Kluster

Artist: Kluster
P: 1971/ 2008
Admira is sourced from original master recordings discovered by Kluster member and Tangerine Dream engineer Klaus Freudigmann. It is presented here for the first time in this deluxe package. The intense sessions were made with Conrad Schnitzler at the helm, as always, after the departure of Mobius and Roedelius from the group. Admira is limited to 1,000 copies and is packaged in a deluxe gatefold jacket made to emulate the original die-stamped puffy packaging for Kluster's album Klopfzeichen. When you look at documentaries from the late sixties, it looks like California was everywhere. Endless summer, or a never-ending Woodstock. What we did not know than was that the Woodstock movie showed the pictures people wanted to see. The guys who made the film knew that, and the success at the box office was their reward for not disappointing their audience's expectations. Berlin was quite different. The winters were bitter cold. The people lived in old houses with little coal ovens, and keeping them working was a task that could consume half a day. Rock `n' roll, and its adventurous sibling psychedelia, were effective remedies against climatic, political, and mental cold. A few years ago Klaus Freudigmann found a suitcase that hadn't been opened for twenty years. Out popped a bundle of tapes from the Kluster sessions (1970-1973) that had stood the test of time quite well.

Artist: Kluster
P: 1971/ 1997
Originally released in 1971 as this was the third and final live album by the Roedelius/Moebius/Schnitzler line-up.Contains just two songs.Track one lasts 31:04 and track two runs 25:20.Both cuts are untitled.A bit similar to Conrad Schnitzler's 'Rot' disc. You can play this CD like every other day,it's THAT good.Part krautrock,part avant garde. Some strange violin effects,distorted organ playing and a good share of minimalist-like guitar work.After listening to this CD,I can see where bands like Throbbing Gristle,Silver Apples and perhaps Velvet Underground may have gotten some of their influence.Should appeal to fans of Harmonia,Ash Ra Temple,Agitation Free,Popol Vuh and Faust. Recommended.
The last album as Kluster, and the last with Conrad Schnitzler a part of the lineup, Eruption includes 50 minutes of "Elektroakustische Musik" recorded live in 1971. Closer to avant-garde and noise than space, it shows the influence of Schnitzler on early Kluster material with forbidding violin lines, heavily distorted organ, and an assortment of tape effects leading the way for several minimalist guitar workouts. Schnitzler himself reissued the album in 1997 through his Plate Lunch label.

Artist: Kluster
P: 1969 / 2012
Much needed reissue of this always difficult to find debut Kluster album (first of 2 with this name, pre-Tangerine Dream and Cluster). A trio of the German legends (Conrad Schnitzler, Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius), this was their debut recording from 1969 of historic electronic music.

Artist: Kluster
P: 1969 / 1998
Much needed reissue of this always difficult to find debut Kluster album (first of 2 with this name, pre-Tangerine Dream and Cluster). A trio of the German legends (Conrad Schnitzler, Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius), this was their debut recording from 1969 of historic electronic music.


Here the last copy with the rematered version and the bonustrack!

Artist: Kluster
P: 1971/ 2008
Vulcano is sourced from original master recordings discovered by Kluster member and Tangerine Dream engineer Klaus Freudigmann. It is presented here for the first time in this deluxe package. The intense sessions were made with Schnitzler at the helm, as always, after the departure of Mobius and Roedelius from the group. Vulcano is limited to 1,000 copies and is packaged in a deluxe gatefold jacket made to emulate the original die-stamped puffy packaging for Kluster's album Klopfzeichen. Summer of Love? Kluster was formed in West Berlin, much closer to Siberia than to San Francisco, Haight-Ashbury, and Golden Gate Park. And in 1970, a lot of the optimism of the mid-'60s had already ceased. But the political movements of the late sixties were a child of the same optimism that fueled the rapid developments changing not only the material side of life but also the arts, music, and the way people interacted. The new left and the hippie movements where all these ideas concentrated weren't the result of poverty, but were built on the belief that with modern technology there is enough for everybody. That optimism had a soundtrack that was based on the same technology. From the electric guitar, reverb, and echo units to the first synthesizers, everything that sounded as if it came from the future was welcome. Future meant space travel, so it's quite natural that the first effects widely used were those that sent the listener to a space he'd never been before. That Kluster made simple music on DIY instruments, droning and banging on one note for half an hour, did not mean they were into any kind of primitivism. The group did not want to go back. If the future was inevitable, they wanted to shape it--at least sonically. What Kluster did was get rid of the schemes of pop music to find out what else they could do with their tools, polishing and lubricating them for a future music.

