Krautrock

Krautrock has been described as a broad genre encompassing varied approaches,{{cite web |last1=Bolton |first1=Matt |title=Matt Bolton meets the original Krautrockers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/may/09/popandrock1 |website=The Guardian |date=9 May 2008 |access-date=18 April 2019}} but commonly drawing on psychedelia, avant-garde collage, electronic sounds, and rock music, while typically featuring "improvisation and hypnotic, minimalistic rhythms."{{cite web |last1=Harrison |first1=Imogen |title='Electricity' – The Influence of Krautrock on the UK's Next Generation |url=https://www.shindig-magazine.com/?p=1005 |website=Shindig! |date=28 February 2016 |access-date=18 April 2019}} Los Angeles Magazine summarized the genre as "American psychedelica meets icy Germanic detachment."{{cite news |last1=Tewksbury |first1=Drew |title=The Merciless Circularity of Beak |url=https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/tonight-the-merciless-circularity-of-beak/ |website=Los Angeles Magazine |date=13 February 2013 |access-date=18 April 2019}} 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.” AllMusic described it as expanding on the territory associated with art rock and progressive rock, but diverging from the American and British groups' emphasis on jazz and classical elements in favor of "a droning, pulsating sound that owed more to the avant garde than to rock & roll."{{cite web|author1=Anon|title=Kraut Rock|url=http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/kraut-rock-ma0000002687|website=AllMusic|access-date=25 January 2017|date=n.d.}}

Some common musical features exhibited by krautrock artists include:

• A blend of elements from psychedelic rock with electronic music or avant-garde sources{{cite web |last1=Segal |first1=Dave |title=German Guitar God Michael Rother Talks Kraftwerk, Neu!, and the Dubious Term "Krautrock" |url=https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/02/20/39086811/german-guitar-god-michael-rother-talks-kraftwerk-neu-and-the-dubious-term-krautrock |website=The Stranger |access-date=18 April 2019}}
• Hypnotic or minimalistic rhythms, including the common 4/4 "motorik" beat pattern{{cite web |last1=Horton |first1=Ross |title=Manchester's W. H. Lung pay a beautiful tribute to krautrock on "Simpatico People" |url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/new-music/discovery/w-h-lung-simpatico-people |website=The Line of Best Fit |access-date=18 April 2019}}
• Emphasis on long-form repetition, texture, and drone elements rather than song structure{{cite web |last1=Richardson |first1=Mark |title=Harmonia – Complete Works |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20947-complete-works/ |website=Pitchfork |date=11 December 2015 |access-date=11 July 2019}}
• Use of synthesizers and musique concrète techniques{{Cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/neu!-mw0000004284|title=Neu! – Neu! {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits {{!}} AllMusic|website=AllMusic|access-date=19 January 2017}}
• A movement away from rock's traditional rhythm & blues roots
• Extended improvisation{{cite web |last1=Patrin |first1=Nate |title=Krautrock Playlist: 20 Essential Songs |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2064023/krautrock-ultimate-playlist-essential-songs/lists/ultimate-playlist/ |website=Stereogum |date=13 November 2019 |access-date=16 May 2022}}

