Kluster - Cluster - and now Qluster. If nothing else, 'Fragen' documents the spelling virtuosity of one of Germany's premier cult bands.
Qluster are Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Onnen Bock.
Now pushing 80, Roedelius is an elder statesman of Krautrock. He has been part of all three K/C/Qluster incarnations since 1969 as well as initiating or contributing to countless other recording projects, notably Harmonia. His prolific output also includes collaborations with Brian Eno.
Bock is about half Roedelius' age and comes from a sound engineering background having worked for Berlin Philharmonic and at the Volksbühne (People's Theatre) in Berlin.
Fragen is the part of a trilogy : 'Rufen - Fragen - Antworten (calling - questioning - responding)
Its brief is a loose one save only that the instrumental recordings must be played on analogue keyboards and stem solely from improvisations.
The resultant music prompts some florid prose from German composer Asmus Tietchens who writes that the album "guides the listener towards peaceful, pale rooms where airy veils of suspended matter sparkle, as if floating gently to and fro in the breeze".
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Los Geht's, the opening track, translates roughly as 'Here we go!', a title which sounds purposeful and dynamic but this is not what we hear, The abstract qualities of all the seven tracks actually seem to have no specific intentions beyond establishing a meditative mood; a musical accompaniment to the sound of one hand clapping. Appropriately, the spiral image on the album cover is a typical design found in Zen gardens.
Haste Töne is the most accessible piece while the thirteen minutes of Würzelweit (bittersweet) is the most freeform.
Ultimately, nothing much happens on Fragen but in a cool kind of way.
Qluster's Website
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