#maximum brain

Co-founder of Cluster (nee Kluster) and Harmonia, collaborator with Brian Eno, Dieter Moebius, Michael Rother and Conny Plank, self-taught electronic music pioneer and veteran of the Berlin underground music and art scene since the 1960s, 77-year-old Hans-Joachim Roedelius makes his Atlanta debut at the Earl on Friday, October 8. Opening for Roedelius will be Xambuca, Recompas and Maximum Brain.

A multimedia collective formed in San Francisco and now based in Asheville, NC, Xambuca is led by Chandra Shukla whose resume includes collaborations with Squirm, Scribble Seven (Nurse with Wound), Psychic TV and, as they say, a whole lot more.

Recompas is a psych / kraut rock band with an ever-changing lineup, revolving around mainstay Travis Thatcher.  This show will feature Blake Helton, Jon Lukens and TJ Blake.

Maximum Brain is a new collaboration between Mason Brown (Brainworlds) and Matt Cherry (Maserati, Maximum Cherry). This show will mark the duo’s debut performance.

The following interview with Roedelius was conducted via email in September 2001 and appears courtesy of veteran Atlanta-based music writer Doug DeLoach.

DD: Please describe the music you are playing on this tour including a brief description of the instrumentation you will be playing.

HJR: Instruments are a mikro-KORG, a Nordstage 88, pre-prepared sound materials of many different kinds on CD-Rs to be played from three CD-players; these materials will be arranged and mixed in the very moment of the performance – improvised, as always.

DD: From the standpoint of an artist who has worked in various genres and across generations, please describe how the role played by your music has changed depending upon the setting and the period during which it was being made.

HJR: It hasn't changed since the beginning at all neither ingredient-wise nor in the way of doing it (improvisation). It's only much easier nowadays because I don't have to carry heavy gear.

DD: Have you always been conscious of the potential consequences of the music you make regardless of whether the performance is improvised or structured in some way?

HJR: Yes I was, although, in the beginning, not really, but more and more during the many years of my experience. Even so, it was not my aim to change the world of music; I just had to do it my way, because there was none other.

DD: Do you create music solely based on what you “hear” in your mind’s ear or is there (sometimes or always) an end result you are trying to achieve?

HJR: I try to achieve what I feel needs to be achieved when I start from point zero. What then develops "itself" comes from its own structure out of the moment of creation. I can't say "what I hear in my mind." I don't hear anything in my inner ear before I start to compose/improvise.

I have to make it, to listen to it whilst doing it, to become aware of whether it's becoming a relevant piece of tone-art or not.

I have to fulfill a dream, a vision. Each piece of music I create is a surprise for me, still -- even now after more than 40 years of practicing.

DD: Are terms like “avant garde,” “mainstream,” “pop,” “ambient” and so on, any more or less relevant today than they have been in the past?

HJR: That's not my thing. I'm living in and creating out of my solitude.

DD: When we (the listening audience) attend one of your concerts, what are some of the things we will NOT hear? What WILL we hear?

HJR: You will hear an originator. You will listen to authentic music.

DD: You are often credited with being one of the founders of electronic music. At the same time, you have described your evolution as a musician as being somewhat of an accident or product of simply learning how to play.

HJR: Yes this is the truth. My music comes out of a process of constant learning how to create tones and sounds, complex structures, how to work with those to compose what I LIKE. 

DD: Informed by knowledge and honed by experience gathered during decades of performing and collaborating with other artists, how do you see your position in the history of music?

HJR: I did what I had to do become aware of the fact  that I am a human being who has to understand and reflect in his art how important it is in life to find ( back? or forward ?) the real values of life. I'm always saying I'm not a composer; I'm a philosopher, a writer, a poet who works with tones/sounds to explain where he belongs, ethically speaking.

DD: In the earliest days, did you see what you were doing as something especially adventuresome or ground-breaking?

HJR: Adventurous yes, because I knew nothing about music either theoretically or practically.

I was physiotherapist/masseur before, so I had to go every single step to become aware of what I needed to do. I had to practice/learn hard to be able finally to do relevant art, to know where I'm coming from and where I have to go.

DD: When did you first realize you were going to commit yourself to a career as an artist? Have you ever regretted the decision?

HJR: The moment when I decided to become an artist was in the late Sixties, I knew: That was it, there was no doubt at all.

I'm very happy that I was able to continue after I started to get into it, because I couldn't make my living out of it for about more than 35 years. Sometimes I was close to give up.

I don't regret anything at all now after all these years, all those positive reactions from so many people/fans all over the globe, all those recordings -- almost 170 CDs/LPs with my name on it, countless concerts, readings, performances etc.

DD: Why has the name Qluster stayed with you throughout the years? Does it hold special meaning or value? Does the change in spelling from “Cluster” or “Kluster” to “Qluster” have any significance or is it just whimsical wordplay?

HJR: It’s not whimsical at all. Kluster/Cluster is a special scientific topic. We chose it to describe the way how we were approaching improvisation/composition. Kluster/ Cluster was based on agreement, understanding, friendship, idealism. Intellectually, it was based on the change of paradigm that came with the change of the millennium.

I think we were born into a very special situation as a sort of medium for the announcement of the new paradigm of the 21st millennium. Open-minded, we had to reflect the arrival of a broader awareness how to live a reasonable life, respectful of the dignity of all that exists. Lucky us.

As for Qluster: Sounding like Cluster, the same principle: Improvisation in the moment with whichever equipment is available, but with new personnel, Onnen Bock and others, instead of Moebius who left Cluster end 0f 2010.

DD: In terms of personal listening habits, what do you enjoy?