Despite a common approach and generational attitude among artists, the New Statesman argues that "in truth, no two Krautrock acts sound remotely alike. Compare the dreamy synthesiser washes of Tangerine Dream with the alien noise collages of Faust or the psychedelic funk of Can."{{cite web |last1=Maconie |first1=Stuart |title=Krautrock: Germany's coolest export that no one can quite define |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/08/krautrock-germany-s-coolest-export-no-one-can-quite-define |website=New Statesman |date=22 August 2014 |access-date=19 January 2022}} However, a common feature is the "motorik" beat: the 4/4 beat often used by drummers associated with krautrock, characterised by a kick drum-heavy, pulsating groove, that created a forward-flowing feel. The motorik beat was used by Can in the song "Mother Sky", by Neu! on their debut album, and by Kraftwerk in the song "Autobahn" on their album of the same name,{{Cite web|url=http://sickmouthy.com/2012/06/19/top-ten-songs-with-the-motorik-beat/ |title=Top ten songs with the Motorik beat {{!}} Sick Mouthy |date=6 August 2013 |access-date=19 January 2017 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806095116/http://sickmouthy.com/2012/06/19/top-ten-songs-with-the-motorik-beat/ |archive-date= 6 August 2013 }} later being adopted by other krautrock bands. It has been widely used in many different styles of music beyond krautrock.{{Cite news|url=http://thequietus.com/articles/15929-david-stubbs-krautrock-motorik|title=The Quietus {{!}} Opinion {{!}} The Quietus Essay {{!}} How Motorik Infected The Mainstream, By Future Days Author David Stubbs|newspaper=The Quietus|access-date=19 January 2017}} 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".{{cite web |last1=Segal |first1=David |title=What is it? Krautrock |url=https://www.xlr8r.com/features/what-is-it-krautrock |website=XLR8R |date=3 September 2007 |access-date=18 April 2019}}

{{See also|Experimental rock|Rock music in Germany}}

File:Ludwig Binder Haus der Geschichte Studentenrevolte 1968 2001 03 0275.4264 (16900118449).jpg from 1968]]

Krautrock emerged in West Germany during the 1960s and early 1970s. The music was partially inspired by broad cultural developments such as the revolutionary 1968 German student movement,{{sfn|Buckley|2003|p=566}} with many young people having both political and aesthetic concerns. Youth rebelled against both dominant American influence and conservative German entertainment such as schlager music, seeking to liberate themselves from Germany's Nazi legacy in World War II and create a new popular culture. Dieter Moebius, of the bands Cluster and Harmonia, noted that "we were a lot of the times on the streets instead of studying. As young people we were not very proud to be German [...] we were all tired of listening to bad German music and imitations of American music. Something had to happen." The movement saw artists merge elements of varied genres such as psychedelic rock, avant-garde forms of electronic music, funk rhythm, jazz improvisation and "ethnic" music styles, typically reflecting a "genuine sense of awe and wonder."

{{quote box|quoted=1|quote=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.|source=—Jean-Hervé Peron of Faust.|width=30%|align=right|style=padding:8px;|border=2px}}

Core influences on these German artists included avant-garde composers Karlheinz Stockhausen and Terry Riley, and bands such as the Mothers of Invention, the Velvet Underground, the Beatles,{{cite web |last1=Savage |first1=Jon |title=The in Sound From Way Kraut: A Kosmische Countdown |url=https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2011/12/krautrock-feature |website=Red Bull Music Academy |access-date=18 May 2020}} and Pink Floyd. A significant influence was the work of American minimalists such as Riley, Tony Conrad, and La Monte Young, as well as the late '60s albums of jazz musician Miles Davis,{{cite web |last1=Morris |first1=Chris |title=How '70s Krautrock Changed The Shape of Modern Music |url=https://web.musicaficionado.com/main.html#!/article/How_70s_Krautrock_Changed_The_Shape_Of_Modern_Music |website=Music Aficionado |access-date=23 April 2019}} particularly his jazz fusion work on In a Silent Way (1969). The influence of Jimi Hendrix and James Brown on krautrock musicians was also notable.{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Stewart |title=No Stars in Krautrock: David Stubbs' Future Days Reviewed |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/15957-david-stubbs-future-days-krautrock-book-review |website=The Quietus |date=10 August 2014 |access-date=29 February 2020}} Some artists drew on ideas from 20th century classical music and musique concrète,{{cite book |last1=Stubbs |first1=Dusty |title=Future Days: Krautrock and the Birth of a Revolutionary New Music |date=2015 |publisher=Melville |isbn=978-1-61219-474-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=btWLDQAAQBAJ&q=david+stubbs+harmonia |access-date=3 May 2019}} 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.

