Cluster:
1971 - 1981:
Bureau B:
CD Box-set:
April 8th 2016:
Christmas comes early this year with this NINE CD set highlighting just about every crucial Cluster recording worth having. Comprising a decade's worth of the German electronic-rock outfit's key period, 1971-1981 is as essential as owning anything by say Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Neu and Can. Two separate booklets annotated by another Sky Records musician and collaborator Asmus Tietchens help divide the music into two very distinct halves which basically consists of eight studio albums plus unreleased concert material from 1972 and 1977 all presented in a minimalist clam-shell box.
After co-founder Conrad Schnitzler left the band Kluster in 1970, Messrs Hans-Joachim Roedelius and the late Dieter Moebius continued as Cluster, arguably issuing some of the most important electronic music of the '70s that ranged from elegiac mood-music to the downright atonal.
Cluster I kicks things off with both feet firmly in the latter descriptive. Titled with merely each track's timings, every conceivable experimental sound was squeezed out of their machines as though their lives depended on it. Parts of 15:43 are by turns confrontational in tone yet as beautiful and as loud as a jet engine straight after take-off. Improvisation ruled and nothing could stop this pair from scaring the wildlife. Cluster II was no less ground-breaking if a little less challenging in places with tracks actually clocking in less than four minutes occasionally. Not that this makes any difference to the fearsome depth of the music - Für Die Katz is as uncompromising as anything on the preceding album.
It's with 1974's Zuckerzeit that Cluster come into their own. The music has become more hypnotic, prettier even and represents Roedelius and Moebius together separately, two sides of solo material merged together to make the kind of blueprint that informed OMD's debut-album, John Foxx's Metamatic, early Devo and The Human League's Reproduction. Driven by new 'member' Drummer One (a synth rhythm-generator), the opener Hollywood is as 'pop' as the dup dared be. But the light airy syndrum brushed symphonica didn't stop there - most of Zuckerzeit is sublime, accessible and the catalyst for further explorations into rhythm and atmosphere.
Sky Records issued the rather more organic and less playful 1976 follow-up Sowiesoso, although the album does have its lighter moments. Umleitung recalls Penguin Cafe Orchestra auf der Autobahn while Zum Wohl wouldn't sound amiss on the outfit's following collaborations with Brian Eno, both presented here. Ushering in the duo's most expressive and exploratory phase, both Cluster & Eno and After The Heat reveal a more plaintive and reflective side although, rhythmically speaking, the latter shows more of Eno's trademarks than the former does. If you don't sigh deeply to the tear-duct tickling hushed treated tones of Wehrmut, Für Luise and Old Land, you need medical help.
Former Tangerine Dream member Peter Baumann gave Roedelius and Moebius space to record 1979's Grosses Wasser, a mixed goody-bag of quirky funky stripped back no-wave (Prothese), metronomic click-tracks of prog-folk ditties (Isodea) and expressive melodies mirroring Kraftwerk and Neu's penchant for a bassline. The 18-minute title-track predates their 21st century work by some 30 years yet sounds as fresh.
The final album of this prolific era was 1981's Curiosum, a pulsating minimal collection of music recorded on and with sparse equipment and technology. Released at a time when European art-rock was rearing its head on both sides of the English Channel, like Kraftwerk Cluster were slowly being superseded by the indie rosters of Mute, Factory, Survival, Illuminated, Crepuscule and Rough Trade as well as the major-label home of Mr Eno himself, Editions EG. Listen to Non, Fad Gadget, Section 25, Crispy Ambulance, DAF, Cabaret Voltaire, Bill Nelson, Wire etc - the influence is there, deep in the music. It's a pity that Curiosum also failed to reach a wider audience with the '90s Artificial Intelligence crowd - half of the then Warp Records roster must have cocked an ear in its direction at some point, Richard James and LFO cases in point. Whatever, tracks like Charlic and Proantipro have some serious low-end action going on before the closing Ufer draws a line under Cluster's career thus far with oscillating drones similar to those on Cluster II.
And as you'd expect from two unreleased live recordings, the ninth disc is a collector's holy grail but little more - the sort of powerful out-of-ear experience that a former record-shop colleague of my acquaintance would use to spend his entire lunch-time listening to, in the dark, with just psychedelics and projected lights for company.
