The debut
Harmonia album is at once a product of their source bands and a fine new twist on them, resulting in music that captures what for many is the Krautrock ideal, or more accurately, the motorik ideal. It's not
Kraftwerk's all-synth, clean, clinical pulse, nor
Neu!'s seemingly effortless glide, nor Can's stomping art world funk. Instead it's at once playful and murky, steady and mechanical, a supergroup of sorts who easily achieves and maintains such a seemingly overstated status by embracing a variety of approaches that work wonders. The players bring their usual multi-instrumental roles to the fore, ensuring that the end results achieve their own distinct sound -- this isn't simply
Cluster with
Rother's assistance or
Rother trying for a solo record with
Cluster's backing. For all that, there's a touch more
Cluster in the end -- the spacier parts on Musik Von Harmonia have that duo's hushed chill, the electronic percussion of
Rother meanwhile avoids his familiar crisp punch using real drums in
Neu! outside of the perky "Dino." "Ohrwurm," meanwhile, has a strung-out guitar grind nicely offset by a far more restrained wail in the background, further backed by delicate keyboards and tones. When it comes to pure drift, the wonderful "Sehr Kosmisch" is the understandable winner, a nearly 11-minute-long piece that undeniably had to have been part of the attraction for
Brian Eno in his later work with the band. A piano piece reminiscent of
Eno collaborator Harold Budd drifts up and down through the mix of keyboard shimmers and electronic washes, resulting in a piece at once both meditative and gently rhythmic. Other songs, like "Veterano" and "Watussi," suggest the electro-pop approach, which
Kraftwerk inadvertently founded, but with their own quirky edge, rhythmic distortion, and guitar parts playing with the expected formula. ~ Ned Raggett