Kraftwerk is one the best electronic bands.What do you think of them???

From what i've heard of them they sound pretty good, but Bill Bailey's spoof of them was killer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP1tkspU5yw

There's a chapter in The Simpsons where Grandpa finds some WWII paintings, then a german prick steals those while listening to Kraftwerk lol, that's the only thing I've heard from this band.

Kraftwerk is as much influential as the beatles. I would say EVEN more influential than the beatles.

If you don't know much about the band, start out with The Man-Machne (1978). One of the best electronic/synthpop albums I've ever heard.

I have two of their albums in my CD collection, Autobahn (1974) and Trans-Europe Express (1977). The last one is a masterpiece in my opinion. Never thought I'd see a thread for these guys on here!

I love Kraftwerk. Let me explain a bit about their full-lengths...

1970 - Kraftwerk (Rating:4)

"Fourteen minutes, instrumental, experimental four track Krautrock album. The level of experimentalism is ridiculous, sounds like the band were bashing all the instruments they could and finally added some weird alien noises thereafter. Two ways to listen this: You are interested in the history of the band, or you must be a Krautrock lover. Anyway, shit album.

Best track: hahaha''


1971 - Kraftwerk 2 (Rating:6)

"First side of the LP contains a single, seventeen minutes track. Second side some, again, very experimental tunes, way ahead of its time. The opening track "Klingklang" begins with a slow, Dark Ambient-ish atmosphere, and then turns into a, well, enjoyable Rock 'n' Roll track. The rest of the album is mainly composed by noises, drones and soundscapes. If it weren't the same song structure on the second side of the LP, this cold've been a better release".

Best track: Klingklang


1973 - Half Und Florian (Rating:7)

"Well, let's say... now they learned how to play their instruments and be experimental at the same time, still making a pleasant tune for most ears. Also in this release they were making progress into the electronic aspects, you'll find atmospheric and ambient tunes, also some dance ones. Not a legendary release, but enjoyable from time to time.

Best track: Kristallo

1974 - Autobahn (Rating:8)

"...And now the band found their true sound and abandoned they hipster imagery of the early days. The first track is the legendary Autobahn, 22 minutes long track with the german roads as the main theme, with the intention of giving the listener am idea of how the Autobahn is. Every aspect of the song is damn well worked: the sampled sounds of cars passing by, birds singing, horns, turning the radio on/off, braking... everything well sampled into a track sometimes with a good rhythm and catchy melody. And finally, their music contains voices and lyrics! Legendary in every aspect, also on of the most important albums from the music history. Extremely recommended.

The second side of the LP contains, again, experimental Krautrock, BUT THIS TIME with a more electronic approach, with a hypnotizing melody and a continuous beat, with less influences of flutes, violins, guitars, drums or other "conventional" instruments."

Best track: Autobahn (it's very hard to listen at first, so I'll also recommend "Kometenmelodie 2")


1976 - Radioactivität (Rating: 8)

"Since 'Half Und Florian', the band were progressively moving into the full electronic sound. This is the final point of the boring Krautrock influence, Now we have a fully electronic sound, still experimental yeah. Radio activity and activities on the radio is the main concept here, therefore the album title is a pun. Other notable differences from Autobahn includes the extensive use of vocoder, an instrument to modify the voice based on a sound frequency, also a trademark in the Kraftwerk music; more hypnotizing synthesizer melody and "dancing" beats and a new level of experimentalism, with less influences on the previous Krautrock structure."

Best track: Radioactivität


1977 - Trans Europa Express (Rating: 9)

"One of the most important albums for the development of the contemporary music. From here, all the forms of electronic music were created, also a notable direct influence for all the 80's post-punk/new wave sound, RAP/Hip Hop and even video game music The band used a sequencer here, which created the continuous dance beat we see in 90% of the music today, combining with with the alien, electro hypnotizing sound from the two previous efforts. Released when punk was all the rage, praised with the maximum rating by many important music critics and magazines, this album now is in the same spotlight as classic like Beatles."

Best track: both "Trans Europa Express", "Metal Auf Metall" and "Abzung" forms only one track, with the same beat. "Metall Auf Metall", if you're too lazy for a 12 minute set ^^


1978 - Die Mensch-Mashine (Rating: 9)

"Best electronic album ever. Strictly well worked melodies and a vast variety of sound improvisation. We have the techno-ish "Die Roboter"; the very melodic "Spacelab"; the danceable "Metropolis"; the synthpop-ish "Das Modell"; the slow, romantic "Neonlicht" and the title track "Die Mensch-Mashine", with a hip hop beat even before hip hop was born. The vocals are a bit rare, with the exception of the track "Das Modell", and 90% of the time they are extremely distorted to a robotic feeling, as the band adopted the robotic imagery here. Grab this one, NOW!"

