Roedelius, Bock and Metz effuse a liberal dose of speaker-scaring electronica
7/10
The resonating hum of assiduous electrical pulses, the throb of pulsating micro-beats and spikes of impossibly-pitched frequencies more suited to breaking up gangs of unruly teenagers outside the local chippy can mean only one thing. Qluster. Or is it Cluster, or Kluster, these days?
Actually, messrs Roedelius and Bock are the former and have been since 2011, quietly and noisily crafting somewhat sinister and unsettling electronica. Bureau B seems only too happy to indulge them and thank Heavens for that because, although Lauschen (Listen in English) is a rather moreish improvisation performed by key Qluster bods and guest, Armin Metz.
In places, you feel like you're drifting in a boat on an empty sea (Erato, Urania), free-falling out of the sky (Euterpe) or traversing an icy mountain suspended by just one wire (all of it). Truth is, much of Lauschen has been made up on the spot so they couldn't possibly be representative of these comparable situations, just simply coincidences. Terpsichore sounds like acid-house made by pall-bearers and Polyhymnia, sounds like a broadcast for the undead - it's rather good.
You certainly can't accuse the trio of making mindless dance music, rather they've tapped into some cohesive witchcraft that only laptop-users and tech-geeks might understand. But, for all its apparent hipster elitism on paper, in practice Lauschen succeeds in cross-referencing the likes of Michael Brook, Fennesz, Dieter Moebius and early Kraftwerk, names not often associated with skinny-jeans, macchiato and carrot-cake conventions in Stoke Newington.
Roedelius is 78 years old and is showing no signs of flagging - he's also been collaborating with unlikely ally Lloyd Cole (to be reviewed on this site in due course) and Swiss composer Christopher Chaplin. Like many experienced and established veterans of precise German electronic-music, he just wants you to Lauschen very carefully. Long may he play on.
7/10
Actually, messrs Roedelius and Bock are the former and have been since 2011, quietly and noisily crafting somewhat sinister and unsettling electronica. Bureau B seems only too happy to indulge them and thank Heavens for that because, although Lauschen (Listen in English) is a rather moreish improvisation performed by key Qluster bods and guest, Armin Metz.
In places, you feel like you're drifting in a boat on an empty sea (Erato, Urania), free-falling out of the sky (Euterpe) or traversing an icy mountain suspended by just one wire (all of it). Truth is, much of Lauschen has been made up on the spot so they couldn't possibly be representative of these comparable situations, just simply coincidences. Terpsichore sounds like acid-house made by pall-bearers and Polyhymnia, sounds like a broadcast for the undead - it's rather good.
You certainly can't accuse the trio of making mindless dance music, rather they've tapped into some cohesive witchcraft that only laptop-users and tech-geeks might understand. But, for all its apparent hipster elitism on paper, in practice Lauschen succeeds in cross-referencing the likes of Michael Brook, Fennesz, Dieter Moebius and early Kraftwerk, names not often associated with skinny-jeans, macchiato and carrot-cake conventions in Stoke Newington.
Roedelius is 78 years old and is showing no signs of flagging - he's also been collaborating with unlikely ally Lloyd Cole (to be reviewed on this site in due course) and Swiss composer Christopher Chaplin. Like many experienced and established veterans of precise German electronic-music, he just wants you to Lauschen very carefully. Long may he play on.