Harmonia - Musik von Harmonia (1974) [1995, Brain, POCP-2387] Re-up

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Harmonia - Musik von Harmonia (1974) [1995, Brain, POCP-2387] Re-up

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The debut Harmonia album is at once a product of their source bands and a fine new twist on them, resulting in music that captures what for many is the Krautrock ideal, or more accurately, the motorik ideal. It's not Kraftwerk's all-synth, clean, clinical pulse, nor Neu!'s seemingly effortless glide, nor Can's stomping art world funk. Instead it's at once playful and murky, steady and mechanical, a supergroup of sorts who easily achieves and maintains such a seemingly overstated status by embracing a variety of approaches that work wonders. The players bring their usual multi-instrumental roles to the fore, ensuring that the end results achieve their own distinct sound – this isn't simply Cluster with Rother's assistance or Rother trying for a solo record with Cluster's backing. For all that, there's a touch more Cluster in the end – the spacier parts on Musik Von Harmonia have that duo's hushed chill, the electronic percussion of Rother meanwhile avoids his familiar crisp punch using real drums in Neu! outside of the perky "Dino." "Ohrwurm," meanwhile, has a strung-out guitar grind nicely offset by a far more restrained wail in the background, further backed by delicate keyboards and tones. When it comes to pure drift, the wonderful "Sehr Kosmisch" is the understandable winner, a nearly 11-minute-long piece that undeniably had to have been part of the attraction for Brian Eno in his later work with the band. A piano piece reminiscent of Eno collaborator Harold Budd drifts up and down through the mix of keyboard shimmers and electronic washes, resulting in a piece at once both meditative and gently rhythmic. Other songs, like "Veterano" and "Watussi," suggest the electro-pop approach, which Kraftwerk inadvertently founded, but with their own quirky edge, rhythmic distortion, and guitar parts playing with the expected formula.

by Ned Raggett

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Harmonia - Musik von Harmonia (1974) [1995, Brain, POCP-2387] Re-up

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Harmonia Biography

Though Harmonia began as a sideline excursion for Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius of Cluster and Michael Rother of Neu!, the group became one of the most legendary in the entire Krautrock/kosmische scene with the release of several mid-'70s LPs.

After two studio albums recorded as Cluster, Roedelius and Moebius moved out to the German countryside to build their own studio in the village of Forst. After several disappointments in his attempt to expand Neu! into a live unit, Rother retreated to Cluster's studio for a series of relaxed, improvisational jam sessions that wedded Cluster's exploratory space music with the chugging rhythms and guitar sense of Rother. The debut Harmonia LP, Musik Von Harmonia, appeared in 1974 (with an accomplished live track, recorded in Amsterdam). Though Rother also continued with Neu! to create another Krautrock classic, Neu! '75, Harmonia remained his focus for another LP, 1975's De Luxe. Brian Eno had proclaimed Harmonia "the world's most important rock group," and he eventually joined the proceedings for several 1976 sessions – the legendary results of which lay unreleased for over twnety years, until Rykodisc acquiesced with the release of Tracks & Traces. Though Cluster and Eno continued their collaboration during the late '70s, Rother began a solo career with 1978's Sternthaler.

by John Bush

Супергруппа Harmonia была создана в мае 1973 года звездами немецкого прогрессива Михаэлом Розером (ех - NEU!) и бывшими участниками Cluster Хансом - Иохимом Руделиусом и Дитером Мобиусом. Несмотря на то, что группа просуществовала чуть более трех лет, ее музыкальное наследие считается одним из эталонов эры Краутрока. В семидесятых группа смогла выпустить всего два альбома - Harmonia и Deluxe.
После распада Harmonia в 1976 году Розера ожидала сверх успешная сольная карьера, а Мобиус и Руделиус с помощью Ино возродили Cluster.

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Harmonia - Musik von Harmonia (1974) [1995, Brain, POCP-2387] Re-up

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Harmonia - Musik von Harmonia (1974) [1995, Brain, POCP-2387] Re-up

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