Harmonia: Who knows this stuff?

the harmonia+eno tapes were home recordings/demos/jams never meant for release and shouldn't be judged by the same standards, although they are also completely beautiful in their own right.

First Rother solo LP has Jaki Liebezeit on drums: hardly new age boredom, but there is maybe a little too much tasty guitar for me.

The Begegnungen compilations compile the more experimental/ambient side of the trio's experiments, and also feature Eno in a somewhat tacked-on role.

The Begegnungen compilations did get me started on this stuff; I ended up buying every single last album featured on those records.

Moebius - Plank - Neumeier's 'Zero Set' from '84 is also a high point of the catalog. Still one of the most successful examples of live drums integrated into sequenced electronics.

There have been some doubts expressed about this. Probably somewhere on the No New York thread...

I saw a copy at aquarius, the cover is a second or third gen photograph of the original, if it is legit then for some reason they did it without access to the original materials.

It's still a gatefold though, and the center spread picture of their huge country studio with arcane stacks of electronic gear stacked high in the center of the room, that image = the music, you don't know this album if you haven't seen it

WOW. From Michael Rother's website:

Harmonia live 1974
On 22nd October 2007 a rare live recording of Harmonia (Michael Rother, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius) dating from 1974 will be released for the first time. The album will be available on cd and vinyl in Europe through Gronland Records and in the USA through Water Records. Read a review by John Mulvey at UNCUT Magazine (UK). More information will follow soon.

gibber!

FUCKIN A, I AM SO THERE

and it's from 1974, when they were still improvising, instead of the later shows when they felt the pressure to recreate deluxe live -- so this is basically going to be an album of all new music

Which brings us to a new Harmonia release, amazingly. There's been some assiduous foraging of the Krautrock archives these past few years, that's fetched up the "Harmonia 76" sessions with Eno already. This one, "Live 1974", is a gig recording that appears to capture Rother, Moebius and Roedelius jamming with that typical impassive euphoria to an entirely empty room.

In fact, Michael Rother claims in the press release that the show (in a former railway station in Griessem) was attended by a good 50 or so people, who were too stoned to even applaud, or who couldn't work out where the songs ended. That makes sense: the five lengthy tracks here stretch out to between nine and 17 minutes each, but have an enveloping momentum that makes them feel like they are - or at least should - go on forever.

I must admit I haven't played the two studio Harmonia albums for a year or two, but from memory "Live 1974" is more in the vein of the first one, "Musik Von Harmonia". If you're familiar with the work of Harmonia's constituent bands, Neu! and Cluster, but not Harmonia themselves, imagine the humming seascape pieces from "Neu! 75" augmented by the gently chattering rhythm patterns of Cluster's "Zuckerzeit".

Perhaps Cluster are fractionally more dominant; Rother's always subtle guitar strafe is, if anything, more discreet than ever, though he does have a mild freak-out on "Arabesque". Anyway, it all makes a very soothing start to the week.

was that you in italics, Milton? or is that quote from somewhere else?

it's the john mulvey review, posted in case the above link goes dead later

there was word of this coming out on Ryko as a followup to Harmonia 76 about 10 years ago, I'm glad it's finally seeing light

No shit?

This is causing Die Grosser Exzeitmunt!!!

(Deluxe is always in my top three K-rock releases).

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2461/cdcoverharmoniamini2ko8.jpg

WAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTTT

& in tandem with the Cluster US tour this coming october, the final step

>>>From www.michaelrother.de:
>>
>>"Berlin will see the first Harmonia concert since 1976 on 27th
>>November 2007 when Michael Rother, Hans-Joachim Roedelius
>>and Dieter Moebius will open the Worldtronics festival at the "Haus
>>der Kulturen der Welt" with their live appearance as Harmonia.
>>More information will follow soon."

info on cluster tour?

ZOMG. Harmonia tour? Please!

"cluster tour" more like one gig in california

Oh, I heard this months ago. It's really really nice. Forgot I had it, must dig it out again.

