well that was cooooool

any more info than that?

is that Matmos? Am I totally lame for thinking that is Matmos?

its the legendary German electronic duo Cluster, playing at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Most active in the 70's and 80's, they are contemporaries of all the other Kosmische or Kraut-rock groups like Neu, Tangerine Dream, Can, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schultz, Ash Ra etc. But these guys are a typically a little more subtle and pastoral in their soundscapes. Collaborations with Brian Eno in the 70s brought them a more wide-spread audience but they have remained pretty obscure and under the radar. They are deservedly seen as god fathers of contemporary experimental electronic music. This was their second time on the west coast of america in the whole life of the band (1969 to present). Roedelius is 74 years old and Moebius is 64. they were both students of Joeseph Boyce, and are tied to the grand arch of 'conceptual art' as much as music. more info on them can be found herehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_%28band%29

their shows that i caught (in big sur and san francisco) were both awesome. they played mostly CD players with pre-recorded sounds/rhythms that they collaged together in subtle improvised ways, augmented by external effects (mini kaoss pad!) and synthesizers.

I opened for them in san francisco, along with a weird glam glitter fashion show and the SF kraut disco group Tussle. It was fun.

if you click on the picture above, it will take you to my flickr, where you can see all the notes i put on the picture regarding their gear.

and you are not lame for thinking it is Matmos, ritch. Matmos can be seen as clearly influenced by Cluster. Cluster just pre-dates Matmos by a good few decades.
In fact, Matmos' new record Supreme Balloon which i think drops fairly soon, is a clear indication of the deep influence Cluster (and the rest of the German synth supergroups of the 70s) still has on today's electronic music scene. Its an all-synth record which early reviews http://www.tinymixtapes.com/Matmos,6161 http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6871&Itemid=1 http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4303
In fact even the official press release for this album mentions Cluster as a touch-stone for their new recording "The jewel in the crown is the album's title track, a 24 minute monster synth jam that builds from a lone Roland SH-101 wobbling your sub-woofers into a celestial, psychedelic epic whose spiraling arpeggios recall the sidelong LP-era mind-journeys of Cluster, Mother Mallard and Vangelis." http://www.matadorrecords.com/matmos/biography.html

now that is cool!