Krautrock

Etymology#

Until around 1973, the word (“German Rock”) was used to refer to the new groups from West Germany. Other names thrown around by the British and American music press were “Teutonic rock”, “Überrock” and “Götterdämmer rock”. The British music press initially used as a pejorative, but the term lost its stigma after the music gained success in Britain. The term derives from the ethnic slur “kraut”. “Kraut” in German can refer to herbs, weeds, and drugs. The term was originally used by Virgin records in 1972. Various sources claim that “krautrock” was originally a humorous term coined in the early 1970s, either 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. The first use of the term however, was found in a full-page advertisement from Popo Music Management and Bacillus Records promoting German Rock in the UK, in April 1971. The music emerging in Germany was first covered extensively in three concurrent issues of the UK music paper New Musical Express in the month of December 1972, by journalist Ian MacDonald. Its musicians tended to reject the name “krautrock”. This was also the case for “kosmische Musik”. 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.”

Characteristics#

Krautrock has been described as a broad genre encompassing varied approaches, but commonly drawing on psychedelia, avant-garde collage, electronic sounds, and rock music, while typically featuring “improvisation and hypnotic, minimalistic rhythms.” Los Angeles Magazine summarized the genre as “American psychedelica meets icy Germanic detachment.” Melody Maker 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.” Some common musical features exhibited by krautrock artists include: * A blend of elements from psychedelic rock with electronic music or avant-garde sources * Extended improvisation * Hypnotic or minimalistic rhythms, including the common 4/4 “motorik” beat pattern * Emphasis on long-form repetition, texture, and drone elements rather than song structure * Use of synthesizers and musique concrète techniques * A movement away from rock’s traditional rhythm & blues roots However, a common feature is the “motorik” beat: the 4/4 beat often used by drummers associated with krautrock, later being adopted by other krautrock bands. It has been widely used in many different styles of music beyond krautrock. According to XLR8R, the term krautrock is often used by critics to signify the “mesmerizing motorik rhythms pioneered by Can and Neu!”, but contested that “they represent merely a tiny fraction of the music that emerged from Germany during krautrock’s Golden Age”.

History#

Krautrock emerged in West Germany during the 1960s and early 1970s. and the Beatles. Hapshash and the Coloured Coat’s debut album Featuring the Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids (1967) was later regarded as being influential on the early works of Amon Düül, the student commune Kommune 1, and other pioneers of German krautrock. The influence of Jimi Hendrix and James Brown on krautrock musicians was also notable. Another significant influence was the work of avant-garde composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Terry Riley, Tony Conrad, and La Monte Young, as well as the late ’60s albums of jazz musician Miles Davis, particularly his jazz fusion work on In a Silent Way (1969). particularly composer 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 were drawn to a more mechanical and electronic sound.

Precursors#

The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” has been noted for its “proto-krautrock groove”. American groups Silver Apples and the Monks were both described by the Guardian as precursors to krautrock, with the former being compared to Can and latter making early use of a “motorik” beat. At the time, the Monks had coined the term “Über-beat” to describe their style, music critic Robert Christgau would later use the phrase “Überrock” to describe krautrock acts.

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. Krautrock was a significant influence on Simple Minds albums Real To Real Cacophony (1979) and Empires and Dance (1980), as well as on artists such as Brian Eno, Gary Numan and Ultravox. The genre also had a strong influence on David Bowie’s Station to Station (1976) and the experimentation it inspired led to his Berlin Trilogy. Krautrock has been cited as an influence by post-punk artists such as Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Pere Ubu, the Fall, Public Image Ltd, Wire, Gang of Four, the Pop Group, Cabaret Voltaire, Killing Joke, Swell Maps, This Heat, the Feelies, Chrome, Blurt, Six Finger Satellite as well as post-rock artists Stereolab and Mogwai. The Düsseldorf band Vibravoid (formed in 1988), whose members were still teenagers at the time, is widely credited as the initiator of Neo-Krautrock. As no other German formation continued the genre in this form at that time, the band serves as a crucial bridge between the original era and the modern resurgence. As the literal children of the original 1960s Krautrock scene, the band maintains a deep connection to the genre’s birthplace, the Creamcheese club. This link is evidenced by various collaborations involving Creamcheese co-founder Bim Reinert, including concerts, DJ sets, and Liquid Light Shows for events honoring the club’s heritage, such as at the Kunstpalast. Their continuity is rooted in the early 1990s, with recordings from that era later compiled on the album Phasenvoid (2003). A technical hallmark was the deliberate move away from digital trends: the sessions for the album 2001 (recorded 1997–1999) used an original 8-track TASCAM reel-to-reel tape recorder to maintain the original “Düsseldorf School” aesthetics. At that time, the genre was largely stigmatized in Germany; Krautrock records were sometimes literally discarded as “junk” in their home city and collected from the streets by the band members. In 2006, the band released the Triptamine EP, and in 2009, the Kraut Rock Sensation EP followed, the first release by a German band to feature cover versions of Can, Kraftwerk, and Amon Düül II. These releases, along with the album Distortions (2009), are noted for triggering the modern Krautrock revival and the vinyl resurgence. In 2018, the band organized the “Rheinkraut” Festival in Düsseldorf for the genre’s 50th anniversary, featuring pioneers like Ax Genrich (ex-Guru Guru) and Pyrolator (Kurt Dahlke). The corresponding live album reached the Top 10 of the CD sales charts. Modern bands, such as Osees, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Guerilla Toss, DIIV, and Minami Deutsch have been described as krautrock, or have noted krautrock as influential on their styles.

Kosmische Musik#

(“cosmic music”) is a term which came into regular use before “krautrock” and was preferred by some German artists who disliked the English label; It was used as a German analogue to the English term “space rock”; it may more specifically describe 1970s German electronic music which uses synthesizers and incorporates themes related to space or otherworldliness; The style was often instrumental and characterized by “spacy”, ambient soundscapes. Artists used synthesizers such as the EMS VCS 3 and Moog Modular, as well as sound processing effects and tape-based approaches. They often rejected rock music conventions, and instead drew on “serious” electronic compositions.

References#

Citations Bibliography * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links#

• Krautrock @ pHinnWeb
• krautrock website
• Krautrocksite – online magazine from Germany