Until around 1973, the word {{lang|de|Deutsch-Rock}} ("German Rock") was used to refer to the new groups from West Germany.{{sfn|Adelt|2016|p=10}} Other names thrown around by the British and American music press were "Teutonic rock", "Überrock"{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv4-75.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|work=The Village Voice|location=New York|date=7 April 1975|access-date=23 September 2020|issn=0042-6180}} and "Götterdämmer rock".{{sfn|Adelt|2016|p=12}} West Germany's{{dubious|date=November 2022}} music press initially used {{lang|de|Krautrock}} as a pejorative, but the term lost its stigma after the music gained success in Britain.{{sfn|Adelt|2016|p=12}} The term derives from the ethnic slur "kraut". "Kraut" in German can refer to herbs, weeds, and drugs.{{sfn|Adelt|2016|p=12}}

The term was originally used by Virgin records in 1972.{{cite book |last1=Barnes |first1=Mike |title=Storia del progressive rock: Origini e leggenda della musica inglese anni Settanta |date=12 October 2021 |publisher=ODOYA |isbn=978-88-6288-726-7 |page=692 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xb9HEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT692 |language=it}} Various sources{{who|date=November 2021}} claim that "krautrock" was originally a humorous term coined in the early 1970s, either by British disc jockey John Peel{{sfn|Adelt|2016|p=11}} or by the UK music newspaper Melody Maker, in which experimental German bands found an early and enthusiastic following.'Krautrock – Cosmic Rock and its Legacy' by David Stubbs, Erik Davis, Michel Faber and various contributing authors. Published 2009 by Black Dog Publishing Limited, London {{ISBN|978-1-906155-66-7}} The first use{{failed verification|date=November 2021}} 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.{{cite book |last1=Bartsch |first1=Paul |title=LiveRillen No. 4: Konzerte aus sechs Jahrzehnten Rockmusikgeschichte |date=30 April 2022 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-7543-5424-7 |page=52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cYRtEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |language=de}} The music emerging in Germany was first{{failed verification|date=November 2021}} covered extensively in three concurrent issues of the UK music paper New Musical Express in the month of December 1972, by journalist Ian MacDonald.Macdonald, I. (December 1972). "Krautrock: Germany Calling" #1, #2 and #3. London, UK: New Musical Express.{{third-party source needed|date=November 2021}}

Its musicians tended to reject the name "krautrock".{{Cite book|last=Blühdorn|first=Annette|title=Pop and Poetry – Pleasure and Protest: Udo Lindenberg, Konstantin Wecker and the Tradition of German Cabaret|publisher=Peter Lang Publishing|year=2003|isbn=978-0-8204-6879-2|location=New York|page=141}}{{sfn|Adelt|2016|p=12}} This was also the case for "kosmische Musik".{{sfn|Adelt|2016|p=12}} 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.{{Cite book|last=Cope|first=Julian|author-link=Julian Cope|title=Krautrocksampler: One Head's Guide to the Great Kosmische Musik – 1968 Onwards|url=https://archive.org/details/krautrocksampler00cope|url-access=limited|publisher=Head Heritage|year=1995|page=[https://archive.org/details/krautrocksampler00cope/page/n38 64]|isbn=0-9526719-1-3|location=Yatesbury}} 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."{{Cite news|first=David|last=Stubbs|author-link=David Stubbs|title=Invisible Jukebox: Faust|work=The Wire|issue=275|date=January 2007|page=18}}

{{Redirect|Kosmische Musik|the related record label also known as "Kosmische Musik"|Cosmic Couriers|other uses|Cosmic music (disambiguation){{!}}Cosmic music}}

