Pop Music Review : Roedelius Goes Digital Route in Creating a Sonic Collage

Hans-Joachim Roedelius sat unceremoniously at a keyboard in LunaPark’s downstairs cabaret Friday and casually remarked that he was “going to show you what I’ve been doing for the last 30 years.”

That was no mean feat, given the German-raised, Vienna-based musician’s stature as a pioneer of ambient music.

Today the genre is a global industry. But when he first emerged, there was little of the sort, and his work with Cluster and in collaboration with Brian Eno bridged the experimental classical world of Stockhausen and the rock tangents of Tangerine Dream, Can and Kraftwerk.

Roedelius’ first of three weekend performances showed that he’s still a creative leader. Between two piano pieces echoing Erik Satie’s and Michael Nyman’s music for the movie “The Piano,” he manipulated an array of digital tools in a fascinating, unfolding sonic collage of bits ranging from nature noises to an excerpt of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” The often unsettling qualities of the soundscape were a reminder that just because it’s ambient doesn’t mean it has to be static or even soothing.

A set by Roger Eno (Brian’s brother) that followed was full of pretty tunes but was less dynamic. With young English electronica artists Lol Hammond (of Drum Club) and Matt Rowlands accompanying Eno’s neo-Romantic piano, the effect was along the lines of “Chariots of Fire”--lovely, but rarely compelling.