Harmonia - "Musik von Harmonia"

I know it's still early in the game for me, but I want to keep on top of things and make sure I'm posting files regularly. I'd like to make this a blog that people are stoked about discovering, and hopefully anyone who reads it will feel like it's worth keeping an eye on.

In any case, I'm trying to make today's post a special one-- there's nothing like a horse that comes out of the gate strong, right? First, however, it's important to define my MP3 labeling system. The way it works is:

Artist Name - Album Name - Track Number - Title (and any additional information, such as "Live 02.15.05" goes at the end in parentheses)

It's pretty much that simple. Now on to the good stuff...

Today's batch of files comprises Harmonia's first album, Musik von Harmonia. If you're into Krautrock, boy are you in for a treat with this one. Then again, if you're into Krautrock, I probably don't need to give an intro for this piece because I'm sure you're well aware, but for everybody else, I'd like to give a little edifying information.

Harmonia was a German space-rock group formed by Michael Rother (previously of Neu!) and Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Deiter Moebius (of Cluster). After recording their first pair of albums, the two fellas from Cluster had moved out to a converted farmhouse studio in the countryside town of Frost, seeking a kind of psychological/spiritual sanctuary where they could continue working on their improvisational, technological experiments without disruption. Michael Rother was between Neu! albums, and after a few failed attempts to expand his band's live lineup beyond a duo playing against a tape machine, he needed some down time to collect his thoughts. An invitation to get some R & R and participate in some low-key improvised jams with the Cluster boys was apparently too good an offer to resist, so Rother packed his bags and headed for the farm.

Musik von Harmonia was the result of the trio's messing around. Released in 1974, the record presents a perfect balance between Cluster's spacier experimentation (with a focus on sound, pitch and timbre rather than musical content) and Michael Rother's guitar-and-synth-oriented extended pop workouts. It's worth noting that the experience of making this album must have put some serious juice back into Rother's batteries, because after recording this album and doing some live gigs, he rolled on into the studio with Klaus Dinger and came up with the space-pop monolith that is Neu! 75.

Harmonia's influence on modern music is pretty clear, upon listening to their records. Drum boxes clatter away, recreating simple-yet-effective rhythms with a precision only matched by recent hip-hop production; synthesizers swirl around, forming the bizarre cloudy textures and cool, icy tones that gave birth to post-punk and New Wave; meanwhile, guitars alternately chug on fat chord changes, or reach out with echoing melodic fingers that wrap around your mind and won't let go for days.

No less a titan than Brian Eno himself declared that Harmonia was "the world's most important rock group." As it happens, in 1976 he'd go on to put his money where his mouth was and joined the trio. The quartet rechristened themselves Harmonia 76 for the occasion, but the results of this work didn't see the light of day for twenty years til Ryko released the brilliant Tracks & Traces album (which, and I know I'm in the minority here, I think rivals the quality of anything else the group achieved). Michael Rother went on to enjoy a solo career, while Eno made two more records with Cluster under the factual moniker Cluster & Eno, and... well, I think that's enough for today's history lesson. On to the file.