Snapshots / Sidesteps

"If you're a fan of contemporary electronica, but if Roedelius is an unfamiliar name to you, then you're missing out on one of that genre's most important well-springs." // BBC

"An inspiration to artists as diverse as Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Brian Eno and Julian Cope. Roedelius has persued his unique and extraordinarily beautiful vision for half century. He has also lived a life that screams out to be told in a movie" // Mojo

Hans-Joachim Roedelius has decided to work with Irish electronic label Psychonavigation Records on his latest musical project entitled 'Snapshots/Sidesteps'.

A ten track compilation which features collaborations with The Orb, Patrick Pulsinger, Alec Way, Haeyoung Kim, Fratelli Brothers, Timothy O'Keefe, Fabio Capanni, David Bickley, Seiichi Suzuki and Werner Moebius. The CD showcases works produced over the past 10 years and takes the listener on a journey through many styles of music from Ambient-Glitch Electronics–Dub

From being a founding member of Kluster in 1969 who's eponymous debut pioneered the brick-a-brack approach to electronic music and is still revered today. To working with a long list of impressive collaborators such as Holger Czukay (Can), Conrad Plank (Krautrock producer extraordinaire) and forming Cluster by adding luminaries such as Brian Eno and Michael Rother (NEU!) to the ranks.

Roedelius's first prodigious steps into creative life began in his childhood, when he found himself thrust into roles as a child actor in six German feature films before the age of ten. The War and its aftermath then presented particularly difficult times to Roedelius' life, with his family forced to evacuate toward the Russian border in 1943. The post-war atmosphere became less friendly still with a sinister new civil police known as The Stasi marshalling the then shaping East Germany. Uncomfortable and incongruent Roedelius fled this regime, selling fake jewellery and living in a single apartment with refugees for company. Only to be arrested and interrogated as he attempted to cross the border to visit family in 1952.

Given time and freedom, Roedelius found himself in the creative outskirts of the different new society in which he was now immersed. Eventually in the 1960s, following hippy expeditions (at one time he was masseuse to the President of the French Republic. "I used to go in and out of the Elysée Palace barefoot – it was part of my "Hippie Healer" outfit, along with the long hair and sheepskin jacket.") and various dabblings in almost-jazz, Roedelius set out as a professional composer, indulging in experiments with sound that he described as 'anarchic musical actionism'.

Hans Joachim Roedelius overall impact on many musical genre is immense and he has often been credited as one of the Übermeisters of what became known, affectionately, as Krautrock. He has released over 150 records, encompassing experimental and leftfield departures to more traditional soundtracks and classical compositions and has a loyal fan base of young and old.