Kluster
| Kluster | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Berlin, Germany |
| Genres | Electronic, experimental |
| Years active | 1969–1971 2007–2011 |
| Associated acts |
Cluster Eruption Harmonia Conny Plank Moebius & Plank Aquarello |
| Past members |
Conrad Schnitzler Hans-Joachim Roedelius Dieter Moebius Klaus Freudigmann Wolfgang Seidel Christa Runge Manfred Paethe Michael Thomas Roe Masato Ooyama |
Kluster is a German experimental musical group whose work often resembles 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. The trio originally met when Moebius was working as a steak chef in Berlin, and was invited to join a band by Roedelius and Schnitzler, who were at that time engaged in the joint venture of the Zodiak Club, a Berlin nightclub they had founded. The band was based in West Berlin. They are often categorized as Krautrock. Although all three members played many different instruments on the three albums they recorded, the lineup is sometimes described as consisting of Moebius on drums, Roedelius on cello and Schnitzler on keyboards. Unorthodox instruments such as car batteries and electricians' signal generators were also used. Kluster had minuscule sales during the time they were active. Only 300 copies each of the first two LPs were pressed and sold. Each of the members gained a much larger following as a result of their later works and reissues on LP in the 1980s and CD reissues released in 1996 and 1997 garnered much more respectable sales figures. Today Kluster is considered a seminal and influential band from the formative years of the Krautrock movement.
Since then Kluster has been revived twice, with Schnitzler as the only common member. The second lineup lasted from 1971 until 1973, and two albums have been archivally released from that period. Another lineup came into being in 2007, and have released four albums so far, as well as a lone track for a compilation. However, Schnitzler's death in 2011 brought an end to the band.
Kluster was founded by Conrad Schnitzler, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, and Dieter Moebius in 1969. Both Schnitzler and Moebius had been students of Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf Fine Arts Academy in the 1960s. Schnitzler and Roedelius both participated in the founding of the Zodiak Free Arts Lab in Berlin in 1968 and had worked together in the avant-garde groups Gerausche (literally "Noises") and Plus/Minus. The trio first performed at the Zodiac Club in Berlin that year and were billed in early performances as Ensemble Kluster or Die Klusters. In a 1980 interview with David Elliott, Schnitzler recalled: "...it all started at the "Zodiac Club" in 1969 because there was something THERE and Roedelius and me played with Moebius then using instruments, amps and echoes." He also describes their music at the time as having "A lot of feedback and all those crackling sounds." In addition to violin, flute, piano, cello, percussion, and organ the trio used alarm clocks and kitchen utensils as instruments, Steven and Alan Freeman, writing in The Crack In The Cosmic Egg, describe the musicians and their music: "All three were long-established musicians and radicals on the Berlin underground scene, and naturally what they would come up with was unlike anything heard before!"
...
Wikipedia