CLUSTER
Cluster II BUREAU B
Pioneering electronic work given a 21st-century sheen.
Probably best known for their mid-70s albums Zuckerzeit and Sowiesoso as well as their collaborations with both Neu!’s Michael Rother (as Harmonia) and Brian Eno, Cluster’s earlier, though no less innovative, work tends to be overlooked. As one of the founders of Berlin’s experimental live music venue Zodiak Free Arts Lab in the late 60s, Cluster founder Hans-Joachim Roedelius was never one for concession, rejecting conventional song structure as bourgeois while forging ahead as an autodidact working with oscillators, distortion units and echo delays. Similarly, partner Dieter Moebius took an equally enthusiastic approach, and with Conrad Schnitzler in tow, the trio made experimental and improvised music as Kluster before the latter participant split and precipitated a name change.