Hans-Joachim Roedelius

Kluster is a German experimental musical group whose work often resembles later industrial music. The original Kluster was short-lived, existing only... from 1969 until mid-1971 when Conrad Schnitzler left and the remaining two members renamed themselves Cluster. The trio originally met when Moebius was working as a steak chef in Berlin, and was invited to join a band by Roedelius and Schnitzler, who were at that time engaged in the joint venture of the Zodiak Club, a Berlin nightclub they had founded. The band was based in West Berlin. They are often categorized as Krautrock. Although all three members played many different instruments on the three albums they recorded, the lineup is sometimes described as consisting of Moebius on drums, Roedelius on cello and Schnitzler on keyboards. Unorthodox instruments such as car batteries and electicians' signal generators were also used. Kluster had minuscule sales during the time they were active. Only 300 copies each of the first two LPs were pressed and sold.
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Harmonia is a Krautrock supergroup from Germany. They formed as a collaboration between Michael Rother of Neu! and Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter... Möbius of Cluster and later included the British musician Brian Eno. As two-thirds of the original group were the entirety of Cluster, the first album, Musik von Harmonia, leaned more towards that band's ambient-tinged rock than Neu!'s Motorik rock. The second album Deluxe had much stronger beats and a more Motorik and arguably more commercial sound. With the addition of Brian Eno for the 1976 recording sessions the third album, Tracks and Traces, was again more ambient in style. In 1971 the duo of Moebius and Roedelius, also known as Cluster, moved to the rural village of Forst, West Germany. Michael Rother put his project Neu! on hold in early 1973 to form the band Harmonia with Roedelius and Moebius. Together they built their own studio in Forst and recorded two albums under the name Harmonia: Musik von Harmonia in 1974 and Deluxe in 1975, both released on Brain. Musician, writer, and rock historian Julian Cope places both albums in his Krautrock Top 50.
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Sky Records was a Hamburg, Germany based independent record label specializing in Krautrock/Kosmische Musik and electronic music. Some of their releases could be classified as progressive rock or art rock, experimental music, industrial, ambient, or New Age. No new releases appeared after 1998. Sky... Records was founded in 1975 by Günter Körber after he left Metronome Musik, the parent company of influential Krautrock/Kosmische label Brain Records. Körber was able to sign several former Brain Records recording artists to his new label, most notably Cluster just as they began a successful collaboration with Brian Eno. The success of the albums Cluster & Eno in 1977 and After the Heat in 1978 helped put Sky on a solid financial footing. Other former Brain artists signing with Sky included Thirsty Moon and Michael Rother shortly after his departure from Neu! and Harmonia. Other notable artists who recorded for Sky Records include Nik Tyndall, Moebius & Plank, Conrad Schnitzler, Asmus Tietchens, Earthstar, Serge Blenner, Harald Grosskopf, Adelbert von Deyen and Dieter Schütz. Both Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster released solo albums and collaborations on Sky.
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Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label in the United States, Rykodisc was founded in... 1983 in Salem, Massachusetts, by Arthur Mann, Rob Simonds, Doug Lexa and Don Rose. In the late 1980s, the label also began to issue high-quality cassette and vinyl versions of many releases under the name Ryko Analogue. Rykodisc had some notable successes in the CD-reissue industry, as artists such as Elvis Costello, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Frank Zappa, Nick Drake, Nine Inch Nails, Robert Wyatt, and Mission of Burma allowed Rykodisc to issue their catalogs on CD. Rykodisc still retains the rights to the Zappa catalog. Rykodisc also re-released the SST Records-era recordings by the Meat Puppets. Over the years the label has acquired Hannibal Records, Tradition Records, Gramavision Records, Emperor Norton Records, Restless Records and, most recently, Cordless Recordings. Rykodisc also founded a distribution company, Ryko Distribution, and a music publishing company, Rykomusic.
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PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group. In 1929, Decca Records licensed record shop owner H.W. van Zoelen as a distributor in the... Netherlands. By 1931, his company Hollandsche Decca Distributie had become exclusive Decca distributor for all of the Netherlands and its colonies. Over the course of the 1930s, HDD put together its own facilities for A&R, recording and manufacture. HDD was commercially successful during World War II because of the absence of American and British competition. Van Zoelen wanted to sell to Philips so that HDD would have sufficient financial backing when their major competitors returned after the war. This led Philips to buy HDD in 1942.
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