Cluster (band)
Cluster were a German musical duo consisting of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius, formed in 1971 and associated with West Germany's krautrock and kosmische music scenes.[2] Born from the earlier Berlin-based group Kluster, they relocated in 1971 into the countryside village of Forst, Lower Saxony, where they built a studio and collaborated with musicians such as Conny Plank, Brian Eno, and Michael Rother; with the latter, they formed the influential side-project Harmonia. After first disbanding in 1981, Cluster reunited several times: from 1989 to 1997, and from 2007 to 2010.[3]
Not to be confused with Kluster.
Cluster
Berlin, Germany
1971–1981
1989–1997
2007–2010
AllMusic described the group as "the most important and consistently underrated space rock unit of the '70s."[2] Music historian Julian Cope places three Cluster albums—Cluster II (1972), Zuckerzeit (1974), and Sowiesoso (1976)—in his Krautrock Top 50[4] and The Wire places the debut album in its "One Hundred Records That Set the World on Fire".[5]
History[edit]
1971–1972: Early works[edit]
Dieter Moebius, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Conrad Schnitzler formed Kluster in 1969 after the three had met at the Zodiak Free Arts Lab.[6] This trio released three albums, Klopfzeichen, Zwei-Osterei and Eruption. When Schnitzler left the group, Roedelius and Moebius became Cluster. They were joined by Conny Plank on their debut self-titled release in 1971. They continued as a duo thereafter but worked extensively with producer/engineer Plank until his death in 1987.
Cluster's first release, an eponymous debut in 1971 on Philips, was the first major label release for the musicians. Previous Kluster works had been small or private label releases with no more than 300 copies pressed and sold. This album and the 1972 follow-up were a musical bridge between the avant-garde, discordant, proto-industrial sound of Kluster and the softer and more controlled ambient and rock sounds of their mid to late '70s albums. Cluster (later reissued as Cluster '71) has little or no discernible melody or beat. Allmusic review describes it, in part as "...a dislocating, disorienting meld of random space music, industrial noise, proto-ambient atmospherics, feedback, and soundwash..."[7] The first album is also the only Cluster release on which Conny Plank is listed as a full third member of the band.[8] He is credited as a composer and producer on Cluster II. Cluster signed with the influential Krautrock label Brain Records for their second release, a relationship which would continue through 1975.
Musical style[edit]
Cluster's musical style varied greatly over their career. AllMusic described them as "the most important and consistently underrated space rock unit of the '70s," noting that they first began as "an improv group that used everything from synthesizers to alarm clocks and kitchen utensils in their performances" and later transitioned to produce "many landmark LPs in the field of German space music often termed kosmische."[2] On 1974's Zuckerzeit, the group shifted to a more accessible sound that "combined trippy drum machine rhythms with woozy, pastoral melodies, resulting in a skewed, playful vision of futuristic pop."[20] Cluster later explored ambient music into the 1990s.[2]
Cluster has been widely influential not only to ambient and electronic music artists, but to techno, electronica and popular music as well. Artists and groups whose music has been influenced by Cluster include David Bowie, Robert Rich, John Foxx (formerly of Ultravox), Alex Paterson of The Orb,[21] Coil,[22] Oval, To Rococo Rot, and Mouse on Mars.[10]