Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk which means power station, was a band formed out of Dusseldorf, Germany by Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider in 1970. Kraftwerk was an influential electronic music project that shaped the way for the future of the electronic music scene. The Kraftwerk sound came from their use of minimalistic and strictly electronic instruments, combined with driving repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies. In 1974 Kraftwerk came out with Autobahn. Which sound different from there previous albums. The change in sounds was do to the fact the Schneider and Hutter invested in some new gear such as the Minimoog and the EMS synthi AKS. During their Autobahn tour was the first time that Kraftwerk would play in the United States, Canada, Ad in the UK.  After the Autobahn tour in 1975 Kraftwerk began working on the radio-activity album. The Radio-Activity album was their first album that would be completed in their newly equipped studio Klink Klang. Though the Radio-Activity album didn’t do so well in America and the UK, it still won them the gold disc in France. After the Radio-Activity album Kraftwerk stopped doing tours and focused more on making more music. In 1977 Kraftwerk started working on the Trans Europe Express, which was an album all about train travel. The album won a disco award in New York the same year in came out. After the Trans Europe Express album , Kraftwerk started working on The Man Machine.  The Man Machine album was released in 1978 and due to its complexity of the recordings it was sent to be mixed at Studio Rudas in Dusseldorf. After The Man Machine album Kraftwerk would not release a album until three years later, when they came out with Computer World. Computer World was recorded at Kling Klang studio, which they were modifying for mobile use. After the release of the Computer World album Kraftwerk started to do tours again. The Computer World tour of 1981 was the first tour that Kraftwerk used a projector to project videos and images to sync up with their music. It was also a different tour for them for the fact that they packed up their Kling Klang studio and brought it with them. Kraftwerk really had there own sound and could be described as machine noises. It’s the way they implicated the sounds that they got with experimenting with synths that made them different from others and they still have lasting effects on music that can still be seen today. What I have learned from Kraftwerk is that keep making what you like and eventually someone will acknowledge your work. Also that you shouldn’t be afraid of trying something new its how new genres are created.