Forum Home Forum Home > Progressive Music Lounges > Live Performance Reviews
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Cluster (Moebius & Roedelius) in Paris 20/05/10
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Topic ClosedCluster (Moebius & Roedelius) in Paris 20/05/10

 Post Reply Post Reply
Author
Message
Alucard View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Honorary Collaborator

Joined: September 10 2004
Location: France
Status: Offline
Points: 3888
Direct Link To This Post Topic: Cluster (Moebius & Roedelius) in Paris 20/05/10
    Posted: May 21 2010 at 05:00
 
The German Electronic duo Cluster (DIETER MOEBIUS & HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS) has played yesterday in Montreuil (a Parisian suburb) in the club Instants Chavirés.
Just before going to the concert, when leaving work I was on a large street and suddenly heard a big blast and then saw a car on fire with a cone of black smoke. Most people just froze and were thinking like me of a bomb, but the firemen were already there and apperently the car had caught fire, but it has exploded just when the firemen tried to extenguish the fire.... an  impressing image anyway
So it was a nice spring evening and Les Instants Chavirés is a small but nice venue specialized in improvised muisc and free form jazz but for some time now they put some electronic and noise music on the programm. The evening opened with some real ugly feedback opening the set of noisemaster 'Evil Moisture', but like most of the audience I stayed about 5 minutes... it was just too loud and too much feedbacking...
So getting a beer and having a nice chat with Eric & Cedric outside while more and more people were joining us, even outside you could follow the blast of Evil Moisture....
Half an hour later we went back in and the two Clusters joined the stage on both sides of a large table with their electronic equipment. They greeted the audience with a  witty and humerous smile and looked like some inventors elaborating a new eletronic device in a lab focused on thier "work".
They still have the "typical' Cluster sound a mixture of athmospheric soundscapes with rhythm patterns....just in front of the stage some clubbers danced through the whole set, and most people more or less moved their body....the music never went all the way in one direction, as soon as a rhythm pattern got static ,one of the two broke it down and evolved into another field, same with attempts to build up melodic patterns as soon as they appear they're gone... it's deceiving and interesting at the same time and focuses your intention on the proces of musicmaking itself ....the audience was nice and reactive and both musicians seem to appreciate the concert....the set lasted about an hour, then they said politely merci moved two steps to the side of the stage and after some heavy applauser another two back to the table for an encore....
Afterr the concert I had a nice chat with H.J. Roedelius about his conceptions of sound, some news from their former Harmonia bandmate Michael Rother and Rodelius wish to do more acoustic piano music ...
All in all  a great evening
 
BTW Cluster is touring in France, Portugal and Japan so check out for the tourdates 
 
 


Edited by Alucard - May 21 2010 at 05:02
Tadpoles keep screaming in my ear
"Hey there! Rotter's Club!
Explain the meaning of this song and share it"

Back to Top
CPicard View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: October 03 2008
Location: Là, sui monti.
Status: Offline
Points: 10837
Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 26 2010 at 13:15
Work, metro, mail, shower, dinner, dishes, metro, missed two stations, getting mad, walking 30 minutes for some reason and missing Evil Moisture (Andy Bolus).
So, I can't say anything about this Australian electronic noise act that I've never heard of, until learning he was opening for Cluster. Regretful? Not sure. Even if I like SPK or Esplendor Geometrico, I often had been dissapointed and dissastisfied with live improvised electronic noise. Just a matter of taste.

Anyway, speaking of the duet Moebius/Roedelius a.k.a. Cluster... First, I was surprised that the room didn't have any chair this evening. Was the audience for Cluster supposed to be less static than the "fans" of free jazz ensemble Marteau Rouge? But one can argue that Moeb'n'Roed dropped some heavy danceable rhythms, making me think of some reggae/dub influences, rather than anything "kraut" or "motorik".

If not really "melodic" or mellow, the music wasn't harsh, maybe intriguing at times. But the variety in the soundscapes couldn't help me to find the performance a bit sloppy: the variations in those soundscapes were not really "natural", the waves broke too early sometimes, especially the rappel. The last piece stopped abruptly, like if the machines were just turned off!
I also was a bit disappointed by the "show": some kind of movie was projected on the scene and the musicians, but it only figured two people (Dieter and Hans-Joachim?) coming and going in front of a house. This film was static, always the same images of these two characters passing by... What, nothing more? Warhol, come to the rescue!

To make it short, mixed feeling about this concert. Maybe if they played in Marseille, at the MIMI festival, under the moon, close to the sea, would have they been more magickal?
Back to Top
Syzygy View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Honorary Collaborator

Joined: December 16 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 6998
Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 27 2010 at 04:31
Sounds like it was a great evening, Martin - I'm jealous!
'Like so many of you
I've got my doubts about how much to contribute
to the already rich among us...'

Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom


Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down



This page was generated in 0.133 seconds.
Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.