Zuckerzeit

Zuckerzeit was recorded following Cluster's move from West Berlin to the countryside of Forst, and came after their collaboration with Neu! guitarist Michael Rother on the 1973 Harmonia album Musik von Harmonia. The album's short instrumental tracks marked the group's shift toward a pop-oriented style which utilized cheap drum machines and synthesizers. Each track is a solo composition, with the two members recording separately on different days; With the latter, the group experimented with mixing up multiple preset rhythms at once, ==Reception==

John Bush of AllMusic described Zuckerzeit as "an unexpected jump from the extended kosmische jams of Cluster 71 into uncharted territory [...] fusing the duo's haunted melodic sense with crisp, scratchy drum programs." Legacy In a review of Cluster's 1971–1981 box set, AllMusic's Paul Simpson called the album a "masterpiece [that] combined trippy drum machine rhythms with woozy, pastoral melodies, resulting in a skewed, playful vision of futuristic pop. The recording remains a watershed moment in electronic music, and is easily one of the best albums of the '70s." Writer Ulrich Adelt stated that the album's "influence on electronic music was significant, and many more contemporary groups have copied [its] lo-fi sound." Pitchfork ranked the album at number 63 on its list of the top 100 albums of the 1970s. Among its fans are Brian Eno ==Track listing==

• Hans-Joachim Roedelius • Dieter Moebius • Michael Rother – production ==Notes==