Cluster played here in Chicago ten years ago and it was amazing. I'd love to see Harmonia though. Actually, I'd die to see, Don't Look Back: Harmonia Plays Musik von Harmonia.

Wow -- I missed the 96 Cluster tour bc I was out of the country. I was seriously bummed until I heard the live record they released which was total shit.

If this comes anywhere near DC, I'm totally there.

Saw a great show by Michael Rother and Dieter Moebius in London a couple of years back. Please someone put Harmonia on the UK. PLEASE!

I was seriously bummed until I heard the live record they released which was total shit.

the 96 shows were much better than either live record. whoever compiled the discs went entirely for mellow & smooth, the live shows had many menacing / strange moments. I made it to three shows and each one was radically different.

they're still in negotiations for other dates beyond the Big Sur / Ojai shows, but it doesn't look likely they'll make it to the east coast this time

promising 16 seconds of moebius / rother live 2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsEwvLwdPhI&NR=1

"cluster tour" more like one gig in california

well, they're playing Utrecht in november.

Worldtronics: Eröffnung Harmonia

Konzert
Di 27.11.2007 20:00h Eintritt: 13 Euro, ermäßigt 10 Euro, Festivalpass 30 Euro erhältlich Onlineticket

Oder Ticket direkt im:

" Haus der Kulturen der Welt
Abteilung Kommunikation
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10557 Berlin"

At the beginning herb skirt was not - electronic music without the German sound of avant-garde of the 1970er years. And in such a way WORLDTRONICS 2007 begin with Harmonia, the legendary Krautrock Supergroup, 1974 formed from Dieter Moebius and Hans Joachim Roedelius, the cluster musicians, and Michael, red ago ex again! and ex power station. The radical Pop pioneers created the schlagzeug for a Drum Machine on the search for singular sounds off, hunted frog concerts by filter, echo, Verzerrer, mixed spielerische texts with strict form concepts, played Ambient music in front. The sound Tueftler occasionally also still got support from Brian Eno. With WORLDTRONICS they are to be experienced now for the first time for 30 years again together and in the concert, short after release of "Harmonia live 1974", a so far unpublished Mitschnitt of the electronics godfathers. There is it shown, how Julian Cope lies correctly in its standard work "herb skirt Sampler": Harmonia is "himmlische music, only temporarily in the real world rings out." By the way: As special attraction of the Popelektronikerin Barbara morning star will improvise led choir of the cultures of the world a title together with Harmonia.

http://www.berlinista.com/en/article/harmonia-at-worldtronics-berlin/3505/

and now in english :p

"In the beginning there was Krautrock. For there would be no electronic music without the German avant-garde sound of the 1970s. Consequently, WORLDTRONICS 2007 starts with Harmonia, the legendary Krautrock super-group, The band was formed in 1974 by Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius, the Cluster musicians, and Michael Rother, ex-Neu! and ex-Kraftwerk. In their search for unique sounds, the radical pop pioneers ditched the drums for a drum machine, played frog concerts through filters, echoes, distorters, mixed playful texts with strict formal concepts and anticipated ambient music. For a time, these sound-tinkerers found a supporter in Brian Eno.
At WORLDTRONICS they will be playing together again – in concert – for the first time in thirty years, and only shortly after the release of Harmonia Live 1974, a hitherto unreleased cut of the electronic godfathers. It just goes to show how right Julian Cope was in his standard work Krautrock Sampler, where he describes Harmonia as playing heavenly music that resounds only temporarily in the real world. Incidentally, as a special attraction, the Choir of World Cultures, conducted by pop-electronics lady Barbara Morgenstern, will be improvising a title together with Harmonia."

morgenstern + harmonia = why don't i live in germany wahhhhhhhhhh

wow!

Yeah I'd have prefered the thing on cd. But I have at least one of the main lps, possibly both and the Live '74 set.
Would like a copy of the lp with Eno on that has Broken Head on since I used to have it on vinyl.

