Zuckerzeit

1974 was a watershed year for electronic music. Tangerine Dream released the spacey, kosmische "Phaedra," and Kraftwerk released their epic ode to the German motorway with "Autobahn." Both albums which are part of the official 1001 list, and rightly so. But somewhere in the liminal space between those two more famous albums lies "Zuckerzeit," which was also released in that most auspicious year. "Zuckerzeit" is much more tightly packaged and catchy than the loose and atmospheric "Phaedra," but it is far less rigid than the conceptual "Autobahn." It was a turning point in Cluster's work, moving away from their noisier and more abrasive past in Berlin, and towards something closer to IDM, which would take another 2 decades to fully develop.

There are multiple ways to read the boiling down of the music herein, attach something to -ness and file the record as precursor. At worst, think of the decent video game of the middle stretches; Otherwise, consider at least two label catalogs I could name, or motorik beats on a machine, or synths that bite back. Really, though, krautrock remains rarefied air, and Cluster master a pop expression of it in still-expansive form.

I quite enjoyed this, listened a few times. It comes off as such friendly music despite being extremely experimental.

A really fun time listening to ambient german beats! Somewhere between vaporwave and retro-german-techno-futurism. What a cool find!

Electro pioneer Germans always get my vote. Ausgezeichnet!

7/10. Had no idea what this was going in, and enjoyed it. Good instrumental music.

Kinda spacey krautrock stuff, drawn out and stoned. Moogs and drumkits and bass and whatnot. Great vibe, maybe a bit *too* drawn out in places, but still a good 3/5.

Very synthesized, almost ambient "jam music." Ze Germans always had a good corner on this particular type of music. Had never heard of them until now. Based on late 60's-70's timeframe I'd imagine lots of bands watched these guys and took notes for the late 70's-80's synth "noise bands."

Couldn't come around on this one, just synthesizer noodling.

Interesting at times, but overall not my thing. It was 37 minutes long but it felt like an hour and a half. 2 stars.

Fun and happy sounding instrumental Krautrock. I can't say I've listened to much Cluster so this was a fun revisiting.

Pretty good Krautrock, although I think the selections on the list cover the genre quite well.

Classic German artist style beat.

Kooky kraut-rock

Perfectly fine and foundational early electronic music, but nothing here blew me away like contemporaries such as Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, or Can.

Comparisons with their fellow Krautrock peers are inevitable and I must say I much prefer the more melodic Kraftwerk or the spacey/prog sound of Tangerine Dream. I think these guys really start cooking when they're joined by Eno, but alas Eno is nowhere to be found on this album.

I'm not a fan of Krautrock at all. I've never been able to get into the sound of the genre's big names like Can or Faust, so when I saw this album by a lesser-known band like Cluster, I was all over it. I was wrong. It's not an album that changes my opinion of the genre, but it's the most accessible thing I've heard from the era. Short instrumental tracks that could almost work as protosynth-pop. An enjoyable and appreciated listen

Typical Krautrock. Not bad, but not really my first choice of music

Pas trop mon style, meme pour un album genre electro.. 2.75

Meh. Not much my thing

I really wish I was more open-minded when it comes to musical genres that live in the more outer regions of the musical spectrum. I would really love to actually 'get' music like Cluster's. But I don't. I can't wrap my head around why this would be even remotely interesting for anyone to listen to. Luckily there are many people that do 'get' this. Makes life a lot less plain and boring. But still, to me this sounds like endless noodling on electronic switch-boards. I envy those that hear actual music in this.

Als het openingsnummer al geen zang bevat, maar wel elektronische gelaagdheid weet ik genoeg.