Everything about Krautrock totally explained
Krautrock, also known as
Kosmische Musik, is a generic name for the
experimental music scene that appeared in
Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain.
BBC DJ
John Peel in particular is largely credited with spreading the reputation of krautrock outside of the German-speaking world.
Origin of the term
The term
Krautrock was originally a humorous one coined by the UK music press (such as
New Musical Express and
Melody Maker), where "Krautrock" found an early and enthusiastic underground following. (It derives from the
ethnic slur "
Kraut", which had been used in the USA by the previous generation to refer to a German person.) The term "Krautrock" may not have lost its negative connotationsthough it should be noted that the British journalists who employed it were often highly admiring of the musicians and their music. As is often the case with musical genre labels, few of the bands concerned wished to see themselves pigeon-holed, and tended to eschew the term.
The book
Krautrocksampler by
Julian Cope (generally regarded as comprehensive primer on the subject), opines that "Krautrock is a subjective British phenomenon", as it's based rather on the way the music was received in the UK than on the actual West German music scene it grew out of. For instance, whilst one of the main groups originally tagged as krautrock,
Faust, recorded a seminal 12 minute track they titled "Krautrock", they'd later distance themselves from the term: It might also be added that the UK availability of critically-touted "progressive" records at discount prices did much to popularise them among British teenagers.
Characteristics
Krautrock is an eclectic and often very original mix of Anglo-American post-
psychedelic jamming and moody
progressive rock mixed with ideas from contemporary experimental
classical music (especially composer
Karlheinz Stockhausen, with whom, for example,
Irmin Schmidt and
Holger Czukay of
Can had previously studied) and from the new experimental directions that emerged in
jazz during the 1960s and 1970's. Moving away from the patterns of song structure and melody of much rock music in America and Britain, some in the movement also drove the music to a more
mechanical and
electronic sound. The key component characterizing the groups gathered under the term is the synthesis of Anglo-American rock and roll rhythm and energy with a decided will to distance themselves from specifically American blues origins, but to draw on German or sources instead. Jean-Hervé Peron of
Faust says:
Typical bands dubbed "krautrock" in the 1970s included
Tangerine Dream,
Faust,
Can,
Amon Düül II,
Ash Ra Tempel and others associated with the celebrated
Cologne-based producers and engineers
Dieter Dierks and
Conny Plank, such as
Neu!,
Kraftwerk and
Cluster. Bands such as these were reacting against the need to develop a radically new musical aesthetic and cultural identity for the post-WWII. Many of these groups began their musical careers with little or no awareness of (or interest in) rock and roll; exposure to the increasingly radical and innovative music of, in addition to the
Velvet Underground, the
Silver Apples,
Frank Zappa,
Jimi Hendrix, or the
Beatles, for example, led members of groups like Can or Kraftwerk to embrace popular music for the first time.
The signature sound of krautrock mixed
rock music and "rock band" instrumentation (
guitar,
bass,
drums) with
electronic instrumentation and textures, often with what would now be described as an
ambient music sensibility. A common rhythm featured in the music was a steady
4/4 beat, often called "
motorik" in the Anglophone music press.
History
By the end of the 1960s, the
American and British counterculture and
hippie movement had moved rock towards
psychedelia,
heavy metal,
progressive rock and other styles, incorporating, for the first time in popular music, socially and politically incisive lyrics. The 1968
German student movement,
French protests and Italian student movement had created a class of young, intellectual continental listeners, while
nuclear weapons,
pollution, and
war inspired protests and activism. Avant-garde music had taken a turn towards the
electronic in the mid-1950s; the roots of electronic music, however, extend into the 19th century.
These factors all laid the scene for the explosion in what came to be termed
krautrock, which arose at the first major
German rock festival in . Like their American, British and international counterparts, German rock musicians played a kind of
psychedelia. It was however, strikingly innovative as a fusion of psychedelia and the electronic avant-garde. That same year, 1968, saw the foundation of the
Zodiak Free Arts Lab in
Berlin by
Hans-Joachim Roedelius,
Klaus Schulze and
Conrad Schnitzler, which further popularized the psychedelic-rock sound in the German mainstream. Originally Krautrock was a form of
Free art, which meant that Krautrock bands gave their records away for free at Free Art Fairs.
The next few years saw a wave of pioneering groups. In 1968,
Can formed, adding
jazz to the mix (and in that way the krautrock scene can be seen to parallel the emerging
Canterbury scene in England at the same time), while the following year saw
Kluster (later Cluster) begin recording electronic instrumental music with an emphasis on static
drones. In 1970,
Popol Vuh became the first krautrock group to use an electronic
synthesizer, to create what would be known as "kosmische musik". The bands
Tangerine Dream,
Ash Ra Tempel, and
Cosmic Jokers (all linked by collaboration with
Klaus Schulze), would follow suit in the years to come.
