Paul Haslinger

by Steven McDonald
Trained at the Academy of Music in Vienna, Austria, Paul Haslinger graduated straight into active work in the European music business, first recording with Hypersax, culminating in his joining Tangerine Dream in time for the recording of Underwater Sunlight. Haslinger brought a certain amount of structure to the bands compositions, resulting in some of the more improvisational elements being jettisoned; the change in direction shaped the progress of the group into the 1990s.
Haslinger remained with Tangerine Dream until the end of 1990, pursuing graduate studies in music between recording dates and live tours, appearing on more than fourteen albums, regular and soundtrack, before his departure (a fifteenth album, the soundtrack to The Park Is Mine, appeared in 1992).
In 1991, he began a collaboration with Lightwave, a French experimental group. He relocated to Los Angeles at the same time, eventually creating a studio that he dubbed The Assembly Room. His pace of work has never slackened — two albums with Lightwave, the release of Future Primitive (under his surname only), and the release of World Without Rules are the tip of the iceberg. Haslinger has provided music for everything from interactive CD-ROMs to convention openings. He has also developed his own unique musical processes to help drive his creativity and to lead him interesting musical directions, with the Coma Virus album Hidden displaying some of the results of these Assembly strategies.