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20-432: Selbstportrait is the third solo album by German keyboardist Hans-Joachim Roedelius , best known for his work with Cluster , Harmonia , and Aquarello . The title is German for "Self Portrait", a title meant to reflect the gentle, introspective nature of the ambient and new-age music of the album. The original Sky Records release was subtitled Teil 1 Sanfte Musik , German for "Part 1, Soft Music." Selbstportrait

40-483: A career in music. In 1968 Roedelius co-founded the music commune known as "Human Being" and co-formed Zodiak Free Arts Lab , the center of Berlin's Underground Culture at the time, with conceptual artist Conrad Schnitzler . He met Dieter Moebius at the Zodiak. In 1969 Roedelius, Schnitzler and Moebius formed Kluster . In 1971 Schnitzler left the group to start a long-running solo career and Moebius and Roedelius anglicised

60-453: A co-founder of the influential ' kosmische ' groups Cluster and Harmonia . He is notable for his prolific discography, either as a solo artist, as part of a band, or in collaboration with other artists. He has more than 100 releases to his name. He also performed in the ambient jazz trio Aquarello , and released several solo studio albums. Roedelius was born on 26 October 1934 in Berlin in

80-460: A fan of both Cluster and Harmonia, joined them for several jams, the result of which was released in 1997 as Tracks and Traces . Rother left Harmonia to pursue his solo career and Cluster returned to the studio to record Sowiesoso which was released on Sky Records . Brian Eno later worked on two albums with Cluster: 1977's Cluster & Eno and 1978's After the Heat , the latter of which gained

100-590: A number of recordings licensed to their parent company Metronome, such as Amon Düül's first album Psychedelic Underground . Many came out on the M2001 label which is closely linked to Brain. Brain licensed and issued a number of British releases for the West German market, in this case mainly featuring the original sleeves. These included Greenslade , Caravan , If , Spirogyra , Atomic Rooster , Alexis Korner , Gryphon and Steamhammer . There were of course exceptions -

120-459: A variety of small labels. Sinfonia Contempora No. 2: La Nordica (Salz Des Nordens) was released in 1996. Also released in this period was Selbstportrait VI: The Diary of the Unforgotten , the first of the modern Selbstportraits . Now, rather than merely remastering the seventies tapes, Roedelius also played over them, the sound montage Homage á Forst samples many Harmonia and Cluster tracks into

140-620: The Brain issue of Atomic Rooster's Nice n Greasy features an entirely different sleeve to the UK issue, and If's Double Diamond didn't receive a UK release at all. Some Brain releases later proved highly influential. Brain 1004 was Neu!'s eponymous debut Neu! ; Brain 1062 was Neu! 75 , which undoubtedly contributed to the sound of punk rock . Körber left in 1976 to start Sky Records , which released much Cluster-related music plus Michael Rother 's early solo work, and bands like Streetmark. When he left

160-568: The Building of Modern Germany , David Stubbs writes that "the aftermath of the war was most difficult for the Roedelius family" who didn't have "enough to live on and just a bit too much to die on". He served two years in prison after the war when he attempted to defect from East Germany . Before managing to escape over the border into West Berlin in 1961, he had worked as a physical therapist and masseur. Soon thereafter he gave up his day job to pursue

180-532: The band much attention in the British music press. A further Cluster album produced by former Tangerine Dream member Peter Baumann Großes Wasser extended Cluster's music into long form. Roedelius' solo career began with Durch die Wüste in 1978 and then Jardin Au Fou in 1979. The first of the lengthy Selbstportrait series was released in 1979, being material done beside his work with Cluster and Harmonia, without

200-421: The band's name to Cluster . They signed first to Philips then to Brain . In 1973 Roedelius and Moebius worked with Neu! guitarist Michael Rother under the name of Harmonia . Musik Von Harmonia was released on the back of a huge publicity campaign by Brain. Harmonia released one further album, 1975's Deluxe . Rother also co-produced the 1974 Cluster album Zuckerzeit . British musician Brian Eno ,

