Hans-Joachim Roedelius - Durch Die Wüste FLAC

Having made records with other musicians for a good ten years, Hans-Joachim Roedelius presented his first solo album, Durch die Wüste, in 1978. Fans of electronica awaited the LP with particular anticipation, as the founding member of Cluster had played a major role in the development of synthesizer music. They were in for a shock, however, as Durch die Wüste turned out to be anything but an electronic album; in the avant-garde landscape of popular music, the Roedelius record was a beacon of innovation, with failure a distinct possibility. Ultimately, Roedelius would not fail with the LP, instead laying down a trail that more and more listeners would follow in the future. Initial reaction was rather less auspicious, centring around the question: what did this music have to do with Harmonia and Cluster?

Anyone who has listened carefully to Cluster’s 1974 effort Zuckerzeit will have come to recognize the handwriting of Roedelius on this and all subsequent Cluster and Harmonia albums. Just how far Roedelius would develop his own compositional technique and mode of playing would only become obvious when he was set free from the ensemble environment on Durch die Wüste.

Listeners at the time will have been baffled by just how little electronically generated sounds were a feature of the album. Synthesizers and electronic effects did play a part, but Roedelius integrated them so seamlessly into the arrangement that one barely noticed them. The rhythm machine was relegated to the status of metronome. In fact, Roedelius’s decision to distance himself from electronic music, rigid in structure as it had become, and turn to a new form of musical expression is what really gave the album its experimental character. Assisting Roedelius were the brilliant sound engineer Conny Plank with his unmistakeable guitar style and Dieter Moebius who, in spite of everything, set a few significant markers with the synthesizer.