines danceable 80s synth sounds with direct German lyrics.

His album is an expression of decades of passion: each track tells a piece of his biography. Olaf has always worked as a lone fighter, loves studio work and remains true to his line. DIY, honest and in love with detail. With a twinkle in his eye, he recalls early production breakdowns and looks optimistically to the future: new songs are being planned – but not for 30 years this time.

Interview with Intaktlos

Tell us about yourself, who are you and where do you come from?

My name is Olaf Ryschka and I am Intaktlos. I am 58 years young and live with my wife and daughter on the Lower Rhine. I was born ‘in the pot’. So I’m a child of the Ruhr area. I started making my own music in the 90s – never in a band, but always as a lone wolf. I got into studio work through my collaboration with the well-known music producer Toni Catania (Scatman…). I recorded several tracks there in the 90s. That was very inspiring. My professional life, partnerships and at some point my own family left me very little room to fulfill my dream of releasing an album. Looking back, it’s a shame that so many years weren’t used for that, but in the end it did work out.

How was your passion for music born? Who are your idols?

I’ve loved listening to music since I was a child. I’m more of a Beatles fan than a Stones fan. I then moved relatively quickly towards electronic music. There was Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Jean-Michel Jarre and Japanese artists such as the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) and Logic System. I then found my musical home in the 80s with artists such as Depeche Mode, The Human League, OMD, Heaven 17, Erasure, Tears for fears, New Order or the Pet Shop Boys. I also think De/Vision are a great German band, or Mesh from England.

What kind of music do you do?

My music is a mixture of all the elements that characterize my favourite artists in terms of sound. Interesting soundscapes like Depeche Mode, lightness like Erasure, danceability like the Pet Shop Boys and a pinch of Olaf-catchy, concise and beautiful melodies with German lyrics. The saying ‘It’s all in the mix’ literally hits the nail on the head here.

What is the most important song for you? What message do you want to convey to the listener?

There really isn’t one most important song on the album. The star, so to speak, is the entire album. The creation of the songs and the album spans over 3 decades. That’s pretty crazy. You inevitably experience a lot of things in your life over this long period of time. I tried to put all of that into this album. Every listener will find their own personal moment on the album. The lyrics are clear, direct and speak a simple language. That’s just how we people in the Pott are. It was also important to me to have a consistently good quality of songs and to avoid pointless filler material. Even the instrumental track has its own story.

Why should a listener who doesn’t know you listen to your music?

I believe that my music is different from other projects. The combination of sound, the love of 80’s music, catchy hooklines and the German lyrics make it particularly appealing. The music sounds familiar retro, but also current and modern, without pandering to the mainstream .

What are your future projects? Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

A 3rd music video is currently being planned. From fall 2025, I will take the time to write new lyrics. Next year, I’d like to package the new lyrics in new songs and sounds. Who knows if I won’t be out with a new album in 2027. I wouldn’t want to spend another 30 years working on an album. That would be difficult. :-)

Tell our readers a funny episode that happened in your career as an artist.

Rather embarrassing than funny is a story from the early days of my recording attempts. I still work with Cubase today (back then on an Atari computer…) and I didn’t know that there was a switch to activate quantization. As a result, the music was ‘intaktlos’, i.e. not clean in timing ;-)

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