Best track: Metropolis.


1980 - Computerwelt (Rating: 8)

"Not too much to say about this one, as this is basically a rip-off of the previous effort with less worked song structure. Still great, though."

Best track: Nummern


1986 - Electric Cafe (Rating: 8)

"By now, the band was already a legendary one, their alien music from 1974~1977 was already pop, radio friendly music and thousand of artists were making music influenced by their previous three albums (worth mentioning "New order" and their "Blue Monday" single). Because of that, the album was received as dull, uninspired and "skipable". Well, I disagree as it contains my favourite Kraftwerk tune, "Der Telefon Anruf". Side one of the LP is basically instrumental electro music with some words scattered here and there, and side two contains three distinct tunes, with very different melodies and samples."

Best track: Der Telefon Anfuf"


2003 - Tour de France (Rating:6)

"Unless you are a Kraftwerk fan....... Skipable"

Best track: Vitamin

I've only heard "The Man Machine" and I liked it but never checked out anything beyond that. I might look into some of the albums above though.

Kraftwerk changed the way I view music, and they just changed music altogether. If you built a time machine and killed them before they started working, we would have no New Order, no Ministry, nothing... My little brother was in Frankfurt a couple years ago, and was going through a stack of old vinyls in a flea market, and found an original print of Autobahn, which he offered me for my birthday. It was one of the very rare times I actually bonded over something with him, and even though that album wasn't their best, in my opinion, it suddenly became dear to me. My favourite album stays Radioactivität, and I like most of them. But I was extremely disappointed by Tour De France, such a weak comeback. I'll put a link for Radioactivität here, it's such a great track.

I really like Krafwerk, they were so ahead of their time. Nowadays, all those people listening to electronic music aren't aware of the band and their contribution to the shit they listen to.

Written by Infernal Eternal on 18.07.2014 at 16:17
I really like Krafwerk, they were so ahead of their time. Nowadays, all those people listening to electronic music aren't aware of the band and their contribution to the shit they listen to.

I think that's a bit unfair to assume. Plenty of people I know who listen to electronic music know Kraftwerk and appreciate their influence.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 18.07.2014 at 22:32

Written by Infernal Eternal on 18.07.2014 at 16:17
I really like Krafwerk, they were so ahead of their time. Nowadays, all those people listening to electronic music aren't aware of the band and their contribution to the shit they listen to.

I think that's a bit unfair to assume. Plenty of people I know who listen to electronic music know Kraftwerk and appreciate their influence.

Sorry, I wanted to note that the average electronic music listener isn't aware of Kraftwerk.

Written by Infernal Eternal on 19.07.2014 at 10:46
Sorry, I wanted to note that the average electronic music listener isn't aware of Kraftwerk.

I still don't think that's a fair assumption to make. I might be giving the average electronic music listener more credit than they deserve but, at least based on personal experience, I think said people at least have a general knowledge of Kraftwerk's influence on the scene.

I'm not saying every tween raver gives mad props to Kraftwerk whenever they go to a house party and a Skrillex song comes on, mind you - but then again I don't think that's a majority of the demographic.

Written by Infernal Eternal on 19.07.2014 at 10:46

Sorry, I wanted to note that the average electronic music listener isn't aware of Kraftwerk.

You are confusing the average electronic music listener with the barely legal you see at clubs every night. It's as if I said the average "metalhead" doesn't recognize Led Zeppelin's influence. The kids you might see at a... I don't know... Bullet For My Valentine concert are not the best representatives of what an average "metalhead" is. If you understand the analogy.

And ravers and clubbers aren't necessarily "music listeners" to begin with. Music is just played on the background to the activity they engage in.

What made Kraftwerk important, I guess, is not so much the realization that you can make electronic music, but that you can make electronic pop music - it doesn't have to be confined to a small circle of experimental composers.

Written by Ilham on 19.07.2014 at 15:07

Written by Infernal Eternal on 19.07.2014 at 10:46

Sorry, I wanted to note that the average electronic music listener isn't aware of Kraftwerk.

You are confusing the average electronic music listener with the barely legal you see at clubs every night. It's as if I said the average "metalhead" doesn't recognize Led Zeppelin's influence. The kids you might see at a... I don't know... Bullet For My Valentine concert are not the best representatives of what an average "metalhead" is. If you understand the analogy.

I do understand the analogy and I agree with your opinion.