{{Infobox music genre

| name = Kosmische Musik

| image =

| caption =

| etymology =

| other_names =

| stylistic_origins = *Electronic

• psychedelia
• space rock
• avant-garde
• tape music

| cultural_origins = Early 1970s, West Germany

| instruments =

| derivatives = *Ambient

• new age

| regional_scenes =

| other_topics = *Space music

• progressive electronic

}}

{{lang|de|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; today, it is often used synonymously with krautrock. More specifically, it may describe 1970s German electronic music which uses synthesizers and incorporates themes related to space or otherworldliness;{{cite journal|last1=Harden|first1=Alexander C|title=Kosmische Musik and its Techno-Social Context|url=http://www.iaspmjournal.net/index.php/IASPM_Journal/article/view/784|journal=IASPM Journal|date=31 December 2016|volume=6|issue=2|pages=154–173|doi=10.5429/2079-3871(2016)v6i2.9en|access-date=18 August 2017|doi-access=free}}{{sfn|Adelt|2016}} it is also used as a German analogue to the English term "space rock".{{cite book |editor1-last=Horn |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Shepherd |editor2-first=John |title=Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 11 |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |page=177}} The style was often instrumental and characterized by spacious ambient soundscapes,{{sfn|Adelt|2016}} with artists using 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.{{sfn|Adelt|2016}}

The term "kosmische Musik" was coined by Edgar Froese and later used by record producer Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser as a marketing name for bands such as Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, and Klaus Schulze.{{sfn|Adelt|2016|p=12}} The following year, Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser's Ohr Records used the term when he released the compilation Kosmische Musik (1972) featuring tracks by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel, and Popol Vuh. Kaiser eventually began referring to the style as "cosmic rock" to signify that the music belonged in a rock idiom. German producer Conny Plank was a central figure in the kosmische sound, emphasizing texture, effects processing, and tape-based editing techniques.{{cite book |last1=Seabrook |first1=Thomas Jerome |title=Bowie in Berlin: A New Career in a New Town |date=2008 |publisher=Jawbone Press |page=85 |isbn=978-1-906002-08-4 |access-date=25 April 2019 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xsSHjTf_-F8C}} Plank oversaw kosmische recordings such as Kraftwerk's Autobahn, Neu!'s Neu! 75, and Cluster's Zuckerzeit.

Several of these artists would later distance themselves from the term. Other names for the style, and for sub-genres were the "Berlin School" and the "Dusseldorf School", both of which are recognised and actively contributed to by artists such as Node, Martin Sturtzer, Propaganda, Kraftwerk, Tannheuser and Fritz Mayr, from the 1980s through to the present day.{{cite web | url=https://bandcamp.com/tag/berlin-school | title=Berlin School Music & Artists | Bandcamp }} The style would later lead to the development of new-age music, with which it shared several characteristics.{{sfn|Adelt|2016}} It would also exert lasting influence on subsequent electronica and experimental rock, especially post-rock in the 1990s.{{cite web|url=http://www.thewire.co.uk/out/1297_4.htm|title=S. T.|publisher=The Wire|first=Simon|last=Reynolds|date=May 1994|access-date=8 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011202075606/http://www.thewire.co.uk/out/1297_4.htm|archive-date=2 December 2001|url-status=dead}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.starfarer.net/quotation.html|title=Hawkwind Quotations|last=Starfarer|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314102111/http://www.starfarer.net/quotation.html|archive-date=14 March 2012}} 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.Sean Albiez, David Pattie Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop 2011, page 146-157 The genre also had a strong influence on David Bowie's Station to Station (1976) and the experimentation it inspired led to his so-called Berlin Trilogy.Buckley (2000): pp. 275–277.Pegg (2004): pp. 205–206.

