Kraftwerk

The band Kraftwerk combines repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies that follow a classical style of harmony with the use of electronic instruments. Kraftwerk is considered pioneers in Electronic music. The album “Autobahn” was released in 1974, and moved the band from the sound of the previous albums, which were produced by Conny Plank. For this album they started using the minimoog, which innovated their sound. In 1975 they released “Radio-Activity”, this album had a central theme of radio communication. In 1977, after having finished the "Radio-Activity tour" Kraftwerk began recording the album “Trans-Europe Express”. The release of Trans-Europe Express was marked with a train trip used as a press release. In May 1978 Kraftwerk released “The Man-Machine”, it was the first Kraftwerk album where Karl Bartos was co-credited as songwriter and the cover to that album was produced in black, white and red.

 In May of 1981 Kraftwerk released the album “Computer World” and some of the electronic vocals were created using a Texas Instruments Language Translator. Kraftwerk's lyrics deal with traveling by car, traveling by train, and using home computers. Typically the lyrics are very minimal but reveal a cautious knowledge about the world as well as build on the structure of the songs on the album. Improvisation often plays a noticeable role in its performances. They custom built a vocoder that they used on their albums “Ralf und Florian” and “Autobahn”. Schneider has a patent for an electronic drum kit with sensor pads that has to be hit with metal sticks, which are connected to a device to complete a circuit that triggers synthetic drum sounds. I had never heard of Kraftwerk before I was assigned to listen them in this class, but after I have listened to them, I can truly say that I enjoyed the experience. I am not a huge house/electronic music fan, but I respect the art and now have a deeper understanding of the history and work that goes behind the club bumping sound.