Electronic Music Entry - Kraftwerk

Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider formed Kraftwerk, the highly influential electronic music group, in Dusseldorf Germany during 1970. The two visionaries met as students at the Robert Schumann Hochschule, a college for university level music studies in Dusseldorf. During their time there, they heavily participated in the german experimental music scene, which was nicknamed “Krautrock” by the British Press. During that time, a number of bands such as Can, Amon Duul II, Cluster, Faust and Tangerine Dream were experimenting with synthesized sounds in abstract and minimalistic songwriting styles but Kraftwerk is considered the most influential band out of them all. Their sound consisted of rhythmically synthesized melodies and electronic beat driven material with heavy use of vocoders on the vocal parts. They were also one of the first bands to use computer generated speech software for vocal lines and their resulting work is now considered the precursor to the countless variations of electronic music today.

The selftitled debut album by Kraftwerk was released in 1970 and is characterized with a rock edge to the song writing. It was produced by Conny Plank and paved the way to their popularity with the albums to follow such as Kraftwerk 2 (1972), Ralf und Florian (1973), Autobahn (1974), Exceller 8 (1975), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans-Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978), Computer World (1981) and others. Today countless critics consider Autobahn a milestone in electronic music history, as it was the first of the concept electronic music albums to emerge during the time. The album consisted of both electronic and organic instruments such as violins; flutes and guitars, while featuring both treated and untreated vocals. They used famous synthesizers such as the MiniMoog, ARP Odyssey, EMS Synthi AKS and other drum machines to implement their signature sound within the album. The lyrical content within the album is written in the context of the high-speed roadways of Germany. It describes the experience of travelling through the German landscape, on the route A 555 from Koln to Bonn, which was the first Autobahn ever. The successive albums Radio-Activity and Trans-Europe Express also featured such themed musical content. The albums suffered a rather mediocre success during their time but it did not stop Kraftwerk from continuing to experiment with such abstract musical writing incorporating drum machines, vocoders and synthesizers. In May 1981 they released the album Computer World on EMI Records, which featured Texas Instruments Language Translator software to generate vocal lines within the album. Their single ‘Computer Love’ would eventually top the UK Charts making it Kraftwerk’s most successfully selling record. With the resulting success Kraftwerk’s live shows would result in more complicated electronic music setups and would feature extensive visuals in the form of slides, robotic mannequins and films playing as a backdrop to their performance.

In my opinion, I find Kraftwerk’s musical imprint in the world a milestone in electronic music today. Without such brave endeavors upstream by innovators such as Kraftwerk, the bar for electronic musical technologies would not have been pushed to what it is today by artists such as Chemical Brothers, Richie Hawtin (Plastikman), Fatboy Slim, Autechre, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Amon Tobin and others to follow. This retro playful and industrial electronic sound has inspired countless musicians and myself to push the abstract and musical nature of electronic music today. There are often many close-minded musicians that don’t see the impact of electronic instruments in music, but to say the least it has become the most successful form of musical expression in the charts today and I feel that the masses and statistics speak for themselves.