220-618: The family of a dentist. He was an unwilling member of the German Youngsters in the Hitler Youth , membership being mandatory for all boys from the age of ten, and appeared in several propaganda films ( Faded Melody by Viktor Tourjansky in 1938 ; Riding for Germany by Arthur Maria Rabenalt in 1941). Roedelius and his mother Gertrud were evacuated from Berlin to a small hamlet in East Prussia . In his book Future Days: Krautrock and

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240-498: The follow-up album Selbstportrait - Vol. II were reissued as a single CD by Sky Records in 1996 under the title Selbsportrait I & II . It was reissued in its original form on both LP and CD by the Bureau-B label on December 3, 2010. In 2017, "Fabelwein" was featured in the film War Machine . Hans-Joachim Roedelius Hans-Joachim Roedelius (born 26 October 1934) is a German electronic musician and composer, known as

260-540: The input of his collaborators. Mostly recorded on simple two-track equipment, the Selbstportraits make up the backbone of Roedelius' early solo recordings. Leaving Sky in 1982, his work took a more new-age style as he signed to Virgin 's Venture sub-label. During this period, his best selling solo album Geschenk des Augenblicks – Gift of the Moment was released. He was dropped by Venture in 1989 and began releasing on

280-417: The late eighties. In the meantime, Cluster had reformed. 1990's Apropos Cluster was an update for the band, being a work of avant-techno not dissimilar in style to Großes Wasser . In 1996 Cluster embarked on two international tours, one of Japan and one of America. Cluster reunited again in 2007. In November 2010 it was announced that Cluster had split up for the third time. In the official announcement,

300-496: The mix. The turn of the century was Roedelius' most productive year, with no fewer than eight albums being released between 2000 and 2001. Reprising the Selbstportrait series for the seventh time in 2000, Roedelius composed entirely new tracks for the first time on Selfportrait VII: dem Wind voran – ahead of the wind . The new millennium also saw Roedelius begin to work with other, usually younger, musicians than he had done since

320-557: The split up was described as Moebius leaving the group. In the wake of this news, Roedelius announced that he was beginning a new project called Qluster, to follow on from Cluster and Kluster . The band is made up of Roedelius and accomplished electronic musician Onnen Bock with third member Armin Metz and released a trilogy consisting of " Rufen ", " Fragen " and " Antworten " ( Calling , Asking and Answering ) in 2011. His autobiography, The Book – The Autobiography of Hans-Joachim Roedelius ,

340-456: Was edited in Conny's Studio (owned by Conny Plank ) in 1976. Selbstportrait was originally released by Sky Records in 1979. Phillipe Blache, writing the review for Prog Archives, describes the album, in part: "The music in itself is another exploration in electronic, pre-ambient 'picture' music but really orientated to the most 'mainstream' side of it." Selbstportrait and seven of 11 tracks from

360-832: Was published in 2018. In March 2021 Roedelius launched his official website and in April he performed his first free surprise live stream concert on YouTube. With Andrew Heath and Christopher Chaplin With Stereo Hypnosis and Eraldo Bernocchi Brain Records In the middle of 1971, Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser 's management style at Ohr caused two of his A&R men, Bruno Wendel and Günter Körber, to leave Ohr and set up their own record company, which they called Brain. Wendel & Korber brought Guru Guru with them from Ohr, and immediately signed Cluster, who had recorded one LP for Philips; they soon recorded and released Cluster II . Brain

380-617: Was rapidly a success throughout West Germany and much of western Europe, although had little presence in the US. Signings throughout the seventies and into the eighties included Neu!, Cluster, Harmonia , Klaus Schulze , Edgar Froese , Guru Guru, Grobschnitt , Novalis , Jane , Birth Control , Embryo , Popol Vuh , Curly Curve , Scorpions , Electric Sun , Accept and many more. A later reissue series called Rock On Brain saw many early Brain recordings reissued, although mostly with entirely different sleeves and even album titles. Brain also reissued

400-582: Was recorded by Roedelius at his home in Forst, in the Weser Uplands of West Germany between various Cluster sessions from 1973 until 1977 on his ReVox A77 reel to reel . The music actually predates the two previously released solo albums: Durch Die Wüste and Jardin Au Fou . The final mix was completed at Gorilla Studio in Vienna , Austria at the end of April, 1979, with the exception of "Prinzregent" which

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