Kraftwerk


Kraftwerk (German for "power plant") is a German avant-garde electro-pop
group from DŸsseldorf who were largely responsible for much of the
subsequent uptake of, and interest in, electronic music. The techniques that
they introduced and the equipment that they developed are now commonplace in
modern music.

Originally called "Organisation", but later switching to "Kraftwerk", the
principal members are Florian Schneider and Ralf HŸtter. Wolfgang FlŸr and
Karl Bartos have also collaborated in Kraftwerk, as have Emil Schult, and
Kling Klang personnel such as Fritz Hilpert and Henning Schmitz.

Kraftwerk's lyrics often deal with technology—travelling by car on the
Autobahn, travelling by train, using home computers and the like. The lyrics
are usually very minimal, but reveal both an innocent celebration of, and a
knowing caution about the modern world.

After several early experimental albums their breakthrough came in 1974
(1974 in music) with the Autobahn album and the 22-minute title track (see
"Autobahn" SAMPLE (252 kilobytes) see Wikipedia:Sound help if it doesn't
work), which was a worldwide hit and demonstrated their increasing reliance
on synthesizers and electronics. Many of the voices in Kraftwerk songs are
processed through a Vocoder.

Their music has been recorded by the classical outfit, the Balanescu
Quartet. Five songs were arranged for strings for their album Possessed.
Kraftwerk have also been extensively sampled by some highly influential
musicians and bands including Afrika Bambaataa, Beck, The Orb, The Justified
Ancients of Mu Mu/KLF, Madonna, Depeche Mode, De La Soul, R.E.M., Meat Beat
Manifesto, Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers, the Bloodhound Gang and many
more. In 2000, Senor Coconut released an album of Kraftwerk covers called El
Baile Aleman. The tracks were cleverly reworked in a Latin American music style.

Kraftwerk have impinged on mainstream popular culture to the extent that
they have been referenced in The Simpsons and Father Ted.

Kraftwerk also experimented with the use of computer graphics as a backdrop
for their shows. Their stage act involves the members standing behind
minimalistic desks, controlling the various sequencers that drive the show.
They do however state that a reasonable fraction of the instrumentation is
actually played live, and that they do improvise somewhat from show to show.

After years of nearly total obscurity, Kraftwerk began to tour again in the
late 1990s, and stated that they were working on new material - though
speculation about release dates fell through several times. An announcement
by their record company of a July 22, 2003 release also fell through, with
the perfectionists delaying again for several weeks. A single from the
album, "Tour de France 2003" (a totally new track unrelated to their earlier
single "Tour de France"), has received radio airplay.