Rastakraut Pasta

Though he was an unofficial shadow member of Krautrock pioneers Cluster throughout the `70s--first as performer and later as producer--Conny Plank rarely stepped out from behind the desk save for a handful of `80s albums with full-time Cluster member, Dieter Moebius. RASTAKRAUT PASTA (1980), the first of five collaborations with Moebius, cements the duo as proto-electronica innovators par excellence. Taking a quirky, dub reggae-inspired detour from Cluster's usual ambient leanings, the album runs the gambit from dubbed-out electroacoustic experiments ("Solar Plexus") to pastoral Eno-esque pop ("Two Oldtimers") to quietistic industrial chug ("News").