| Cluster | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cluster 71 edition cover | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1971 | |||
| Recorded | 1971 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 44:28 | |||
| Label | Philips | |||
| Producer | Conrad Plank | |||
| Cluster chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Pitchfork | 8.5/10 [6] |
Cluster (also reissued as Cluster 71) is the debut studio album by German electronic music outfit Cluster. It was recorded in 1971 and released the same year by record label Philips. It is also the only album on which producer Conny Plank is credited as a member.
Recorded in January 1971, Cluster began a transition away from the discordant industrial sound of their earlier group Kluster towards softer atmospheres. [3] [7] Thom Jurek of AllMusic describes Cluster as "a dislocating, disorienting meld of random space music, industrial noise, proto-ambient atmospherics, feedback and soundwash". [4] Instrumentation included a pair of organs, Hawaiian guitar, cello and audio generators, all played by Moebius and Roedelius and all of which were electronically treated by Conny Plank. [4] Spencer Grady of BBC Music stated that "far from providing mere background ambience, [the album's] rolling waves of hypnosis are continually exposed to perforation by disorienting surges of energy, imparting wake-up calls to comfort. [3]
Cluster was released in 1971 by record label Philips; Cluster's only release for the label.
The album was reissued with new artwork and a new title, Cluster 71, by Sky Records in 1980. Cluster 71 was digitally remastered (from a vinyl source, not a tape) and reissued on CD in 1996 by Sky with new artwork: a total of three different cover designs for the album to date. It received its first U.S release in 2006 on the San Francisco based Water label. The Water reissue restored the original Philips cover art but retains the Cluster 71 name. A 1,000 copy limited remastered edition of Cluster 71 with the original Sky LP cover art was reissued by the Japanese Captain Trip label as a CD on September 20, 2007. [8] It was re-released once again in 2010 by Bureau-B with the original cover art and running order, but again mastered from an LP. [9]
The Wire placed Cluster's self-titled debut album in their list "One Hundred Records That Set the World on Fire". [10] Spencer Grady of BBC Music depicted the album as an influence on artists like Brian Eno, John Foxx, and Coil, as well as "a new global network of synth-powered cosmonauts [...] from Emeralds and Oneohtrix Point Never to Mountains, Astral Social Club and the Ghost Box imprint," stating that "each owes a colossal debt to Cluster and this album in particular." [3] The Wire wrote that Cluster "prefigures illbient by about 20 years, parts of it sounding uncannily like DJ Spooky", while crediting "patches of regular thudding thudding pulse" for conjuring up "a malformed techno". They praised the album for fusing new possibilities for "electronic noise production" with the "repetitions and resonances" of dub music, resulting in music that resembles "space music with a severe hangover." [5]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "7:42" | 7:42 |
| 2. | "15:43" | 15:43 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "21:32" | 21:32 |
The 1980 Sky label edition reverses the order of the tracks on Side 1.
Cluster & Eno is a collaborative album by German electronic music group Cluster and English ambient musician Brian Eno. The style of this album is a collection of gentle melodies: a mixture of Eno's ambient sensibilities and Cluster's avant-garde style.
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. 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.
Harmonia was a West German musical "supergroup" formed in 1973 as a collaboration between members of two prominent krautrock bands: Cluster's Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius joined by Neu! guitarist Michael Rother. Living and recording in the rural village of Forst, the trio released two albums—Musik von Harmonia (1974) and Deluxe (1975)—to limited sales before dissolving in 1976.
After the Heat is a 1978 album by Brian Eno, Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius, credited to "Eno Moebius Roedelius". The album represents the second collaboration by the trio, the first being 1977's Cluster & Eno. As with the previous album, After the Heat was created in collaboration with the influential krautrock producer Conny Plank.
Dieter Moebius was a Swiss-born German electronic musician and composer, best known as a member of the influential krautrock bands Cluster and Harmonia.
Kluster was a Berlin-based German experimental musical group formed in 1969 by Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Conrad Schnitzler, and Dieter Moebius. Their improvisational work presaged later industrial music. The original Kluster was short-lived, existing only from 1969 until mid-1971 when Conrad Schnitzler left and the remaining two members renamed themselves Cluster. Schnitzler later revived the band from 1971 to 1973 and then from 2007 until his death in 2011.
