Cluster - Curiosum LP

Cluster's tenth album, not counting their collaborations with Brian Eno or Neu's Michael Rother, finds the duo of Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius in a somewhat peculiar place. Their landmark early electronic work was hugely influential on the English post-punk synthesizer bands of the late '70s. Curiosum, released in 1981, just as some of these bands were moving from arty cult status to mainstream stardom, sounds like Moebius and Roedelius had started taking cues from the groups they'd initially inspired. Gone are the side-long experiments of early Cluster albums like Zwei Osteri. In their place, Moebius and Roedelius craft seven surprisingly short discrete instrumental pieces; four are under five minutes, and none reach the ten-minute mark. Since it's impossible to work up a good hypnotic drone in so little time, the songs on Curiosum are more melodic than most of the duo's earlier work. The lilting, almost playful "Oh Odessa" sounds like it could have been on an early Orche