Cluster II

Originally known as Kluster, the group was founded in Berlin at the Zodiak Free Arts Lab in 1969 by Conrad Schnitzler and Hans-Joachim Roedelius; the two were older art students who envisioned a space for their radical and decidedly non-western "Gerausche," or noises. Most every group that would be associated with the so-called "Berlin School," including Tangerine Dream, Agitation Free, Ash Ra Tempel and Klaus Schulze, played their earliest gigs there. Kluster released a few albums for the Schawnn label, which were basically backing sound for religious texts; but when Schnitzler left for Tangerine Dream, Roedelius and fellow student Dieter Moebius connected with Conny Plank to form Cluster. Their debut album, Cluster, was released in 1971 on the Phillips label. For their second album, Cluster II, they had signed to the Brain imprint of Metronome Records and discovered song titles (versus track timings). Neither album is easy listening and they certainly have more in common with the avant-garde electronic or musique concrete of academia than anything remotely rock ‘n' roll. That said, Cluster are completely into investigating sound on their instrumental experiments. "Im Suden" has a delicate melody that twists, turns and modulates throughout the track's near 13 minutes, while "Für Die Katz" pitches high to its title's effect. "Georgel" is quite ambient, and the following "Nabitte" simply wobbles! It's industrial music, in perhaps its purest form, and certainly Plank's hand at the recording controls helped shape what's heard on record. From here, Roedelius and Moebius would join forces with Neu!'s Michael Rother and record as Harmonia.