Cluster

Formed in the 1970s as Kluster and later shortened to Cluster, the Berlin-based trio of Dieter Moebius, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, and Conrad Schnitzler quickly earned recognition as the decade’s most vital yet persistently overlooked space-rock outfit. The three began as an improvisational ensemble that incorporated synthesizers alongside such unconventional sound sources as alarm clocks and kitchen utensils during live shows. Moebius and Roedelius carried on as a duo after Schnitzler’s departure, issuing numerous landmark recordings—both together and with guests that included Brian Eno, Conny Plank, and Neu!’s Michael Rother—within the kosmische branch of German electronic music. Long after many peers had shifted toward milder new-age styles or stopped recording, the pair sustained their ambient explorations well into the 1990s.

The group’s roots lay in the Zodiak Free Arts Lab, a Berlin art-and-music collective established by Schnitzler, a central figure in the city’s avant-garde underground; Roedelius was already involved, and future members of Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, and Guru Guru also participated. When art student Dieter Moebius joined Schnitzler and Roedelius, the three launched Kluster in 1970. They toured Europe and Africa, staging extended improvisations that drew on whatever instruments were available, and during these travels they encountered engineer Conny Plank, who would shape their studio work into the late 1980s. Their initial three albums—1970’s Klopfzeichen and Zwei Osterei plus 1971’s Eruption—each featured a single extended improvisatory piece per side.

Shortly after Eruption appeared, Schnitzler exited to pursue solo work, leaving Moebius and Roedelius to continue as Cluster. With Plank’s assistance they released two self-titled studio albums in 1971 and 1972. A lasting partnership with Michael Rother began in 1973 once the duo had set up a private studio in the German countryside; Rother’s visit yielded the 1974 album Zuckerzeit, an influential hybrid of electronic pop that bridged Cluster, Neu!, and the emerging Kraftwerk sound of Autobahn. That same year Moebius, Roedelius, and Rother formed the Krautrock supergroup Harmonia, which produced two strong albums—Musik von Harmonia and Harmonia De Luxe—plus sessions with Brian Eno that remained unreleased until 1997’s Tracks & Traces.

Eno’s direct collaboration with Moebius and Roedelius started in 1977 with Cluster & Eno on Sky Records; the three followed with After the Heat in 1979 (credited to Eno Moebius Roedelius) and, after a six-year pause, issued Begegnungen and Begegnungen II, both again featuring Plank. Although Roedelius and Moebius each began solo careers (in 1978 and 1983 respectively), they maintained Cluster’s output with albums such as 1976’s Sowiesoso, 1979’s Grosses Wasser, and 1981’s Curiosum. Nearly fifteen years elapsed before the next Cluster studio album, 1994’s One Hour. The duo toured Japan and the United States in 1996, performances later documented on live releases, then entered a hiatus in 1997.

Despite their individual projects, Moebius and Roedelius reconvened for Cluster in April 2007 at London’s Kosmische Club, followed by selected appearances including a May 2008 show at Detroit’s Institute for the Arts and a set at New York’s No Fun Fest. Their eleventh studio album, Qua, emerged in 2009—their first in over a decade—while that year they also opened for Tortoise at London’s Royal Festival Hall. The pair disbanded again after a final concert in December 2010. Roedelius subsequently continued under the name Qluster with Onnen Bock of Zeitkratzer; Armin Metz joined in 2013. Two recordings from the 1996 tours, Japan Live and USA Live, were revised and reissued by Bureau B in 2015. Dieter Moebius died that July at age 71. The following year Bureau B released the box set 1971-1981, which gathered the group’s first eight albums plus the previously unreleased live disc Konzerte 1972/1977; the latter received its own standalone edition in 2017.