2. What and who was Krautrock?
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June 18th, 2023:
Krautopia congratulates the man who once was Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser on his 80th birthday. If he is still alive at all ...
June 18th, 2013:
Krautopia congratulates the man who once was Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser on his 70th birthday.
"Cosmic Courier", "Godfather of Kraut", "Meson Cristallis", "Mr. Null" whatever you will be called in theses days:
Happy Birthday!
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New at Krautopia:
Gradually I shall post interviews that I conducted with musicians and others
from the Krautrock scene. At present, this material is only available in German.
To go to the interview section, use the INTERVIEW links in the text on this
page.
- Manfred Miersch
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Jean-Hervé Peron /Faust: "We searched for
a utopian location."
(Die Zeit, Nr.16, 11.4.1997)
Manuel Göttsching /Ash Ra Tempel: "The late 1960s - the
students protest and hippie culture splashed over the ocean from the USA.
Musically, most young Germans listened to and copied American and, more often,
English rock and pop. It was the era of 'Beat', 'Rhythm and Blues' and a little
'Soul'. But, there were a few bands in Germany trying to withstand the Anglo-American
invasion. They were creating their own typically German style by turning their
backs on common song structures."
(Archie Patterson, Eurock,
1998)
Ralf Hütter /Kraftwerk: "We were the first generation post-war
in Germany, when not so the houses were bombed, but there was a disorientation
in german culture. But it was a great opportunity, because we start from zero,
there wasn't a constant tradition. We had this idea to create the 'elektronische
Volksmusik', like Volkswagen, something popular."
(Folha de São Paulo, October 1998, Source:
Internet)
Joachim Irmler /Faust: "First it was Ethno, then it was Rock, then
brass-band, then orchestra music. We tried out everything."
(Zitty-Magazine, Berlin, April 1997)
Michael Wehmeyer /Embryo: "There was a strong urge perhaps
it came from experience with the jazz scene to create your own sound,
your own way of playing, otherwise its not worthwhile because everything
else already exists."
INTERVIEW.)
Conrad Schnitzler /Kluster: "I started doing
music without knowing anything. I can't play an instrument. What I do is total
improvisation, which is why I'm interested in the new sounds you can do with
electronics; but I started with normal instruments - piano and cello."
(6/80, Eurock #16, Source:
Internet)
Werner ("Zappi") Diermaier /Faust: "The music begins on
the work-site, that is; the street. It's developed further in the studio. We
did an experiment when we were living on a very long street. When a truck raced
by, we would listen to the sounds it made as it disappeared into the distance
and thought about what we would associate those sounds with!"
(Der Tagesspiegel, 8./9. February 1997)
Holger Czukay /Can: "The whole 'Krautrock-fever'
had been mostly established through that book (i.e. Julian Cope´s Krautrock
Sampler) - suddenly people remembered and the whole thing started. Now initially
the 'Krautrock' label was a derogatory term. But today you don't get that label
out of the people's heads anymore. In America it's just the more expert people
who understand that - everyone else regards 'Krautrock' as just a usual term,
just like 'Rock 'n' Roll'."
(8/98, Source:
Internet)
Falk Rogner /Amon Düül: "In the
first Amon Düül tribe, everybody was playing something. There were
only four musicians, but there were 20 people on-stage who were doing something!"
(Mojo, UK, N°41, April 1997)
Dieter Bornschlegel /Atlantis /Guru Guru: "I think its really
fantastic that nearly all Krautrock bands succeeded in creating their own individual
sound and musical cosmos."
INTERVIEW.)
Chris Karrer /Amon Düül: "From the
beginning, we wanted to accomplish something which one today might describe
as multimedia - large events which werent limited to only music."
(Zitty-Magazine, Berlin, 21/1996)
Irmin Schmidt /Can: "With Can, it was all about life."
(Tip-Magazine, Berlin, 7/1999)
Michael Rother /Neu /Harmonia: "We were always close to the abyss."
