Showing posts with label Kraftwerk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kraftwerk. Show all posts
Thursday, March 01, 2018
Autobahn
Today I will let the music do most of the talking. This song was recorded in 1974 (!), and yes, it is a long one, but it is well worth listening to. It is easy to hear the cars passing by, and with musical elements switching between harmony and some disharmony, it is always interesting. Although Kraftwerk had released three albums already (Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk II, and Ralf und Florian), Autobahn was where they really started coming into their own - and creating something uniquely new. Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger, who had been working with the band in the early 70s had left to form Neu!, and while there were other collaborators on the album Autobahn, the title track only featured the two core members in Kraftwerk: Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider (only Hütter still remains after Schneider left in 2008). It is a 22 minute long track that really takes you along the German expressways (autobahns) - and I can't believe that it is 44 years old. This was in the infancy of synthesizers, but what they were able to do simply blows me away!
Thursday, October 13, 2016
October 13 - Radioactivity
I finally found an opening for some serious krautrock. The title of yesterday's song, Radioactive Toy, provides the link to Kraftwerk (Powerstation) and the title track from their 1975 album Radioactivity. I still remember the very first time I heard Kraftwerk. I was listening to the radio show For Those About To Rock, hosted by Jan Olav Gjersvoll, when they opened the evening with playing Trans Europa Express. I was not a fan. At all. However, as time went on, I had to admit that I couldn't get it out of my head.
A few years later, I bought a copy of the British music magazine Q, and it included a tape called Drive. It was a wonderful compilation of songs that are great for listening while driving, and it included a song by Kraftwerk called The Model. I was getting intrigued. Then krautrock was referenced more and more by Motorpsycho, so I finally broke down and purchased The Mix, a compilation of some of their best known songs edited together, and that's where I first discovered the song Radioactivity. I have since explored both Kraftwerk and krautrock a little bit more - it did help that Porcupine Tree also did a cover version of Neu!'s Hallogallo, and I am liking what I find.
Defining krautrock, however, is a little bit more difficult. I think that the easiest way to talk about it is in the sense of it being a very experimental music scene in Germany in the 1970s. Yes, the roots can be traced back to the 60s, and yes, there are still krautrock bands today, but they were in many way the German reaction to the prog rock movement of the 70s. It was initially thought of as a derogatory term in the music press, but it was quickly embraced by the bands in what became more of a musical movement.
Like I said, they were very experimental, with massive use of new electronic instruments, especially synthesizers, but many of the bands still had a very traditional organic backdrop with drums and bass. This blend is very apparent in a lot of Kraftwerk's music, although on Radioactivity, the drums are sounding like they have been heavily treated and synthesized. The melody to me is infectious, but the mood of the song is really shining with a very radioactive glow...
A few years later, I bought a copy of the British music magazine Q, and it included a tape called Drive. It was a wonderful compilation of songs that are great for listening while driving, and it included a song by Kraftwerk called The Model. I was getting intrigued. Then krautrock was referenced more and more by Motorpsycho, so I finally broke down and purchased The Mix, a compilation of some of their best known songs edited together, and that's where I first discovered the song Radioactivity. I have since explored both Kraftwerk and krautrock a little bit more - it did help that Porcupine Tree also did a cover version of Neu!'s Hallogallo, and I am liking what I find.
Defining krautrock, however, is a little bit more difficult. I think that the easiest way to talk about it is in the sense of it being a very experimental music scene in Germany in the 1970s. Yes, the roots can be traced back to the 60s, and yes, there are still krautrock bands today, but they were in many way the German reaction to the prog rock movement of the 70s. It was initially thought of as a derogatory term in the music press, but it was quickly embraced by the bands in what became more of a musical movement.
Like I said, they were very experimental, with massive use of new electronic instruments, especially synthesizers, but many of the bands still had a very traditional organic backdrop with drums and bass. This blend is very apparent in a lot of Kraftwerk's music, although on Radioactivity, the drums are sounding like they have been heavily treated and synthesized. The melody to me is infectious, but the mood of the song is really shining with a very radioactive glow...
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