Musik von Harmonia / Anniversary Edition (Deluxe Edition) (2LP)

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first Harmonia record Musik von Harmonia, Gronland release this limited edition set, containing the original album and a second vinyl with reworks by Matthew Herbert, Stuart Braithwaite, James Holden and many more.

The debut Harmonia LP, Musik Von Harmonia, appeared in 1974 (with an accomplished live track, recorded in Amsterdam) and marks the first collaborative effort between Cluster’s Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius and Neu!‘s Michael Rother: a German supergroup and genuine rarity, a colossal artistic success. The three members were skilled keyboard players, guitarists, electronic percussionists and composers.

This was a group musically and conceptually miles ahead of its time. Musik Von Harmonia is at once a product of their source bands and a fine new twist on them, resulting in music that captures what for many is the Krautrock ideal, or more accurately, the motorik ideal.

It’s not Kraftwerk’s all-synth, clean, clinical pulse, nor Neu!‘s seemingly effortless glide, nor Can’s stomping art world funk. Instead it’s at once playful and murky, steady and mechanical, a supergroup of sorts who easily achieves and maintains such a seemingly overstated status by embracing a variety of approaches that work wonders.