Faust also made use of synthesizers and tape manipulation in a way foreshadowing the
noise rock of the future.
In 1972, two albums incorporated European rock and electronic psychedelia with Asian sounds:
Popol Vuh's
In den Gärten Pharaos and
Deuter's
Aum. Meanwhile, kosmische musik saw the release of two
double albums,
Klaus Schulze's
Cyborg and
Tangerine Dream's
Zeit (produced by
Dieter Dierks), while a band called
Neu! began to play highly rhythmic music. By the middle of the decade, one of the most well-known German bands,
Kraftwerk, had released albums like
Autobahn, Radioaktivität ("Radio-Activity" in English), and
Computerwelt ("Computer World" in English), which laid the foundation for
electro,
techno and other styles later in the century.
The release of
Tangerine Dream's
Phaedra in 1974 marked a divergence of that group from Krautrock to a more melodic sequencer-driven sound that was later termed
Berlin School. In that same year
Klaus Schulze delivered one more LP of pure Krautrock,
Blackdance, and began to release more hypnotic versions of what TD was doing.
Krautrock and East Germany
By the early 1970s experimental West German rock styles had crossed the border into
East Germany, and influenced the creation of an East German rock movement referred to as
Ostrock. On the other side of the
Wall, these bands tended to be stylistically more conservative than in the West, to have more reserved engineering, and often to include more classical and traditional structures (such as those developed by
Kurt Weill and
Bertolt Brecht in their 1920s Berlin theatre songs). These groups sang in the German language, often featuring poetic lyrics loaded with indirect double-meanings and deeply philosophical challenges to the status quo. The best-known bands representing these styles in the
GDR were
The Puhdys and
Karat. Krautrock must generally be regarded, however, as a primarily West German phenomenon; the East German musical avant-garde may be argued to have been more genuinely represented by, for example, political singer-songwriter
Wolf Biermann, whose work more aptly bears comparison to
Woody Guthrie or early
Bob Dylan than to any progressive rock artists.
Influence of Krautrock on later generations
Krautrock was highly influential on the development of
Post-punk, notably artists such as
The Fall and
This Heat. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, with the resurgence of electronic music and a new generation rediscovering much of the early work of German music in that period, Krautrock came to be considered a style in and of itself. Artists such as
Stereolab,
Laika,
Mouse on Mars,
Tortoise,
Coil, and
Fujiya & Miyagi working under the
post-rock and
electronica rubrics have often cited bands in the Krautrock canon as being among their more significant influences.
Radiohead has done a cover of Can's song "Thief" and cite Can, Neu! and Faust among their influences, while
The Secret Machines not only covered Harmonia's "(De Luxe) Immer Wieder" on their
The Road Leads Where It's Led EP, but have also played live with Michael Rother.
Porcupine Tree has also covered Neu!'s Hallogallo as a demo for their album
Signify. The band
Wilco has shown a growing Krautrock influence in their music, specifically on
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and several songs on
A Ghost Is Born, especially on songs like
Spiders (Kidsmoke).. In interviews
Jeff Tweedy (the band's lead singer/songwriter/guitarist) has often spoke of his admiration for bands such as
Can and
Neu!.
Julian Cope has always cited Krautrock as an influence, and wrote the book
Krautrocksampler on the subject. The
Kosmische Club was founded in London at his suggestion in 1996, with the motto "Music from the Future", and did much to promote the genre on the underground music scene, including promoting gigs featuring many of the original German musicians and through a weekly radio show on
Resonance FM since 2002.
The
nu-krautrock scene in
Leeds is said to be directly inspired by krautrock, with band
Die Plankton seen as pioneering the style. Another good examples are
XOY from Mexico, who might be the very first mexican kraut band, and also
Mytrust In Godandman who experiment with motorik rhythms, among other things and are a radically experimental band.
The Legendary Pink Dots claim heavy influence from krautrock - naming in particular Can, Faust and Neu!, with one of their few cover songs being Neu!'s "Super" on the
Cleopatra Records album
A Homage to NEU!, which featured covers and remixes by bands including
Autechre,
Dead Voices On Air,
Khan,
Sunroof,
System 7,
James Plotkin, as well as an original track from
Michael Rother.
Also see "
Froguerock," a French derivation of the genre from the 1990s.
Notable artists
Further Information
Get more info on 'Krautrock'.
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