arriving April – via Bureau B – a nine album box set…..
from the press release……
Cluster’s influence on the development of electronic music cannot be overstated. The original trio of Conrad Schnitzler, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius released two seminal albums as Kluster before Roedelius and Moebius replaced the K with a C and continued as a duo. They produced eight albums in their most innovative period between 1971 and 1981, two of them together with another pioneer of electronic music, Brian Eno. Cluster anticipated much of what would later emerge in such varied styles as industrial, ambient, electro and even synthpop. Some call Cluster’s music avant-garde, others Krautrock or Kosmische Musik. Few would dispute their immense influence on the music of younger generations, even though commercial success largely eluded them. Hence their first album, as a microcosm of their entire oeuvre, made the list of “100 Records That Set The World On Fire (While No One Was Listening) in The Wire magazine, the ultimate purveyor of good taste. Our box set contains all eight of the regular LPs which represent their main phase, plus a previously unreleased album of two live recordings from the years 1972 and 1977. All of the albums have been remastered by Willem Makkee. Asmus Tietchens has contributed an exclusive text on the evolution and significance of the band. The booklets also include essays on each individual album. An extract from Asmus Tietchens’ introduction: Cluster’s role in the development of new German electronic music went unnoticed for a long while. Cacophonous noise in the 1970s and 1980s masked the subtlety of Cluster aesthetics, diminishing their force of impact. Only since the 1990s, and all the more so today, have Cluster been identified and celebrated as pioneers. The somewhat hackneyed “avant-garde” tag really amounts to nothing more than being ahead of one’s time. And those who are ahead of their time often slip out of sight. Now, twenty, thirty years later, with so many new aural experiences on offer, listening habits have changed to such a great extent that we are better placed to assess Cluster’s importance, their influence on subsequent generations of musicians. It has thus become easier to appreciate and enjoy their music. The eight (official) Cluster albums presented here trace the group’s arc of development over a period of around ten years. Not a particularly extensive oeuvre compared to many of their peers, but prolificacy was never a feature of Cluster’s constitution. They only released a new album when they felt that they had taken a significant step forwards on their musical trajectory—which goes some way to explaining how varied and different their LPs were. Cluster were no pedagogues, but their indirect influence on musicians and, more to the point, on listeners, resonates until today. Can a legacy be any more alive?
Content: CLUSTER 71 originally released 1971 on Philips 6305074 CLUSTER II originally released 1972 on Brain 1006 ZUCKERZEIT originally released in 1972 on Brain 1056 SOWIESOSO originally released in 1976 on SKY 005 CLUSTER & ENO originally released in 1977 on SKY 010 ENO MOEBIUS ROEDELIUS/ AFTER THE HEAT originally released in 1978 on SKY 021 GROSSES WASSER originally released in 1979 on SKY 027 CURIOSUM originally released in 1981 on SKY 063 KONZERTE 1972/1977 previously unreleased
the sunday experience 