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Friday 6th April 2012
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On Our iPod

Golden Grrrls - New Pop 7”

Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital (album)

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester (album)

Throwing Up - Mother Knows Best 7”

Howling Wolf - Complete Chess Masters 1951-60

The Ketamines - A Rotten Bond/1 Yr (from Oddbox Singles Club Pt 2)

Cardinal - Hymns (album)

Proper Ornaments - Taking the Gamble Out of Buying 12”

Darren Hayman - January Songs (album)

Various: Marshall Teller EP 12”

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Album Review

Cluster
Qua Klangbad

Article written by Ged M - Mar 1, 2010

Cluster: Qua

As The Wire pointed out, Hans-Joachim Roedelius at 76 is older than Elvis would have been now. But while he was never responsible for underwear being flung stagewards, he has a higher status, musically speaking, than the King, acclaimed critically for his many solo works and especially for his work with Cluster (in partnership with Dieter Moebius and originally with Conny Plank), that now spans 13 albums.

Cluster released their first album in 1971 and have made influential music in different styles, from Krautrock (Julian Cope listed three of their records in his top 50 Kraut albums) to progressive rock, ambient music (seminal collaborations with Brian Eno), trance music and electronica. Their influence is felt in a slew of bands including John Foxx, To Rococo Rot, The Orb, Mouse On Mars and Tortoise.

Qua is their first album in a decade (and first studio record since 1994). I’ve always found their music to be austere, dry and elevated, a long way from the rock’n’roll influences of some of their peers (and indeed from the melodic efforts of their other 70s band Harmonia). The new album sounds almost classical in format and seems to demand the attention you might give to a classical work – it’s one for reflection, dissection, contemplation. It’s made up of a lot of short-ish electronica pieces, all with strange names, and more interesting than mere background music. Qua is a total immersive experience so tracks are less important than overall moods but a few things stand out after a few listens: the tinkles and groans of ‘Glissander’, which benefit from the longer (7 minute) length, and ‘Stenthin’ which atypically develops a sort of (Krautrock) groove. It’s not a warm and friendly record but it’s impressive and it demands and deserves respect.

Links:
http://www.roedelius.com/
http://www.myspace.com/theonlyclusterthatmatters