Krautrock

kirk782 wrote: ... Krautrock had originality, I believe. Wasn't David Bowie enchanted by this sound [and the likes of Neu!] when making his Berlin trilogy?

cstack3 wrote: kirk782 wrote: cstack3 wrote: Kraut Rock bands like Popul Vuh were instrumental to the amazing atmosphere conveyed by these films!  What would be the ideal diving point into Popul Vuh's discography or one should just listen from the debut? Regarding German films, and this is off topic, but I really liked Fritz Lang though he worked in the halcyon silent era. Thanks!  I'm not an expert on Popul Vuh's discography, what I do when presented with a "new" band is I go to YouTube and sample different postings.  This enables me to skip around and get an idea for the flavor of of a work of music.   This is one of my favorite of their works, and it sets the tone for the movie beautifully!

This is just an amazing album! Totally timeless for me!! For many years I had the Celestial Harmonies versions of Popol Vuh . There was no indication that their music had been for film and basically not noted as such that they were on the Celestial Harmonies album covers. I generally didn't acknowledge that aspect to their career and grew used to the idea that their music was not attached to that working concept and to be honest...you really wouldn't have known the difference or ever had reason to distinguish between the two. I remember years ago seeing a film of Florian Fricke walking into the mountains. Supposedly the Himalayas. He seemed so genuine to me. He was definitely a very unique artist. The music that came out of him was unlike anyone I ever heard. There were certain people that had that uniqueness such as Terry Riley, David Parsons, Peter Michael Hamel, David Hykes Harmonic Choir, Stomu Yamashta, Jade Warrior ( Island period), Mike Oldfield....but Florian Fricke was in touch with a very unique style and I've always separated him from others in those times. I really appreciate the music he gave us!

Hosydi wrote: Jacob Schoolcraft wrote: Hosydi wrote: moshkito wrote: Hosydi wrote: ...  In particular, I mentioned that a number of contemporary bands are referred to as krautrock in addition to other tags like "experimental," "avant rock," "improvised music," etc., only in favor of describing their sound, which is partly inspired by 70s krautrock; the quality of many of those modern bands is indisputable.  ... a drummer strictly doing the time thing, is more the American way than it is "krautrock" ...  Do you mean the confederate way? Redneck Rock? CCR SWAMP ROCK? Is that the kind of drum beats you're talking about? The kind in amateur bar bands or in dive bars...where people would think that GREENSLADE is a crayon company...Ange is a fruit from Brazil...Pulsar is a stop watch....Atomic Rooster is the Jersey Devil...Art Zoyd is a serial killer...?? The Yorùbá dùndún ensemble, Lagos, Nigeria: The dùndún drum is often described as a 'talking drum,' which means it has the capability to mimic the tonal patterns of spoken Yoruba language. The talking drum has been used historically for communication over long distances. In modern times, the dùndún continues to be celebrated in popular music genres such as Jùjú and Fuji music:

Hosydi wrote: moshkito wrote: Hosydi wrote: ...  In particular, I mentioned that a number of contemporary bands are referred to as krautrock in addition to other tags like "experimental," "avant rock," "improvised music," etc., only in favor of describing their sound, which is partly inspired by 70s krautrock; the quality of many of those modern bands is indisputable.  ... a drummer strictly doing the time thing, is more the American way than it is "krautrock" ...

Do you mean the confederate way? Redneck Rock? CCR SWAMP ROCK? Is that the kind of drum beats you're talking about? The kind in amateur bar bands or in dive bars...where people would think that GREENSLADE is a crayon company...Ange is a fruit from Brazil...Pulsar is a stop watch....Atomic Rooster is the Jersey Devil...Art Zoyd is a serial killer...??

Hosydi wrote: ...  In particular, I mentioned that a number of contemporary bands are referred to as krautrock in addition to other tags like "experimental," "avant rock," "improvised music," etc., only in favor of describing their sound, which is partly inspired by 70s krautrock; the quality of many of those modern bands is indisputable.

Hosydi wrote: ... I strongly disagree, because there is a lot of quite interesting contemporary stuff tagged, among other tags, as krautrock, as it is inspired by the early 70s kosmische Musik. ...

cstack3 wrote: The Beatles started in Hamburg, Germany....do they qualify as Krautrock?

😃 😀 😄 😁

In the late 60s, ( to my knowledge), Syd Barrett was or ( could have been), the person to invent a particular sound and style which was eventually identified as Space Rock. The slide with echo and odd sounding keyboard work would prove to be identified in the music of Amon Duul II on albums like YETI . They weren't literally copying the style of "Interstellar Overdrive" or "Astromony Domine" but simply trying to...or choosing to capture its sound. Sections of Can albums and early Guru, Guru . Early Ash Ra Tempel alongside several other German bands were influenced by the early Pink Floyd..

Syd Barrett was not a virtuoso musician. He did in fact invent that sound and or style which mostly surfaced with a 4 piece band during the Krautrock era. I believe that many Rock guitarists from England grew up hearing Sci-Fi TV themes during the 1950s and 1960s. Many of them sat in front of the TV and played along with the theme or listened to radio Luxembourg. In some ways the riff in "Lucifer Sam" has similarities to Peter Gunn or Batman. "Interstellar Overdrive " is some double string strumming which was familiar to some folks in the Twilight Zone theme.

Some of the Sci-Fi theme and improvisation bits in Interstellar Overdrive were noticeable in Krautrock. It differed from Psychedelic Music and was in fact a extension of it..but it's important to consider that Barrett may have invented a Space Rock style from different sources...such as MMM Music , Sci Fi, and white Noise improvisation.

Krautrock itself having originality in other areas as well..such as the particular style of Electronic Music which began with dark soundscapes and by 73' changed by adding more pulsating rhythms and oscillating effects. Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, ( for example), would often create a repetitive pulsating rhythm and play an eerie sounding signature line over top while adding more layers of keyboard sounds which could take your mind to other places. People with a short attention span might become impatient with the music. Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream were releasing albums containing that style years prior to Electronic Music being utilized for Dance Music

Edited by Jacob Schoolcraft - January 20 2025 at 13:07

Hosydi wrote: ... The term 'krautrock' was coined by British rock journalists in a derogatory manner for all bands from former West Germany during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Germans themselves, however, back then referred to their peculiar take on experimental rock/psychedelia/space ambient as "kosmische Musik," which served as an umbrella term for various influential bands from West Germany, including both the experimental rock band Can and electronic music acts like Tangerine Dream.  ...