QLUSTER

Kluster – Cluster – and now Qluster – an extraordinary shedding of skin of one of the most important German electronic groups. Hans-Joachim Roedelius was there from the beginning (Kluster from 1969 on with Conrad Schnitzler and Dieter Moebius; Cluster from 1971 on with Dieter Moebius; Qluster with Onnen Bock since 2010). Little need be said about Roedelius, whose collaborations with Conrad Schnitzler, Cluster and Harmonia earned him a worldwide reputation as a pioneer of electronic music. Onnen Bock (born in 1974), a qualified musician and sound installationist, played a part in the Zeitkratzer ensemble, worked together with the likes of Christina Kubisch and was a sound engineer for the Berlin Philharmonic. Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Onnen Bock are Qluster. The two artists have been meeting up to explore new musical directions together since 2007. They have recorded a musical trilogy (Fragen / Rufen / Antworten – Questioning / Calling / Responding) which will be released in 2011 and 2012.

Two fundamental decisions, borne of an acutely refined sense of musical self-conception, have shaped their first album "Fragen": the use of analogue keyboards only and a focus on improvisation through vibrant playing technique. On "Fragen" Qluster have jettisoned all forms of ballast pertaining to music and sound. Roedelius and Bock develop their musical aesthetic through seven impressionistic pictures, an aesthetic which borders on ascetic rigour. And yet each piece is motivated by something deeply human, a playful element setting the tone.

Download press kit "Fragen" here
Download press kit "Rufen" here
Download press kit "Antworten" here

Biographies in brief

Hans-Joachim Roedelius, born in Berlin in 1934, starred as a child in a number of UFA films. He fled Berlin in 1943, moving from one place to another before being conscripted into the National People's Army (NVA) of the German Democratic Republic. Again he took flight, only to end up in prison. He trained as a male nurse, then as a hospice orderly. Having relocated from East to West Berlin, he went on to meander through Europe (as a thatcher, detective, masseur, bartender, cleaning toilets), before finally becoming a freelance artist, with avant-garde music his prime focus. Co-founder of Berlin's first free art studio, the Zodiak Arts Lab (1967), he was also a founder member of various groups, namely Human Being, Kluster, Cluster, Harmonia, Tempus Transit and Lunzprojekt. He played on around 160 record productions either as a soloist or with band projects. Some 1600 musical works bear his name, plus a similar number of texts (poetry, prose etc.)

Music for dance theatre productions, oratorios, radio plays, symphonies. Cultural award winner in his home town of Baden, near Vienna, stipendiary of Vienna's Alban Berg Foundation. Honorary President of the Moving Culture Festival in Tirana (Albania), Honorary member of the Happy Valley Foundation in Ojai (California/USA), artistic director of the More Ohr Less symposum and festival at Lunz am See, Austria. Collaborations with artists all over the world, including Brian Eno, Holger Czukay, Susumu Hirasawa, Tim Story, Dwight Ashley, Dieter Moebius, David Bickley, Jurij Novoselic, Stanislaw Michalak, Fatos Qerimaj, Fabio Capanni, Nicola Alesini, Michael Rother, Stefan Schneider, Alquimia, Yuko Matsuzaki, Clementine Gasser, Bernadette Reiter, Florian Tanzer, Georg Taylor, Neil Mac'Coll, Felix Jay, aund Lloyd Cole.

Onnen Bock, born in the Hanover area in 1973, studied music and communication science, then spent several years as musical assistant and audio engineer for the Berlin Philharmonic and theatre sound engineer at the Volksbühne in Berlin and on tour all over the world. Sound installations at the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik and exhibitions in Berlin and Cottbus. Involved in over 30 album productions as musician, composer and/or audio production engineer. His concerts revolve around analogue live electronics. Founder member of the group Aquarello.

Collaborations with artists and groups all over the world, including Armin Metz, Babek Bodien, Christina Kubisch, Eduardo López Zavala, Jens Fischer, Hans Joachim Roedelius, Leon Schidlowsky, Panchi Maldonado, Thomas Kunz, Atajo, Donkey Bridge, Los Masis, and Zeitkratzer.

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