NOt sure what is in box so not 100% sure what I'm missing

Groenland is putting out a cassette + download version of 'Documents 1975' for those who don't want to go crazy on this fairly expensive box

It's half an hour, four tracks; two of them are basically rough demos for side one of 'Deluxe', recorded with the Elka drum machine instead of Neumeier; the precise midpoint between the laidback jamming on the first album and the more meticulously composed second. 'Tiki-Taka' is amazing; I hear Rother doing some seamless crossfading / editing to create some of these transitions. The two long live tracks add Neumeier, sounds like it was recorded by an open mic in a magic room, so many people have tried to sound like this in the 40 years since then, but I guess you can't skip the part where you are them living at Forst. At one point Rother references the first half of the riff from Neu!'s Weissensee; all of this stuff ties in together. There's an quiet clicking sound occasionally on the two live tracks I was hoping were just mp3 artifacts but I played the LP on my radio show last night and they're there too, so I guess they were on Asmus' tape. Regardless, too good.

I was worried about 'Live 1974' being 60 minutes on a single LP but it sounds good. All the LPs look great, much better image quality on the covers than some of the recent reconstructed LP reissues. The record labels are clones of the original green Brain label. Geeta got wonderful quotes out of everyone for the liners, tells the story like a fable with the facts. Most of the book is just casual pictures of them hanging out in muddy paradise. The pop-up is ridiculous, the huge schoolhouse with the Sowiesoso riverside tree behind it. Might bring it to the office for a while.

I might buy the box just for the downloads if the remasters of deluxe + musik vom + tracks traces are well done. Groenland also released the czukay reissues right, which were shitty. Any sound quality insights yet Milton?

I didn't hear sound quality issues with the reissues, I just thought Czukay's radical re-editing of certain tracks on those reissues were confusing.

I do wish Groenland did a better job with the ID3 tags; the mp3's lack album & artist & track # information, as well as album art; if you load them all in at once, you'll hear everything across albums in alphabetical order, I don't think they understand what they're selling there yet. Haven't side by side compared the mastering jobs.

I didn't hear sound quality issues with the reissues, I just thought Czukay's radical re-editing of certain tracks on those reissues were confusing.

Slightly off-topic but what was that?

Deletion of whole tracks on On The Way To The Peak Of Normal for starters

As Milton says, it was czukays doing. Convo was on the main czukay c/d thread earlier this year

The individual remasters for s/t and Deluxe are for sale as downloads on emusic now. I bought Deluxe and just listened to it. Have not directly compared to the CD I've owned forever but this sounds really good, very warm with lots of nice mids on the synths and drums. Man I wanna read the book so bad!

So this would be why Deluxe and Music Von turned up on Spotify this past week.

yeah

i assume there are not newly-upped versions of Tracks+traces and Live 1974 because the ones that have been available digitally for awhile are the same masterings as the new box (tracks+traces was just remastered a couple years ago).

I love this shit so much

held off on pre-ordering this due to the mahoooossive shipping fee direct from gronland, but one is now winging its way to me.

want to temper what I said upthread about untagged mp3's; it's true of 'Documents 1975' and the Czukay downloads I've bought from them before, and all the files lack album art, but the other Harmonia albums all include track numbers in the song titles & album titles so they load into your player ok

remaster of 'Musik von Harmonia' is a little louder & more separated than the original 90's Brain CD I've had for the last 20 years, the other ones are comparable to 2000s CDs.

'documents 1975' nonstop pretty much

I traded the Japanese '95 Musik Von CD for the '04 reissue when those came out and found i didn't like the newer one as much. Maybe I'd just got used to the one I'd had.

Which MVH is on Spotify? There are two issues of Deluxe, oddly – one dated 2015 and the other 1975.

I'm on UK spotify so I've got a 2015 Deluxe and Music Von, and a 2009 Tracks and Traces (which used to be the only genuine Harmonia record, amidst a sea of German classical choir ensembles - which, I know, was the joke in the name. But still annoying.)

Is there a download only for Documents 1975 or am I to go and buy the tape? I think I probably know the answer to this.

Tape? As in cassette tape?

