Wiki
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Release Date
1 January 1974
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Length
10 tracks
Zuckerzeit (German: Sugar Time) is the third studio album by German band Cluster, released in 1974 on Brain Records. It was co-produced by Michael Rother, their bandmate in side-project Harmonia. The music on Zuckerzeit marks a shift from Cluster's abrasive early work toward a more rhythmic, pop-oriented sound. Pitchfork ranked the album at number 63 on its list of the top 100 albums of the 1970s, while writer and musician Julian Cope included Zuckerzeit in his "Krautrock Top 50" list.
Zuckerzeit was recorded following Cluster's move from West Berlin to the countryside of Forst, and came after their collaboration with Neu! guitarist Michael Rother on the 1973 Harmonia album Musik von Harmonia. The album's short instrumental tracks marked the group's shift toward a pop-oriented style which utilized cheap drum machines and synthesizers. Each track is a solo composition, with the two members recording separately on different days; The Quietus noted that "it is in reality two solo EPs masquerading as a joint release."
Rother is credited as co-producer, but his primary role was to leave the group some of his equipment, including Farfisa instruments, a four-track recorder, a stereo mixer, and an Elka Drummer One drum machine. With the latter, the group experimented with mixing up multiple preset rhythms at once, as well as running the drum machine through echo, vibrato, and wah pedals, and cutting parts of the rhythm entirely.
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