On Sundays we take a step back and turn the dial a notch down. This day of the weekend is a great opportunity to let in the sound waves that massages the eardrums and stimulate the senses. Sounds meditative huh, but after a good weekend of absorbing the club most of you will walk around the house like zombies anyway.

The musician Hans-Joachim Roedelius, born 1934; active since 1969 as a solo artist and in various collaborations (Cluster with Dieter Moebius; Harmonia with Moebius and Michael Rother; with Brian Eno, to name just a few). One of the most prolific musicians of the German avant-garde and a key figure in the birth of Krautrock, synthesizer pop and ambient music. In 1981 he released his seventh solo album ”Wenn der Südwind weht” (When the South Wind is Blowing).

Where on earth does Roedelius find such a beautiful array of notes?” wonders Asmus Tietchens in his sleeve notes for this reissue on Bureau B. Not an unreasonable question. Hans-Joachim Roedelius, a pioneer of ambient music, krau- trock and, arguably, synthesizer pop, member of such seminal bands as Cluster and Harmonia, revels in alien worlds on this, his seventh solo record. “Music to be listened to quietly”, as Roedelius advised on the LP cover.

Indeed, listening at low volume enhances the sense of otherworldliness quite considerably. And yet, Wenn der Südwind weht (When the South Wind is Blowing) can hardly be termed “spacey” nor psychedelic in the slightest. Electronic excesses are absent, aural exotica off-limits, bizarre cacophonies non-existent. The individual tracks are compact, lined up in quick succession like a string of pearls. Wherein lies their fascination? From what distant place do they reach out to the listener?

First of all, there is the Roedelian “quietitude”. Even when the music is turned up, it remains quiet in character, almost as if wrapped in cotton wool. The quiet nature of this music is inse- parable from the serene and tranquil manner in which Roedelius goes about creating his typicalharmonies and melodies on an electric organ of decidedly limited sonic variability.

Roedelius leaves in the occasional blip and electric interference or tape hiss — nothing can distract him from the inspiration of the moment as it feeds his music. The contrast with the perfect, yet impersonal precision of minimalism could not be greater. Improvisation is the driving force of Roedelius’s music.

Without a trace of exhibitionism, the undisgui- sed Roedelius externalizes himself through his music with an honesty that could move one to tears. As a member of Cluster and Harmonia, such radicalism was never open to him. Südwind is an undisputed highlight in the Roedelius canon.