Krautrock

Krautrock (also called kosmische Musik, German for "cosmic music"[9][10][11]) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in West Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

[10] It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electronic music, among other eclectic sources.

[14] Prominent groups associated with the krautrock label included Neu!, Can, Faust, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel, Popol Vuh, Amon Düül II and Harmonia.

[5][19] Krautrock has been described as a broad genre encompassing varied approaches,[10][20] but commonly drawing on psychedelia, avant-garde collage, electronic sounds, and rock music, while typically featuring "improvisation and hypnotic, minimalistic rhythms.

Compare the dreamy synthesiser washes of Tangerine Dream with the alien noise collages of Faust or the psychedelic funk of Can.

[20] The music was partially inspired by broad cultural developments such as the revolutionary 1968 German student movement,[10][31] with many young people having both political and aesthetic concerns.

[32] Youth rebelled against both dominant American influence and conservative German entertainment such as schlager music,[32] seeking to liberate themselves from Germany's Nazi legacy in World War II and create a new popular culture.

Core influences on these German artists included avant-garde composers Karlheinz Stockhausen and Terry Riley, and bands such as the Mothers of Invention, the Velvet Underground, the Beatles,[33] and Pink Floyd.

[19] Moving away from the patterns of song structure and melody of much rock music in America and Britain, some in the movement were drawn to a more mechanical and electronic sound.

[40] The first use[failed verification] of the term however, was found in a full-page advertisement from Popo Music Management and Bacillus Records promoting German Rock in the UK, in April 1971.

[46] The term "kosmische Musik" was coined by Edgar Froese and later used by record producer Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser as a marketing name for bands such as Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, and Klaus Schulze.

[37] The following year, Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser's Ohr Records used the term when he released the compilation Kosmische Musik (1972) featuring tracks by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel, and Popol Vuh.

[47] German producer Conny Plank was a central figure in the kosmische sound, emphasizing texture, effects processing, and tape-based editing techniques.

Early contemporary enthusiasts outside Germany included Hawkwind and in particular Dave Brock who supposedly penned the sleeve notes for the British edition of Neu!