Old School
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
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| The band was created in Dusseldorf |
It’s time
for another classic, and another group of weirdoes. Yes, that’s Kraftwerk. They
are considered pioneers of electronic music and they deserve that name.
Short history
The band was
originally created back in 1970, in Germany, by Ralf Hutter and Florian
Schneider who met each other in Robert Schumann Hochshule College. The first
few albums contained various traditional instruments (guitars, violins, flutes,
bass etc.), and did not really resemble the Kraftwerk sound that everyone one
knows today. Basically they were explorations of the musical medium, making
instrumental albums only .Only later did the group start using the instruments
that made theirs sound known- synthesizers and drum machines. Also, in the
album Ralf und Florian they first used the vocoder, which later became an
irreplaceable tool in their music.
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| The custom build vocoder(on top of making great music, they pushed the limits of music technology) |
Real fame to
the fathers of electronic music came from the 1974 album Autobahn, with which
they toured in US, Canada and UK. With another album, Radio-Activity being
awarded “Gold disc” in France they became a bright star in the music of the
day.
Many more
studio albums and tours later, Minimum-Maximum was released, which was the
bands first live album. It included shows from the tour of 2004 and was praised
by critics.
Up to this
day, Kraftwerk are actively creating and performing music around the world.
Interesting
facts
Just facts
- The band is known for its seclusion from the outer world. For example, the phone in their studio does not make any sound when it rings. Kraftwerk say that they do not like to get interrupted while they work in the studio. This means that in order to call them, you have to do it on a set time, only then will someone answer you
- The band influenced so many musicians, including Depeche Mode, Visage, Ultravox and John Foxx. Oh, and techno lovers out there, did you know that the famous “Belleville three”, the fathers of Detroit techno (and techno in general) used Kraftwerk samples in their early work
- The name Kraftwerk actually means “power plant” in German
