Kluster was a Berlin -based German experimental musical group formed in 1969 by Hans-Joachim Roedelius , Conrad Schnitzler , and Dieter Moebius . Their improvisational work presaged 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 . Schnitzler later revived the band from 1971 to 1973 and then from 2007 until his death in 2011.
25-628: 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 met when Moebius
50-535: A duo. They were intermittently together until 2010, when Roedelius announced that the band had split up. In a 1999 interview Conrad Schnitzler expressed the hope that Kluster might reunite in 2000. While that never occurred Schnitzler did collaborate with Hans-Joachim Roedelius for the first time in nearly three decades. The resulting recording, Acon 2000/1 , was released by the Japanese label Captain Trip in 2001. The style of
75-654: A member of the band The Bulldaggers . His 2006 work Moon Mummy is a collaboration with Matt Howarth based on an included PDF comic. Schnitzler died from stomach cancer on 4 August 2011 in Berlin. 1970 1971 1973 1974 1978 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2015 2016 2018 2021 Eruption (German band) Eruption
100-451: A solo career. Schnitzler claims that Eruption toured under the name 'Kluster' at the time, and under that pretext re-released in 2009 under the Kluster name two albums originally labelled as being by Eruption. After the original lineup of Kluster split, Roedelius and Moebius continued with an anglicized version of the name, Cluster , initially together with Conny Plank, and from 1972 onwards as
125-588: A total of 300 copies of each were pressed and sold. Schnitzler's comments about the text: "If you don't understand the German words, it sounds better. [...] If you know what it means, you'll find it terrible." Klopfzeichen were recorded at Rhenus-Studio in Gordorf, Germany in one session on December 21, 1969 and Zwei-Osterei was recorded at the same location on February 23, 1970. Both sessions were engineered by Conny Plank and produced by Oskar Gottlieb Blarr . The music of
150-546: Is son Gregor Schnitzler , who was born in 1964 in Berlin and who is a film director. Schnitzler, Dieter Moebius , and Hans-Joachim Roedelius formed Kluster in 1969 after the three had met at the Zodiak Free Arts Lab . This trio released three albums: Klopfzeichen (1970), Zwei-Osterei (1971) and Eruption (1971). When Schnitzler left the group, Roedelius and Moebius became Cluster . Around this time, Schnitzler also joined Tangerine Dream for their debut album Electronic Meditation (1970). Schnitzler provided
175-685: The 2007 CD reissues by the Japanese label Captain Trip Records of the first three Kluster albums: In 2008, Qbico released Live Action 1972 - Wuppertal , the first release of a live Eruption concert recording. In addition, a 1972 video by Kluster titled Elevator can be viewed from former member Wolfgang Seidel's MySpace page. The 6LP Qbico 1969-1972 album credited to "Kluster" is actually entirely Eruption recordings from 1970-1971. (The 8LP Vinyl-On-Demand album titled Klusterstrasse 69-72 , implying that later Eruption tracks are included, actually only covers
200-487: The album is very reminiscent of Kluster, albeit with modern electronic instrumentation. In 2007, Schnitzler did indeed resurrect Kluster. Aided by American musician Michael Thomas Roe and Japanese musician Masato Ooyama (Ooy), Schnitzler released "Kluster 2007", a three CD set on the private label Real Vine Music (2008). The music was tagged as "global playing" as each member came from a different continent. Continuing in this direction, "Kluster 2008" (Real Vine Music, 2009)
225-414: The band: "Eruption was a multidisciplinary freeform ensemble put together by cellist, violinist and early electronic improvisor Conrad Schnitzler in 1970 as an adjunct to his work with Kraut behemoths Tangerine Dream and Kluster. They seem to have functioned more as a thinktank for the then explosive Krautrock scene than a straightforward gigging group, with a revolving membership..." When Eruption went into
250-509: The first two albums is described by Steven and Alan Freeman, in part: "Although they never possessed any electronic instruments, the music of Kluster was quite extraordinary, featuring guitars, percussion, organ, cello, etc., with an abundance of sound processing devices, echo, tape machines and filters, to create a music that oozed electricity—stark, bleak, industrial, and nightmarishly unnerving." The trio also toured Germany extensively during 1969–70. Kluster's third and final album, Eruption ,
275-461: The introductory music for Norwegian black metal band Mayhem 's debut EP Deathcrush in 1987, following a meeting with teenage guitarist Euronymous in the mid-1980s. The instrumental track, entitled "Silvester Anfang", was randomly selected from Schnitzler's archive of works in progress. The piece is still played at most of the band's live shows. For many years Schnitzler appeared in the comics of Matt Howarth (particularly Savage Henry ) as