Begegnungen is a Sky Records 1984 collection of music by Brian Eno, Dieter Moebius, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Conny Plank, compiled from these seven solo and collaborative albums released by Sky between 1976 and 1983:
Begegnungen II is a Sky Records 1985 compilation album with recordings by Brian Eno, Dieter Moebius, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Conny Plank, Cluster, from solo albums, and from various collaborations between the artists. All of the tracks had been previously released elsewhere. The albums these tracks were drawn from are: Material by Moebius & Plank, Zero Set by Moebius, Plank, Neumeier, Durch Die Wuste and Lustwandel, both Roedelius solo albums, After The Heat by Eno, Moebius, Roedelius, Tonspuren, the first solo album by Moebius, Sowiesoso by Cluster, and the eponymous Cluster & Eno. These albums were released by Sky between 1976 and 1983.
Cluster II is the second full-length album by German electronic music act Cluster, released in 1972 by record label Brain.
Zwei-Osterei is the second full-length album by German experimental music trio Kluster. The album title translates to English as "Two - Easter egg".
Sowiesoso is the fourth studio album by German electronic music band Cluster, released in 1976. It was Cluster's first release for Sky Records. Sowiesoso was recorded in just two days in Forst, Germany in 1976 and mixed at Conny's Studio in Wolperath.
Deluxe is the second album from the West German krautrock group Harmonia, consisting of Neu! guitarist Michael Rother and the duo Cluster. It was recorded in June 1975 in Harmonia's studio in Forst, Germany. It was first released on the Brain Records label in 1975.
Moebius & Plank was a German electronic music duo consisting of musicians Dieter Moebius and Conny Plank. They recorded three albums between 1979 and 1986 as well as two additional albums, one a collaboration with Mani Neumeier and the other with Mayo Thompson. Plank died of cancer in 1987. Their final two albums were released posthumously in 1995 and 1998 respectively
Material is the second full-length album by German electronic music duo of Dieter Moebius and Conny Plank. Material was recorded in July 1981 at Conny's Studio outside of Cologne. It was released by Sky Records in 1981. Steven and Alan Freeman, writing in The Crack In The Cosmic Egg describe Material and the 1980 Moebius & Plank debut album Rastakraut Pasta, in part, this way: "Their early albums as a duo were revelations of innovation, bringing unlikely combinations of industrial rock, cosmic and even dub music together in a hybrid of genres. A reborn spirit of Krautrock that played recklessly with offbeat forms..." The incessant, forceful beat on "Conditionierer", the opening track of Material, could easily have been suitable for club dance music if not for all the odd electronic sounds added on top.
Durch die Wüste is the first full-length solo album by German keyboardist Hans-Joachim Roedelius, best known for his work with Cluster, Harmonia, and Aquarello. The title is German for "Through the Desert."
Zero Set is the only album by the German electronic music trio of Dieter Moebius, Conny Plank, and Mani Neumeier. It followed two collaborations by Moebius & Plank as a duo. Zero Set was recorded in September, 1982 at Conny's Studio outside Cologne, and released by Sky Records in 1983.
Selbstportrait is the third solo album by German keyboardist Hans-Joachim Roedelius, best known for his work with Cluster, Harmonia, and Aquarello. The title is German for "Self Portrait", a title meant to reflect the gentle, introspective nature of the ambient and new-age music of the album. The original Sky Records release was subtitled Teil 1 Sanfte Musik, German for "Part 1, Soft Music."
Flammende Herzen is the first studio album by the German solo artist Michael Rother. It was released in 1977 and includes the single "Flammende Herzen" b/w "Karussell". The music was used the following year to soundtrack Flaming Hearts. It was Rother's first solo venture after having recorded five albums prior as a member of Neu! with Klaus Dinger and Harmonia with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius.
Sterntaler is the second studio album by the German solo artist Michael Rother. It was released in 1978 and includes the single "Sterntaler" b/w "Sonnenrad".
Bureau B is an independent record label, music publisher and booking agency from Hamburg, Germany, founded in 2005 by Gunther Buskies as a sister label to Tapete Records. The label releases varieties of electronic, free-spirited music, with the spectrum ranging from pop to avant-garde. The label has amassed an extensive catalogue of reissues and new productions, including classics from the genre of electronic music in the 1970s and early 1980s popularly classified as Krautrock, alongside new recordings by such formative artists as Faust, Kreidler, Roedelius, Tietchens, Moebius.
