Roedelius

The Berlin-born keyboardist of Kluster, Cluster and Harmonia, whose solo album Wenn der Südwind weht came out in 1981.

Kluster, Cluster and Harmonia

Hans-Joachim Roedelius was born in Berlin on October 26, 1934. As a child he appeared in two UFA films in 1938. After the war he spent about two years in prison after trying to leave East Germany, escaped to West Berlin in 1961, and worked as a physiotherapist and masseur. In 1968 he co-founded a commune called Human Being and, with Conrad Schnitzler, the Zodiak Free Arts Lab in Berlin, where he met Dieter Moebius. Kluster (1969-71) became Cluster in 1971 when Schnitzler left; the producer Conny Plank is credited as a third member on the 1971 debut and engineered through 1978. They moved to the village of Forst in Lower Saxony, into farmhouses with their own studio.

From 1973 to 1976 Roedelius, Moebius and Michael Rother also made records as Harmonia, Musik von Harmonia (1974) and Deluxe (1975). In September 1976 Brian Eno spent 11 days with Harmonia in Forst, and the tapes came out in 1997 as Tracks and Traces; Eno called Harmonia the world's most important rock band. Cluster made Cluster II (1972), Zuckerzeit (1974, which Pitchfork placed 63rd on its 1970s albums list), Sowiesoso (1976), Grosses Wasser (1979) and Curiosum (1981), plus After the Heat with Eno (1978). AllMusic called Cluster the most important and consistently underrated space rock unit of the 1970s. They reunited from 1989 to 1997, and again from 2007 until their final concert in Minehead, England, on December 5, 2010. Moebius died in 2015.

Solo work

The solo career began with Durch die Wüste (1978), the year the Roedelius family left Forst for Austria. The Selbstportrait albums, recorded at home between Cluster sessions, ran from 1979 on; Roedelius said in 2020 that they were created with just what was coming out of the moment. Jardin au Fou appeared in 1979, Lustwandel and Wenn der Südwind weht in 1981 on Sky. In 1982 he left Sky for Virgin's Venture label, and Geschenk des Augenblicks (1984) was his best-selling solo album. Wikipedia counts over 60 solo albums, while Electronic Sound puts it at around 50. Theatreworks (1994) was The Wire's album of the month.

He formed Qluster in 2011 with Onnen Bock and Armin Metz, made records as Lunz with Tim Story, and published an autobiography, The Book, in 2018. Selbstportrait Wahre Liebe (2020) was the first in the series since 2002. He lives in Baden bei Wien, Austria, and co-founded the More Ohr Less Festival there in 2004. A 2017 Florida show at 82 had him working with two iPads and improvising.