Dieter Moebius of Cluster and Harmonia Has Died

Electronic music pioneer was 71
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Dieter Moebius—the electronic music and krautrock pioneer who co-founded Cluster and Harmonia—has died. His bandmates Michael Rother (of Neu! and Harmonia) and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (of Cluster and Harmonia) both confirmed the news on Facebook. The cause of death is unknown. He was 71.

In 1969, Moebius co-founded a trio called Kluster featuring Roedelius and Tangerine Dream's Conrad Schnitzler at the Zodiak Free Arts Lab in Berlin. After a pair of albums, Schnitzler left the group and the duo renamed themselves Cluster. Their self-titled first album was released in 1971. Conny Plank was a regular collaborator with both Kluster and Cluster as a writer, performer, and engineer. In the 1980s and 1990s, Moebius and Plank released a series of collaborative albums.

Moebius and Roedelius moved to a rural retreat in Forst, Germany, and in 1973, Rother took a break from Neu! to form Harmonia with the duo. They released two albums—1974's Musik Von Harmonia and 1975's Harmonia Deluxe. All three men collaborated with Brian Eno in 1976. Those sessions were released on the album Tracks and Traces in 1997 under the name Harmonia 76. Eno's collaborations with Moebius and Roedelius continued on 1978's Cluster and Eno and 1979's After the Heat.

Moebius' output, both solo and with his peers, is extensive. Roedelius singled out "In Ewigkeit" from the 1977 Cluster album Sowiesoso (below), which translates to "In Eternity".