(Der Tagesspiegel, 20.6.2001)
Michael "Fame"Günther /Agitation Free on an appearance of
the group in the Winter of 1969 in Berlin: "The group played in a cube
made of clear plastic on which projections could be seen. Screens, on which
slides and films were projected, were mounted on the walls and floor. Liquid
projections also played a roll. A wall of television monitors was set up. In
front of them were motor-controlled rotating discs with holes in them, giving
the appearance of moving patterns. The floor was covered with half-inflated
automobile inner-tubes, and meal worms and ants scorched in a projector for
all to see on a screen."
(Source:
Internet)
Uwe Nettelbeck /Faust: "We arent professional in the usual
sense. The music is meant to sound like a bootleg recording - like someone following
a jam-session, then piecing the recorded material together in a wild fashion."
(Keys Nr.2/00)
Damo Suzuki /Can:
"... (and) as a busker on the street, I always improvised when performing
my music; I don't enjoy singing the same things every day. Therefore, I wouldn't
call myself a professional musician and say that music is my occupation. (...)"
(Keyboards 01/00)
Karlheinz
Stockhausen on the piece Aumgn" from Can: "The
basic attitude is musically inquisitive".
(Die Zeit, Nr.17, 18.4.1997)
Holger Czukay (Can) on Karlheinz Stockhausen´s music: "More
than forty years later this music remains being an outstanding musical jewel
though the technical development makes one think this being an old hat. Wrong
dear, listening to 'Gesang der Juenglinge' makes modern technique sometimes
look old."
(OHM-
The Early Gurus of Electronic Music Interviews and Essays by Jason Gross,
1998)
Renate Knaup /Amon Düül II describes an extraordinary church
organ that became a crucial component in defining the Amon Düül's
sound: "It was a large, ancient Mellotron-type instrument that had been
designed by some crazy instrument builder. For every key on the keyboard he
had made a tape of that note which had been sung by a real choir. It wasn't
sampled or anything."
(Communing with Chaos - by Edwin Pouncey, The
Wire, issue 144 February 96)
Michael Rother /NEU /Harmonia: "I had a cassette recorder which
used to eat the tape and howl really bad, but in the context I really liked
it - this is how 'Cassetto'came about (on the 2nd album: 'NEU! 2'). Since then
listening habits changed towards this direction, but in 1973 a lot of critics
and fans were irritated and felt as we had made fun of them, which wasn't intended
by us at all."
(Interviewed by Billy Hargus, March 1998, Source: Internet)
Edgar Froese /Tangerine Dream: "If you listen to the Tangerine Dream
albums in chronological order, you practically have a history of the synthesiser,
sequencer and sampler."
(Keyboards, Nr.9/00)
Wolfgang Flür/Kraftwerk: "When we first started experimenting
with the first minimoog-synthesiser and my self-built electronic drum-set at
the beginning of the 70s, the press thought of it as avant-garde music;
not to be taken seriously."
(Wolfgang Flür, Ich war ein Roboter, published by Hannibal Verlag, 1999)
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Michael Karoli /Can: "I always wanted to make dance
music, even if it's only the soul that's dancing."
(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Nr. 75, 30.3.1999)
On the 17th of November, 2001 in Essen, Germany, Michael Karoli, the guitarist from CAN, died after fighting a long battle with cancer.
Florian Fricke /Popol Vuh: "I attempted to discover the essence of
all religions in a single note -- in a single sound."
(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Nr. 2, 3.1.2002)
On the 29th of December 2001 Florian Fricke of Popol Vuh died (57 year old) in Munich.
Thomas Dinger /NEU /La Düsseldorf
On the 9th of April 2002 Thomas Dinger died in Duesseldorf.
Peter Leopold /Amon Düül /Amon Düül II
On the 8th of November 2006 Peter Leopold died in Munich.
Klaus Dinger /Kraftwerk /NEU /La Düsseldorf: "I don't come from a particularly musical background. I'm more of a 'working class hero', if you know what I mean by that."
Interview with Klaus Dinger by: Michael Dee/ London for: "POP"/ Stockholm/ Sweden/ Oct. 1998
Thomas Dinger died on the 21st of March 2008.