German electronica: Cluster set the stage back in the 1970s for shape of sound to come

Last week it was ADULT., performing a live soundtrack to a horror film the Detroit duo produced. This week the Detroit Institute of Art's Friday Night Live! series welcomes the local debut of Cluster, one of Germany's most important and innovative bands of the 1970s. Well, OMG, we say, the DIA is on a very high roll indeed.

Cluster is a pioneering band rooted in the German electronic and ambient music genres. The group has collaborated and recorded with many of the giants in electronic music, including Holger Czukay and Conny Plank (instrumentalist and producer, respectively, of Krautrock titans Can), Brian Eno and others. Two of its members, Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (who performed as a solo artist at the DIA a few years ago), reunited in April 2007. Last June, they were selected to perform at the opening of documenta 12, a major exhibition of modern and contemporary art held every five years in Kassel, Germany. Moebius and Roedelius also worked with Neu! guitarist Michael Rother in the equally influential Harmonia, another band that recently reformed for live performances.

Cluster has been active since 1971, releasing a total of 13 albums. London-based music magazine The Wire selected Cluster's self-titled debut album for its cover story, "One Hundred Records That Set The World On Fire." Here's a video clip of a 2007 concert live in Berlin.

There are two performances on Friday, May 16, the first at 7 p.m. and another at 8:30 p.m. The concert is in the Lecture Hall at the DIA (5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit) and is free with regular museum admission. Members are, of course, admitted free.

May is membership month at the DIA. For more info on how to join go here.