Harmonia

𝙈𝙤𝙚𝙗𝙞𝙪𝙨, 𝙍𝙤𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙍𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧’𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙠𝙧𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙖 - 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙗𝙪𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙠 - 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙗𝙤𝙡𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙭𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙩, 𝙅𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙃𝙤𝙙𝙡𝙚𝙣, 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙖 𝙎𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞, 𝘿𝙚𝙭𝙧𝙩𝙧𝙤, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙡 𝙍𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙑𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙖 𝙈𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙞.
‘Musik von Harmonia’ was first conceived in the 1973 at Forst Studio, in the wake of the recording sessions that made up the debut of Cluster, then a duo of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius (after a few years as Kluster with likes of Eno and Conny Plank). Joined by Neu! drummer Michael Rother, they formed Harmonia and continued a trajectory into space above their native Germany, propelled by early synths, and the addition of Rother’s Farfisa organs, a stereo mixer, and an Elka Drummer One rhythm machine that became pivotal to their motorik vector.
- Harmonia’s 44’ maiden venture arcs from the wheezing sway of ‘Watussi’ to a blissed ‘Hausmusik’ prototype of ambient musik via the supine 111’ of star-gazing synth diffusion and afterburner thrum of ‘Sehr Kosmisch’ via the hypnotic traction of ‘Sonnenschein’ and clearly Neu!-adjacent motorik impulse of ‘Dino’ to open fascinating wormholes of exploration in the beat-less, stereo-phasing ‘Ohrwurm’ and pastoral swooner ‘Ahoi’, reserving the almost bloozy twang of ‘Veterano’ that hinted at but also distinguished them from prevailing US and UK trends that their generation of musicians were seeking to break away from, and would end up influencing in return.