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#1732905033536300-410: The studio the lineup consisted of Schnitzler, Wolfgang Seidel , and Klaus Freudigmann . Freudigmann also recorded the final Kluster concert for Schnitzler, which was erroneously released under the title Kluster und Eruption . Schnitzler has stated in interviews that the band Eruption wasn't included at all on the Kluster album and that the album title should have simply been Eruption , a change that
325-520: 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
350-411: 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. Conrad Schnitzler left Kluster in mid 1971, briefly to continue work with the band Eruption and then to pursue
375-710: The trio Ash Ra Tempel , Dieter Serfas of the jazz band Embryo , Michael Gunther and Lutz Ulbrich of Agitation Free , Christa Runge , who had read the text on the first Kluster album, as well as members of Amon Düül . Schnitzler and Schulze had also previously worked together as members of Tangerine Dream, both appearing on that band's first album, Electronic Meditation . Conrad Schnitzler described Eruption this way: "So anyway we got 10 musicians together; rock musicians, freejazz and electronic musicians - all together. We did some really interesting things." David Keenan, writing for The Wire issue 261 in November, 2005 described
400-478: The trio identified as Eruption . There is some debate as to whether the renaming of the records was just a ploy for extra circulation, but there is some record of Schnitzler continuing to use the name Kluster after 1971. Conrad Schnitzler Conrad " Conny " Schnitzler (1937 – 4 August 2011) was a prolific German experimental musician associated with West Germany's 1970s krautrock movement. A co-founder of West Berlin's Zodiak Free Arts Lab , he
425-446: Was a short-lived German krautrock or experimental music super group founded by former Tangerine Dream member and then current Kluster member Conrad Schnitzler . Eruption had a rapidly shifting lineup of musicians whom Schnitzler had met and played with at the Zodiak Free Arts Lab in the late 1960s and very early 1970s. At times Eruption included Klaus Schulze , Manuel Göttsching , and Hartmut Enke , who would go on to form
450-467: Was an early member of Tangerine Dream (1969–1970) and a founder of the band Kluster . He left Kluster in 1971, first working with his group Eruption and then focusing on solo works. Schnitzler participated in several collaborations with other electronic musicians . Schnitzler was born in Düsseldorf . His father was German, his mother was Italian. He had a wife and they had three children, one of whom
475-406: Was finally made on the 1997 CD reissue by German label Marginal Talent. The album Eruption by Kluster is a different (live) album than the self-titled (studio) release by the band Eruption. Eruption is notable more as an incubator for later, highly successful Krautrock bands and for the influence the various musicians had on one another than for their releases, which came 35 years after the music
500-548: Was finally reissued with what Schnitzler insists is the correct title, Eruption , on CD by the German Marginal Talent label in 1997. 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
525-492: Was recorded live in 1971 during the trio's last concert together and was recorded by Klaus Freudigmann , who was also a member of Conrad Schnitzler's other band, also called Eruption . It was initially released as a private pressing with the incorrect (according to Schnitzler) name of Kluster Und Eruption . The original pressing totaled 200 copies. It was reissued in 1973 as Schwarz as a Conrad Schnitzler solo album, though Roedelius and Moebius performances are credited. The album
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#1732905033536550-503: Was recorded. The 1970 tapes which would become Eruption were shelved until 2005 when Qbico Records finally released the album. David Keenan describes the music as "much more punk than the group's links to such centres of kosmische boatfloat might suggest. The music starts out fairly fragmented, with sustained violin drones caught in a flux of scattershot percussion, short passages of silence and wowing effects." Three previously unreleased tracks from 1971 have been included as bonus tracks on
575-475: Was released in early 2009. This one subtitled "Three Olympic Cities Mix". Again, stressing the global collaboration. And, again, with Michael Thomas Roe and Masato Ooyama . In 2008 two additional albums were released by Important Records under the Kluster name: Admira and Vulcano . This material was recorded during 1971-1972 by Schnitzler, Freudigmann, and Wolfgang Seidel . Much of the material for these albums had been previously released by Qbico Records with
600-399: Was unlike anything heard before!" Late that year Schnitlzer read a newspaper advertisement by a church organist interested in new music . The result was church sponsorship for the first two albums, ' Klopfzeichen and Zwei-Osterei , provided Kluster was willing to add religious text to the first side of each LP. Both records were released by Schwann , a label known for church music, and
625-640: Was working as a steak chef in Berlin, and was invited to join a band by Roedelius and Schnitzler. The band was based in West Berlin . 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
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