The most important and consistently underrated space rock unit of the '70s,
as an improv group that used everything from synthesizers to alarm clocks and kitchen utensils in their performances. Continuing on as a duo,
eventually recorded many landmark LPs -- separately, as a duo, and with all manner of guest artists from
.
also continued to explore ambient music into the '90s, long after their contemporaries had drifted into tamer new age music or ceased recording altogether.
Cluster originally came out of a Berlin art/music collective named the Zodiak Free Arts Lab, formed by
Conrad Schnitzler (one of the leaders of the city's avant-underground), and also including
Hans-Joachim Roedelius plus future members of
Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, and
Guru Guru. After
Schnitzler and
Roedelius met an art student named
Dieter Moebius, the threesome formed
Kluster in 1970. The group performed around Europe and even in Africa, engaging in wild improv sessions utilizing any instruments they could get their hands on; while touring they met engineer
Conny Plank, soon to become a major part of
Cluster's recorded output into the late '80s. The first three
Kluster LPs, 1970's
Klopfzeichen and
Zwei Osterei plus 1971's
Eruption, consisted of side-long improvisatory jams.
Soon after the release of
Eruption,
Schnitzler left the band for a solo career.
Moebius and
Roedelius continued on as
Cluster and, with the help of
Plank, released two eponymous studio albums in 1971 and 1972. An ongoing collaboration with
Michael Rother (
Neu!) began in 1973, after the duo founded their own private studio out in the German countryside. After inviting
Rother down to record, the results were released as the 1974
Cluster LP
Zuckerzeit, a watershed of electronic pop midway between
Cluster,
Neu! and
Kraftwerk (the latter just about to explode with their own
Autobahn LP). That same year,
Moebius,
Roedelius and
Rother formed a Krautrock supergroup named
Harmonia; two excellent albums followed in the next year,
Musik von Harmonia and
Harmonia De Luxe, as well as a few sessions with
Brian Eno (unreleased until 1997's
Tracks & Traces).
Eno himself began his own collaboration with
Moebius and
Roedelius in 1977, when Sky Records released
Cluster & Eno. The trio also recorded
After the Heat two years later (technically credited as "Eno Moebius Roedelius"), and after a hiatus of six years resumed the relationship with
Begegnungen and
Begegnungen II (both featuring
Plank in the lineup as well).
Though
Roedelius and
Moebius also launched solo careers around this time (1978 and 1983, respectively) they continued to release compelling
Cluster material in keeping with
Zuckerzeit, including
Sowiesoso in 1976,
Grosses Wasser three years later and
Curiosum in 1981.
Besides the
Eno collaborations and many other solo works, almost 15 years passed before the appearance of another
Cluster album, 1994's
One Hour.
Moebius and
Roedelius continued to work and tour together continually.
–
John Bush, Rovi