You know, I actually inherited a cassette player/digital encoder from the room of obsolete technology when my office recently moved, so if they are selling genuine cassette tapes, I might have to get one, just to have something to play on it.

https://stimulusprogression.bandcamp.com/merch/harmonia-documents-1975-limited-edition-cassette
https://bleep.com/release/64784-harmonia-documents-1975

"Includes download code" it says

but not available digitally without the tape, it seems.

I did went and got the tape (yes, compact cassette) and I'm very glad I did. The download link however is for a 192kbps mp3, what is this 1975? The tape sounds much better to me.

Not because 192kbps mp3 is inherently much worse than cassette tape but it seems mastered differently and rather harsh / brittle.

There's a post on Progressive Ears forum from a few months back where the guy from Wayside Music mentions pre-ordering Documents 1975 on CD but I can't remember my login right now to ask if that was really a thing or if it was actually the tape.

What have these guys got against CDs? Vinyl, digital, cassette. Every format except CD.

Guys, someone, anyone who has the book...

What year did Cluster move to Forst?

Cluster Wiki says 1973: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_%28band%29

Harmonia Wiki says 1971: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonia_%28band%29

I know Michael Rother didn't move there until 1973, but when did Moebius and Roedelius decamp?

Never mind; website has it as 1971:

http://www.harmonia1973.com/story/

I got the Documents 1975 cassette+download. Sounds great; well worth the money since I couldn't throw down on the box!

But the boooooook :(

Documents 1975 seems to be getting a proper standalone release (er, today):

https://boomkat.com/products/documents-1975

vinyl is currently £9.99 on amazon, can't say no at that price

the cd, somehow, is £18.99 on amazon. madness.

It's only £9.99 on Boomcat, as linked?

It's also on Spotify. I started listening, thinking it was going to be barrel-scraping bits like that "live" NEU! record, but my goodness, 5 minutes in, I had already ordered it. It's not just live and demo odd-jobs, it's whole different workings of the songs.

Gee, thanks Groenland. Anyone want to buy a tape?

documents 75 is totally epic. these four jams are a lost harmonia album, every bit as transporting as the first one and deluxe. if you love these guys do yourself a favor and get on this

It's a great release – though I'm a bit miffed that I dropped 17 bones on a cassette + download, and now I know I'm gonna grab that wax. It's that good+essential, though.

Didn't realize there was a non-cassette standalone release! So long, $12.

Didn't realize there was a non-cassette standalone release! So long, $12.

Didn't realize there was a non-cassette standalone release! So long, $12.

(Inadvertent triple post, sorry)

Got the CD for Documents 75. They fixed the little digital clicky artifacts that marred the mp3s and the vinyl pressing on tracks 2 & 4. Kind of cant believe they didn't catch that first time around, but glad they got it this time. CD version is the perfect version.

http://imgur.com/Gdrm87c

ah good to know those clicks have been fixed up... wasn't sure if they were permanent parts of the original tapes or something. didn't ruin it, but they were occasionally vibe-killing.

I heard a track from the Harmonia/Eno '76 album yesterday. Beautiful stuff. I never knew a Harmonia/Eno record existed!

wow, 35 Euros for Groenland to ship a CD to the US? I'll pass, jerks.

I still have the old Tracks & Traces, I imagine crossgrading is well worthwhile?

sleeve - I know Wayside stock the Gronland stuff if that helps.

thanks, I figured SOMEBODY had to carry it in the US

nope, not the Documents CD anyway. it's new, there's still hope.

"temporarily out of stock" but hey

http://www.amazon.com/Documents-1975-HARMONIA/dp/B01AYQ6GZM/ref=tmm_acd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1460476503&sr=8-1

The ticks sound like a noise from the recorder or tape mechanism picked up by the mic. I wouldn't say they've been eliminated from the CD, unless there was some other issue.

amoeba.com has it. Free shipping in the US and currently a 15% discount advertised on the front page of the site, which brings the price to the same as amazon. (I am not an employee of amoeba, just offering info).

thanks y'all, I think I got a used one on Amazon but if that falls through I'll hit Amoeba up