Harmonia

Though initially launched as a casual side project uniting Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius from Cluster with Michael Rother from Neu!, Harmonia rose to become one of the most revered acts in the Krautrock/kosmische realm after issuing multiple LPs during the mid-'70s. Having completed a pair of Cluster studio releases, Roedelius and Moebius relocated to the rural German village of Forst, where they constructed a personal recording facility. Following repeated setbacks while trying to turn Neu! into a performing ensemble, Rother sought refuge at Cluster's studio, where relaxed, improvisational sessions merged the exploratory space music of the duo with Rother's signature chugging rhythms and guitar approach. The band's first album, Musik Von Harmonia, surfaced in 1974 and included a polished live recording captured in Amsterdam. Even as Rother pressed ahead with Neu! to deliver the Krautrock landmark Neu! '75, his primary attention stayed fixed on Harmonia for the 1975 follow-up De Luxe. Having already declared Harmonia "the world's most important rock group," Brian Eno participated in multiple 1976 sessions whose long-unreleased results finally emerged more than two decades later when Rykodisc issued Tracks & Traces. While Cluster maintained its partnership with Eno through the late '70s, Rother launched his solo work via 1978's Sterntaler.