RIP Dieter Moebius

Dieter Moebius

I’m saddened to hear of the recent death, at the age of 71, of the electronic music pioneer, Dieter Moebius.  Swiss-born, Moebius was a leading figure of the experimental movement in  1970s German music often (contentiously) pigeonholed as ‘Krautrock’, and as such, made quite an impact on vast swathes of the electronic or technologically-inspired material of subsequent eras.

Cluster, c.1971.  (L.): Hans-Joachim Roedelius, (R.): Dieter Moebius

Harmonia, c 1976. (L.): Michael Rother, (C.): Moebius), (R.): Roedelius

Whilst there are numerous, usually collaborative, recordings bearing his own name, he’s probably still best known for his work with Hans-Joachim Roedelius as Cluster, (originally a trio with Conrad Schnitzler, as Kluster), and subsequent grouping Harmonia, (in which he and Roedelius joined forces with Neu’s Michael Rother).  Both Cluster and Harmonia also recorded notable collaborations with big-name boffin, Brian Eno in the mid 70s.

Cluster & Eno, c. 1978.  (L.): Brian Eno, (C.): Roedelius, (R.): Moebius

I’ve continued to consume huge quantities of electronc music over the years, especially since its coming of age with the Dance Music explosion of the late 80, and early 90s.  Indeed, it’s probably fair to say that the tropes of repeated phrases, oscillation and multi-layered sounds that Moebius and his compatriots pioneered, found their full expression in much of the hypnotic, dance floor or comedown-focused music of that period.

Cluster & Eno, 'Cluster & Eno', Sky Records, 1977

However, although my own earliest experiences of haunting record shops overlapped with the latter stages of the ‘Krautrock’ era, it’s only through a relatively recent digging-back that I’ve become properly familiar with much of the music made in Germany back then.  In those days, I might occasionally contemplate the trippy artwork of album covers by obscure names like Klaus Schultz and the like, but apart from an unusual Sunday-evening TV broadcast of Tangerine Dream at Coventry Cathedral, and the mainstream success of Kraftwerk’s ‘Autobahn’ single, my exposure to the movement was minimal.

Harmonia & Eno, c.1976

In reality, it's through the perennial creative opportunism of Brian Eno, and frequent co-opting of other peoples’ ideas under his own brand, that I first made real contact with Moebius’ work.  His and Roedelius’ name would crop up intriguingly alongside more familiar ones on Eno’s albums, in the days when perusing every last detail of a 12-inch sleeve was an important ritual for the music geek.  I now appreciate just how many of the sounds my sixth-form colleagues and I heard on those records, (and those that Eno produced for David Bowie), were borrowed from, or at least heavily influenced by, music made by Moebius and his contemporaries over the North Sea.

Harmonia, 'Musik Von Harmonia', Brain Records 1974

Nowadays, Internet searches, digital downloads and ‘heritage’ re-releases mean it’s actually easier and more affordable to experience Moebius’s own music than often it was at the time of its release.  My own process of acquisition began some years ago, after the BBC aired a rather splendid survey of the heyday of German experimentalism.  It included several interviews, along with footage of the remote, riverside studio that Moebius & Roedelius created at Forst, where much of the Harmonia, and later Cluster material was created.

Cluster, 'Cluster II', Brain, 1972

If the early Cluster material is willfully, (perhaps forbiddingly, to some), freeform, later releases become more accessibly structured around pulsing rhythms, whilst retaining a wonderful undulating fluidity and organic quality.  There is both space and light in their music, and for all their electronic tinkering, a prevailing sense of something hand-built by humans.  The addition of Rother’s aquatic guitar work on the Harmonia recordings adds yet more layers of atmosphere, and emphasises the influence of the river flowing outside their studio.  The gradual move towards increasing ambience in later material is hardly surprising, and I can’t help wondering if the development of what became codified as ‘Ambient Music’ in Eno’s hands was actually a case of he and Moebius/Roedelius/Rother passing a creative baton back and forth.  Either way, much of the music produced, in whatever grouping, is deeply evocative and highly recommended to anyone not solely wedded to conventional song structures or mainstream modes of popular music.

Moebius-Plank-Neumeier, 'Zero Set', Sky Records, 1983

Moebius & Plank, 'Rastakraut Pasta',  Sky Records, 1980

I’ve less familiarity with Deiter Moebius’ post Cluster/Harmonia output, although his passing makes me think I should start to explore it more fully in the near future.  He continued to make and release music, at least up until last year, and it’s sad to think that process has now ended.  Nevertheless, he leaves a rich legacy of splendid sounds and a continuing influence on many who heard them.