Moebius - Aspirin (2023)

×

Moebius - Aspirin (2023)

Close

Dieter Moebius (16 January 1944 – 20 July 2015) is one of the most important protagonists of avant-garde electronic music in Germany. Best known as a member of the influential krautrock bands Kluster/Cluster (with Hans-Joachim Roedelius) and Harmonia (with Roedelius and Michael Rother of Neu!), he collaborated with musicians including Brian Eno, Conny Plank and Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru). On October 6th, Curious Music are set to release his posthumous album ‘Aspirin’, completed in 2005, but never released.

‘Aspirin’ presents a broad spectrum of Moebius’ distinctive approach — kosmische, rhythmic, abrasive, and hypnotic. From the repetitive patterns of the album title track to the reverberating layers found in ‘C9H8O4’ and ‘Synthetic’, Moebius delves deep into the surging maelstrom of synthesized experimentalism that he is famed for, and which continues to inspire a generation of sound explorers and composers today. Elsewhere, the dirtified electronica of ‘Spiraea’ and whimsical ‘Providence’ provide further evidence of the humour and imagination implanted in Moebius’ work, while the cyclical, mechanical ‘Muffler C’ is perfectly Moebius – profoundly unfussy, but full of noise and life.

The story behind the creation of ‘Aspirin’ is best told in the words of Moebius’ friend and fellow composer, Tim Story; “In early December of 2005, Dieter Moebius came to the US to perform with Guru Guru drummer Mani Neumeier at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Moebi stayed on a few extra days to visit my family and me in Ohio – days which flew by as usual in a flurry of visits from friends, laughter, food, and drink. On the last night, it was down to just Moebi and I and a little Scotch at the kitchen table, when Moebi pulled out his minidisc player with some new tracks he’d been working on. I loved them and asked if I could copy them to my hard drive. Moebi graciously agreed, though he wasn’t at all sure what, if anything, he would do with them.”

He adds, “Moebi had just finished recording his album ‘Nurton’ (2006) earlier in 2005, and like that album, these new tracks would have been recorded in his home studios in Berlin and Mallorca. It's possible some of these could have been out-takes from ‘Nurton’ but most I believe were recorded after that project – whatever the timeline, and for whatever reason, Moebi ultimately decided to shelve these pieces to work on what would be his next solo album ‘Kram’ (2009).”

It was many years later that Story brought a CDr of the tracks to Berlin during a visit and Moebius was excited to hear them again. Never precious about the past and always working on new material, there seemed little need to revisit these musical orphans until his death in 2015. “Though I never got another chance to talk to Moebi about this music, I think he would be pleased to have this little forgotten chapter from a happy, fruitful time in his life and available at last.”

‘Aspirin’ comes off the back of the release of ‘Moebius Strips’, released in 2021 by Curious Music, which spoke to the continuing impact Moebius has had on generations of musicians. Working closely with his widow Irene, the audio installation brought together Story and Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo), Michael Rother (Harmonia, Neu!), Eve Maret, Yuri Suzuki, Phew, Geoff Barrow (Portishead, Beak), Jean-Benoît Dunckel (Air), Sarah Davachi, and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster, Harmonia) to proclaim through sound the resonance that Moebius’ work carries through into the future.