Etymology Derives from "kraut" Typical instruments Synthesizers | Other names Kosmische Musik | |
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Stylistic origins Experimental rock
electronic
avant-garde
psychedelic rock
acid rock
jazz
minimalism
world
funk
art rock
progressive rock Cultural origins Late 1960s – early 1970s, West Germany Derivative forms Electronic dance music
indie electronic
New Age
post-punk
post-progressive
post-rock | ||
Krautrock (sometimes called "kosmische Musik", German: "cosmic music") is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s. The term "krautrock" was originated by English-speaking music journalists as a humorous name for a diverse range of German bands whose music drew from sources such as psychedelic rock, the avant-garde, electronic music, funk, minimalism, jazz improvisation, and world music styles. Largely divorced from the traditional blues and rock and roll influences of British and American rock music up to that time, the period contributed to the evolution of electronic music and ambient music as well as the birth of post-punk, alternative rock and New Age music. Important acts of the scene include Can, Kraftwerk, Neu!, Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh, and Faust.
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Etymology
Until around 1973, the word "Deutsch-Rock" ("German Rock") was used to refer to the new groups from West Germany. "Krautrock" was originally a humorous term coined in the early 1970s by British disc jockey John Peel or by the UK music newspaper Melody Maker, in which experimental German bands found an early and enthusiastic following, and ironically retained by its practitioners. The term derives from the ethnic slur "kraut", and its use by the music press was inspired by a track from Amon Düül's Psychedelic Underground titled "Mama Düül und Ihre Sauerkrautband Spielt Auf" ('Mama Düül and her Sauerkrautband Strike Up'). According to author Ulrich Adelt, it should be noted that "kraut" in German can refer to herbs, weeds, and drugs. Other names thrown around by the British music press were "Teutonic rock" and "Götterdämmer rock".
Its musicians tended to reject the name "krautrock". This was also the case for "kosmische Musik" ("cosmic music"), a marketing name invented by record producer Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser for krautrock bands like Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, and Klaus Schulze. Musicologist Julian Cope, in his book Krautrocksampler, says "Krautrock is a subjective British phenomenon," based on the way the music was received in the UK rather than on the actual West German music scene out of which it grew. For instance, while one of the main groups originally tagged as krautrock, Faust, recorded a seminal 12-minute track they titled "Krautrock", they would later distance themselves from the term, saying: "When the English people started talking about Krautrock, we thought they were just taking the piss... and when you hear the so-called 'Krautrock renaissance,' it makes me think everything we did was for nothing." West German's music press initially used "krautrock" as a pejorative, but the term lost its stigma after the music gained success in Britain.
Characteristics
Krautrock merges elements of psychedelic rock, the avant-garde, electronic music, funk, improvisational jazz and world music styles, and expands on the type of musical explorations associated with art rock and progressive rock. Critic Simon Reynolds described the style as "where the over-reaching ambition and untethered freakitude of late '60s acid rock is checked and galvanised by a proto-punk minimalism ... music of immense scale that miraculously avoided prog-rock's bombastics."
The key component characterizing such groups is the synthesis of rock and roll rhythm and energy with a decided will to distance themselves from specifically American blues origins, drawing on German or other sources instead. Jean-Hervé Peron of Faust says: "We were trying to put aside everything we had heard in rock 'n' roll, the three-chord pattern, the lyrics. We had the urge of saying something completely different." According to Peel, the only American or British band to "clearly influence" the genre was England's Pink Floyd, particularly for their "spacey music".
Some artists drew on ideas from contemporary experimental classical music (especially minimalism and 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 1970s (mainly the free jazz pieces by Ornette Coleman or Albert Ayler). 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.
Motorik beat
A common rhythm featured in the music was a steady 4/4 beat, often called "motorik". The beat is characterised by a bass drum-heavy, pulsating groove, that created a forward-flowing feel. The motorik beat was first used by Neu! on their debut album and were later adopted by other krautrock bands. The motorik beat has been widely used in many different styles of music beyond krautrock.
Background and origins
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 that incorporated 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 avant-garde minimalist music current emerged in the early 1960s with the works of Americans La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Steve Reich. They used drones and loops (often with synthesizers and tapes) in a kind of psychedelic and space-oriented music.
These developments influenced what came to be termed krautrock, which appeared at the first major German rock festival in 1968 in Essen. Like their American, British and international counterparts, German rock musicians played a kind of psychedelic music. In contrast, however, there was no attempt to reproduce the effects of drugs. Their sound was an innovative fusion of jazz and the electronic avant-garde.
1968 also saw the foundation of the Zodiak Free Arts Lab in Berlin by Hans-Joachim Roedelius, 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 at Free Art Fairs.
The next few years saw a wave of pioneering groups. In 1968 two former students of Karlheinz Stockhausen formed Can, adding jazz to the mix. (In that way the krautrock scene can be seen to parallel the Canterbury scene emerging in England at the same time.) The following year saw Kluster (later Cluster) begin recording keyboard-based electronic instrumental music with an emphasis on static drones.
Legacy and influence
Krautrock has proved to be highly influential on a succession of other musical styles and developments. Early contemporary enthusiasts outside Germany included Hawkwind and in particular Dave Brock who supposedly penned the sleeve notes for the British edition of Neu!'s first album Faust's budget release The Faust Tapes has been cited as a formative teenage influence by several musicians growing up in the early 1970s such as Julian Cope (who has always cited krautrock as an influence, and wrote the book Krautrocksampler on the subject). The genre was also a strong influence to David Bowie's Station to Station (1976) and this kind of experimentation led to his 'Berlin Trilogy'.
Krautrock was also highly influential on the late-'70s development of post-punk, notably artists such as The Fall, Joy Division, Public Image Ltd, This Heat and Simple Minds, and on Galloping Coroners' shaman punk. During the 1980s, several bands involved in psychedelic rock cited Krautrock as a significant influences: these included The Legendary Pink Dots who claimed heavy inspiration from Can, Faust and Neu! in particular (one of their few cover songs was 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, System 7, James Plotkin, as well as an original track from Michael Rother).