From his early work with the pioneering Krautrock band
Cluster to his later solo recordings,
Dieter Moebius remained one of the most innovative and prolific voices in contemporary electronic music, anticipating movements from ambient to techno years before the fact. By day a student at Berlin's Akademie Grafik,
Moebius was moonlighting as a cook at an area restaurant when in 1969 he was befriended by
Conrad Schnitzler, a key figure in local avant-garde circles, and invited to join
Kluster, a band
Schnitzler was forming with fellow underground artist
Hans Joachim Roedelius. The trio released their debut LP
Klopfzeichen in 1970; in the wake of their third album, 1971's Kluster und Eruption,
Schnitzler exited to pursue a solo career, and
Moebius and
Roedelius continued on as a duo, modifying the name to
Cluster.
Working with famed producer
Conrad Plank,
Cluster began to move increasingly towards more structured soundscapes -- with 1974's
Zuckerzeit, they even pursued an electronic pop sound similar in spirit to
Kraftwerk.
Moebius and
Roedelius also teamed with
Neu!'s
Michael Rother in
Harmonia, releasing a pair of much-acclaimed mid-'70s LPs which caught the attention of
Brian Eno, who in response collaborated with the trio on a legendary session (released much later as
Tracks and Traces) heralding a turn towards ambient textures (and influencing the sound of the 1976
Cluster album
Sowiesoso).
Roedelius and
Moebius subsequently worked with
Eno on 1977's Cluster and Eno and 1979's After the Heat as well; in the wake of 1981's
Curiosum, however, they dissolved
Cluster, with both pursuing solo endeavors.
Moebius' first subsequent effort was 1981's Material, a second collaboration with
Plank (his proper solo debut, Rastakraut Pasta, had appeared two years earlier); together, they produced some of the most experimental recordings of their respective careers, creating harsh mutant soundscapes which over time gave way to the proto-ambient textures of 1986's En Route, their final work before
Plank's untimely death. Concurrently
Moebius also teamed with Gerd Beerbohm for 1982's Strange Music and 1983's Double Cut, both explorations of pure noise; meanwhile, with the solo album
Tonspuren (also from 1983),
Moebius clearly anticipated the emergence of techno. Apart from teaming with
Karl Renziehausen in the duo Ersatz, during the early '90s he also reunited with
Roedelius to revive
Cluster. Collaborations with
Mayo Thompson and
Mani Neumeier followed, in addition to solo albums such as
Blotch and Nurton.
Cluster reunited once again in 2007, resulting in live album Berlin 07 and studio effort
Qua, before disbanding for good in 2010, with
Roedelius eventually forming
Qluster.
Moebius released solo albums
Kram and
Ding, as well as a collaboration with
Asmus Tietchens (Moebius + Tietchens). The latter was issued by Bureau B, who also re-released much of
Moebius' back catalog, with and without
Cluster.
Snowghost Pieces, with
Tim Story and
Jon Leidecker (aka
Wobbly), appeared in 2014, as did solo EP Nidemonex.
Moebius died of cancer on July 20, 2015, at the age of 71. Following his death, many of his later works were reissued by Bureau B, and the label also released
Musik für Metropolis and
Familiar (with
Story and
Leidecker) in 2017. ~ Jason Ankeny