With the recent crop of Qluster (and solo) recordings, now is a pertinent time to part with some hard-earned cash for this influential must-have treasure trove.
★★★★★★★★★☆
1971 - 1981:
Bureau B:
CD Box-set:
April 8th 2016:
After co-founder Conrad Schnitzler left the band Kluster in 1970, Messrs Hans-Joachim Roedelius and the late Dieter Moebius continued as Cluster, arguably issuing some of the most important electronic music of the '70s that ranged from elegiac mood-music to the downright atonal.
Cluster I kicks things off with both feet firmly in the latter descriptive. Titled with merely each track's timings, every conceivable experimental sound was squeezed out of their machines as though their lives depended on it. Parts of 15:43 are by turns confrontational in tone yet as beautiful and as loud as a jet engine straight after take-off. Improvisation ruled and nothing could stop this pair from scaring the wildlife. Cluster II was no less ground-breaking if a little less challenging in places with tracks actually clocking in less than four minutes occasionally. Not that this makes any difference to the fearsome depth of the music - Für Die Katz is as uncompromising as anything on the preceding album.
It's with 1974's Zuckerzeit that Cluster come into their own. The music has become more hypnotic, prettier even and represents Roedelius and Moebius together separately, two sides of solo material merged together to make the kind of blueprint that informed OMD's debut-album, John Foxx's Metamatic, early Devo and The Human League's Reproduction. Driven by new 'member' Drummer One (a synth rhythm-generator), the opener Hollywood is as 'pop' as the dup dared be. But the light airy syndrum brushed symphonica didn't stop there - most of Zuckerzeit is sublime, accessible and the catalyst for further explorations into rhythm and atmosphere.
Sky Records issued the rather more organic and less playful 1976 follow-up Sowiesoso, although the album does have its lighter moments. Umleitung recalls Penguin Cafe Orchestra auf der Autobahn while Zum Wohl wouldn't sound amiss on the outfit's following collaborations with Brian Eno, both presented here. Ushering in the duo's most expressive and exploratory phase, both Cluster & Eno and After The Heat reveal a more plaintive and reflective side although, rhythmically speaking, the latter shows more of Eno's trademarks than the former does. If you don't sigh deeply to the tear-duct tickling hushed treated tones of Wehrmut, Für Luise and Old Land, you need medical help.
Former Tangerine Dream member Peter Baumann gave Roedelius and Moebius space to record 1979's Grosses Wasser, a mixed goody-bag of quirky funky stripped back no-wave (Prothese), metronomic click-tracks of prog-folk ditties (Isodea) and expressive melodies mirroring Kraftwerk and Neu's penchant for a bassline. The 18-minute title-track predates their 21st century work by some 30 years yet sounds as fresh.
The final album of this prolific era was 1981's Curiosum, a pulsating minimal collection of music recorded on and with sparse equipment and technology. Released at a time when European art-rock was rearing its head on both sides of the English Channel, like Kraftwerk Cluster were slowly being superseded by the indie rosters of Mute, Factory, Survival, Illuminated, Crepuscule and Rough Trade as well as the major-label home of Mr Eno himself, Editions EG. Listen to Non, Fad Gadget, Section 25, Crispy Ambulance, DAF, Cabaret Voltaire, Bill Nelson, Wire etc - the influence is there, deep in the music. It's a pity that Curiosum also failed to reach a wider audience with the '90s Artificial Intelligence crowd - half of the then Warp Records roster must have cocked an ear in its direction at some point, Richard James and LFO cases in point. Whatever, tracks like Charlic and Proantipro have some serious low-end action going on before the closing Ufer draws a line under Cluster's career thus far with oscillating drones similar to those on Cluster II.
And as you'd expect from two unreleased live recordings, the ninth disc is a collector's holy grail but little more - the sort of powerful out-of-ear experience that a former record-shop colleague of my acquaintance would use to spend his entire lunch-time listening to, in the dark, with just psychedelics and projected lights for company.
With the recent crop of Qluster (and solo) recordings, now is a pertinent time to part with some hard-earned cash for this influential must-have treasure trove.
★★★★★★★★★☆