Artist: Kluster
P: 1971 / 2012
They recorded two albums with Conny Plank in 1970, unprecedented in their experimental radicalism. Chaotic, apocalyptic (noise) improvisations (a sound later termed industrial), enriched with recited lyrics in places. The trio split up not long afterwards. Exchanging the K for a C, Roedelius and Moebius continued as a duo under the name of Cluster, whilst Conrad Schnitzler went solo. "Zwei Osterei" surpasses the earlier "Klopfzeichen" album by some distance in terms of its harsh noisiness and near brutal sonic attacks

Artist: Kluster
P: 1971 / 1998
They recorded two albums with Conny Plank in 1970, unprecedented in their experimental radicalism. Chaotic, apocalyptic (noise) improvisations (a sound later termed industrial), enriched with recited lyrics in places. The trio split up not long afterwards. Exchanging the K for a C, Roedelius and Moebius continued as a duo under the name of Cluster, whilst Conrad Schnitzler went solo. "Zwei Osterei" surpasses the earlier "Klopfzeichen" album by some distance in terms of its harsh noisiness and near brutal sonic attacks.

Here the last copy of the remastered version with a bonusstrack!

Artist: Qluster
P: 2012
“Antworten” (“answer”) is the third instalment in a trilogy of Qluster music, following on from the “Fragen” (“question”) and “Rufen” (“call”) studio albums. The fact that the music on “Antworten” was created before “Rufen” and “Fragen” were recorded is less of a paradox than it might at first appear. For the expansive piano fantasies of their 2007 recordings had already provided a clear answer to the two musicians’ question as to
whether, and to what degree, they wished to collaborate in the future. Seldom has a musical duo been so united in heart and soul as Roedelius and Bock that January of evening in 2007. Their improvised nocturnes on two Steinways in the Berliner
Philharmonie were delectable. Completely unplugged and utterly relaxed, Roedelius and
Bock tossed musical ideas back and forth without pause, occasionally adding in the delicate tone of a distant singing bowl. Something rare, something wonderful happened in the course of this midnight session. Two perfectly inspired virtuosos coalescing
into one person–Qluster–speaking in one language to tell us of something which we no longer need to dream, as we can hear on “Antworten”. The notes flow incessantly, yet they also convey peace and quiet, a balancing act of which only the most mature personalities are capable. Roedelius and Bock pulled off the trick, this sleight of hand, with the greatest of ease, The “Antworten/answers” are, in equal measure, lucid and lost in reverie. Lucid, because Qluster reveal the source of their art: inspiration and solid craftsmanship. Lost in reverie, because the music is far removed from daily monotony, from common cliché. Balsam for the ears, without any esoteric frippery or contrived secrecy. Nevertheless, the “Antworten/answers” remain auratic. Which can be explained with a single word: art. “Antworten” is an early Qluster statement, and thankfully Roedelius and Bock chose to continue and intensify their work together. The previously issued “Fragen” and “Rufen” albums offer convincing proof thereof. And Qluster senses a responsibility to long-term
artistic development whose transitory power continues to look ahead, into the future. Asmus Tietchens

Artist: Qluster
P: 2016
"Echtzeit" is already Qluster's sixth album. After the pure piano work on "Tasten" (2015), the group has now returned to their electronic equipment with renewed vigor on "Echtzeit". Yet Roedelius' favorite instrument, the piano, also receives its due. Large parts of the album were recorded in a church. The principle behind the creative process for Kluster/Cluster/ Qluster has always been much the same: Musical structures arise from the moment. The pieces on their albums are passages taken from long improvisations that feature a special atmosphere and engaging patterns or figures. Playful experimentation with new instruments and effects or settings is often what leads to the creative spark. Despite their high affinity for experimentation, the term "experimental music" would be misplaced here. Dissonance, noises or glitch sounds are largely absent. "Echtzeit" is consistently more harmonious and accessible than their previous electronic albums. The album "Lauschen" from 2013 previously indicated the direction in which Qluster is currently moving. "Echtzeit" is contemplative, mature, intelligent electronic music that could significantly expand the trio's audience.

Artist: Qluster
P: 2011
“Fragen” is the first part of an exceptional trilogy, a grandiose new beginning, backed up by forty years of tradition. Two fundamental decisions, borne of an acutely refined sense of musical self-conception, have shaped Qluster: the use of analogue keyboards only and a focus on improvisation through vibrant playing technique. Qluster have jettisoned all forms of ballast pertaining to music and sound. Roedelius and Bock develop their musical aesthetic through seven impressionistic pictures, an aesthetic which borders on ascetic rigour. And yet each piece is motivated by something deeply human, a playful
element setting the tone. Qluster’s modus operandi guides the listener towards peaceful, pale blue rooms where airy veils of suspended matter sparkle, as if floating gently to and fro on the breeze. Beyond the veils one senses further rooms, in colours which have lost their names and become sound. To be perfectly clear: Qluster’s music is not psychedelic, neither in the traditional, nor in a wider sense. This is no meditative soundtrack for a
“journey to the inner self”. In its own way, however, it does represent a trip to the realms of utopia, where particularly careful listening is required in order to appreciate the music in all its richness and splendour.