Ash Ra Tempel's first album, released in 1971, informed later krautrock music.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/ash-ra-tempel-mw0000739056|title=Ash Ra Tempel – Ash Ra Tempel – Songs, Reviews, Credits – AllMusic|website=AllMusic}}

Modern bands, such as Osees, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and Minami Deutsch have been described as krautrock, or have noted krautrock as influential on their styles.{{cite web |title=The Osees |url=https://www.sjock.com/band-info/the-osees |website=sjock.com |access-date=5 February 2025}}{{Cite news |last=Reed |first=Ryan |date=December 23, 2021 |title=Exit Interview: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard on Butterfly 3000, 'Jammy' New Music |work=Spin |url=https://www.spin.com/2021/12/king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard-interview-2021/ |access-date=August 18, 2023}}{{cite web |title=Minami Deutsch |url=https://www1.wdr.de/fernsehen/rockpalast/bands/ueber-minami-deutsch-100.html |website=Westdeutscher Rundfunk |date=15 May 2019 |access-date=5 February 2025 |language=de}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|

• Space music
• Ambient music
• Electronic art music
• Electronic music
• Experimental music
• Krautrocksampler
• German rock
• Kosmische Kuriere
• Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock
• Space rock

}}

Citations

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|last=Adelt| year=2016| first=Ulrich |title=Krautrock: German Music in the Seventies |location=Ann Arbor |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-05319-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YakXDQAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book|last=Buckley| first=David|year=2000| orig-year=1999 |title=Strange Fascination – David Bowie: The Definitive Story |location=London |publisher=Virgin |isbn=0-7535-0457-X}}
• {{cite book|last=Buckley|first=Peter|title=The Rough Guide to Rock|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ctjc6UWCm4C|year=2003|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=978-1-84353-105-0}}
• {{citation|last1=Hegarty|first1=Paul|last2=Halliwell|first2=Martin|title=Beyond and Before: Progressive Rock Since the 1960s|year=2011|publisher=The Continuum International Publishing Group|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8264-2332-0|author-link1=Paul Hegarty (musician)}}
• {{cite book| title=Electronic and Computer Music |url=https://archive.org/details/electroniccomput00mann|url-access=limited| publisher=Oxford University Press |last=Manning|first=Peter | year=2004 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/electroniccomput00mann/page/n197 175] | isbn=0-19-517085-7}}
• {{cite book|title=European Film Music | publisher=Ashgate Publishing | author=Mera, Miguel and David Burnand | year=2006 | pages=118 | isbn=0-7546-3659-3}}
• {{cite book|last=Peel|first=John|author-link=John Peel|title=The Olivetti Chronicles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vlf1SSKA2VEC|year=2011|publisher=Transworld|isbn=978-1-4464-8627-6}}
• {{cite book|last=Pegg |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Pegg |year=2004| orig-year=2000 |title=The Complete David Bowie |location=London |publisher= Reynolds & Hearn |isbn=1-903111-73-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Unterberger|first=Richie|author-link=Richie Unterberger|title=Unknown Legends of Rock 'n' Roll|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jzabxWx_vCYC&pg=PA174|year=1998|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=978-1-61774-469-3}}
• {{cite book|title=Faust: Stretch Out Time, 1970-1975 | publisher=Andy Wilson |last=Wilson|first=Andy | year=2006 | pages=2 | isbn=0-9550664-5-X}}
• {{cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=Steven |last2=Freeman |first2=Alan |title=The Crack in the Cosmic Egg: Encyclopedia of Krautrock, Kosmische Musik & Other Progressive, Experimental & Electronic Musics from Germany |date=1996 |publisher=Audion |isbn=978-0-9529506-0-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aoInAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}

{{refend}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051016222523/http://www.phinnweb.org/krautrock/ Krautrock @ pHinnWeb]
• [http://www.wasistdas.co.uk krautrock website]
• [http://www.krautrockseite.de/index.htm Krautrocksite] – online magazine from Germany

{{Experimental music genres}}

{{rock}}

{{Electronic rock}}

{{Electronica}}

{{psychedelic music}}

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Category:20th-century music genres

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Category:Electronic rock

Category:Electronic music genres

Category:Rock music genres

Category:German styles of music

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