CLUSTER - GROSSES WASSER... new CD IN JEWELCASE... LABEL: WATER... The first one is this excellent 1979 album of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius, two key figures of German electronic and ambient music. Truly great stuff!... CLUSTER ¿ GROSSES WASSER... The essentials... ¿ Cluster, founded in 1971 by Hans-Joachim...
CLUSTER - GROSSES WASSER
new CD IN JEWELCASE
LABEL: WATER
The first one is this excellent 1979 album of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius, two key figures of German electronic and ambient music. Truly great stuff!
CLUSTER ¿ GROSSES WASSER
The essentials
¿ Cluster, founded in 1971 by Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius, both key figures
in German experimental electronic and ambient music
¿ ¿Großes Wasser¿ from the year 1979 was their fifth album as a duo
¿ produced by Peter Baumann (Tangerine Dream)
¿ the release is the first in a series of 23 reissues covering essential electronic
/ambient/krautrock albums from the Hamburg label SKY Records
¿ liner notes by Asmus Tietchens, himself a pioneer of the electronic avant-garde, offering an
intimate insight into the scene
¿ released on CD and vinyl
Cluster can be counted among the most important international protagonists of the electronic
avant-garde. Some credit them with having invented ambient music, others as pioneers of
synthesizer pop, whilst to some they are firmly embedded in the krautrock universe. There is
some truth in all of these notions. Although Cluster and ¿rock music¿ are seldom mentioned in
the same breath, their early works in particular are marked by a lack of structure and
futuristic, cold soundscapes typical of the krautrock variation known as ¿Kosmische¿
¿Großes Wasser¿ was Cluster¿s fifth album as a duo. At the outset of their musical odyssey,
they had already recorded three LPs with Konrad Schnitzler under the name of Kluster. Later,
they collaborated with Brian Eno and with Michael Rother/Harmonia.
The cover art is the first indication of minimalist tendencies on ¿Großes Wasser¿, reflecting the
concentration, transparency and maturity of the content, almost like chamber music. Whilst
nothing is left to chance, each of the six Cluster pieces effervesces with a certain joie de vivre,
providing ample scope for artistic spontaneity.
¿Großes Wasser¿ was recorded in its entirety in the Paragon Studio which had been set up by
Peter Baumann (Tangerine Dream) not long before. Baumann had set aside plenty of time for
the recording sessions, enabling Cluster to experiment with sequencers for the first time and
explore some of the most up to date (for that period) studio gadgets on offer. Moebius and
Roedelius made intelligent, measured use of the latest paraphernalia without being
overwhelmed by it. New technology was deployed with an exactness designed to refine their
sophisticated and fully developed musical ideas.
More than ever before in Cluster¿s history, acoustic elements can be heard, with the dulcet
tones of the Paragon¿s Steinway grand piano taking centre stage. Electric bass, guitar,
percussion and voice are all embraced. Consequently, ¿Großes Wasser¿ is anything but a solely
electronic album. It is, however, one of those rare LPs, whose musical substance transcends its
own age, still not sounding outdated. This is what really makes ¿Großes Wasser¿ so special.
¿Großes Wasser¿ is the first in a series of 23 albums which are to be reissued by Bureau B,
comprehensively documenting the superb electronic/ambient/krautrock history of the Hamburg
label Sky Records, from whom the material has been licensed. Cluster in their various guises
will feature heavily in the series (solo albums as well as collaborations with Brian Eno, Conny
Plank, Gerd Beerbohm, Mani Neumeier). The next release will be the excellent Wolfgang
Riechmann album ¿Wunderbar¿.
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