Kraftwerk

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Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk is the German term for "Power Plant" and the group is an electronic band from Germany. Their sound combines repetitively driven electronic-generated rhythms.

[edit] About

[edit] Formation

Kraftwerk was founded in 1970 by Florian Schneider (flutes, synthesizers, electro-violin) andRalf Hütter (electronic organ, synthesizers). The two had met as students at the Düsseldorf Conservatory in the late 1960s, participating in the German experimental music scene of the time, which the British music press dubbed "Krautrock".

The duo had originally performed together in a quintet known as Organisation. This ensemblereleased one album, titled Tone Float for RCA Records in the UK. The unit split shortly thereafter. The two began setting up their own private studio in a rented loft in Düsseldorf, which later became known as Kling Klang.

[edit] Early Line-Ups

Early Kraftwerk line-ups from 1970–1974 fluctuated, as Hütter and Schneider worked with around a half-dozen other musicians over the course of recording three albums and sporadic live appearances; most notably guitaristMichael Rother and drummer Klaus Dinger, who left to form Neu! The input, expertise, and influence of producer/engineer Konrad "Conny" Plank was significant as well. Plank worked with many other leading German acts, including members of Can, Neu!, Cluster andHarmonia. As a result of his work with Kraftwerk, Plank's studio near Köln became one of the most sought-after studios in the late 1970s. Plank produced the first four Kraftwerk albums, but ceased working with the band after the commercial success of "Autobahn", apparently over a dispute about contracts. Painter and graphic artist Emil Schult became a regular collaborator with the band starting in 1973, playing bass guitar and electro-violin. Schult then went on to design artwork in addition to writing lyrics and accompanying the group on tour.

[edit] Classic

What is generally regarded as the classic Kraftwerk line-up was formed in 1975, for theAutobahn tour. During this time, the band was presented as a quartet, with Hütter and Schneider joined by Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos as electronic percussionists. This quartet would be the band's public persona for its renowned output of the latter 1970s and early 1980s. Flür had joined the band in 1973, in preparation for a television appearance to promote its third album. The group's striking custom-made electronic percussion pads, played by Flür, made their debut as well. Bartos also helped to write many of the band's most memorable songs.

The band is notoriously reclusive; providing rare and enigmatic interviews, using life size mannequins and robots to conduct official photo shoots, refusing to accept mail and not allowing visitors at the Kling Klang Studio. Another notable example of this eccentric behavior was reported to Johnny Marr of The Smiths by Karl Bartos, who explained that anyone trying to contact the band for collaboration would be told the studio telephone did not have a ringer, since during recording, the band did not like to hear any kind of noise pollution. Instead, callers were instructed to phone the studio precisely at a certain time, whereupon the phone would be answered by Ralf Hütter, despite never hearing the phone ring. Chris Martin, lead singer of UK group Coldplay, anecdotally recalled, in a late 2007 article in Q about Kraftwerk, the process of requesting permission to sample the melody from the track "Computer Love" in its 2005 release "Talk" from its album X&Y. He recalled writing them a letter and sending it through the lawyers of the respective parties and several weeks later receiving an envelope containing a handwritten reply that simply said 'yes'.

[edit] 1990s

In 1990 after years of withdrawal from live performance, Kraftwerk began to tour Europe again regularly. In 1998 the group made its first appearances in the United States and Japan since the completion of the Computer World tour in 1981. Hütter had wanted to play more shows over the years, but the cost and time involved in shipping all of the group's huge analog equipment hindered world tours and travel outside of Europe. The band also ran into problems with customs officials in the Eastern Bloc region, with some of them fearing that the group's older computers at the time would trigger nuclear devices by mistake. During this decade, the band often stated that it was working on new material—though speculation about release dates fell through several times. The growing time between recordings, the rarity of live performances, Hütter and Schneider's alleged obsession with cycling, and the increasingly perfectionist nature of the recording process were the major reasons behind the departure of Flür and soon after Bartos, whose improvisations and song-writing capabilities were an essential part of Kraftwerk's later recordings. Following the departure of Flür and Bartos, Kling Klang studio personnel Fritz Hilpert and Henning Schmitz have appeared in what some have called the second classic line-up of Kraftwerk, which has been active from late 1991 to the present.

In July 1999 the single "Tour de France" was reissued in Europe after it had been out of print for several years. It was released for the first time on CD in addition to a repressing of the 12-inch vinyl single. Both versions feature slightly altered artwork that removed the faces of Flür and Bartos from the four man cycling paceline depicted on the original cover. Also at this time, the group signed a new contract with Sony-ATV Music Publishing. The single "Expo 2000", the group's first new song in 13 years, was released in December 1999 and subsequently remixed by contemporary techno musicians such as Underground Resistance and Orbital. This version was released as "Expo Remix" in November 2000. Before this time, the only artists allowed to remix the band's recordings were François Kevorkian and William Orbit.

[edit] 2000s

In 2000 ex-member Flür published his autobiography in Germany, Ich war ein Roboter. Later English-language editions of the book were titledKraftwerk: I Was a Robot. The text revealed many previously unreported details about life in the band. This book met with hostility and litigation from Hütter and Schneider, who disputed several of its claims (e.g., that Flür had built the band's first electronic drum pads) and objected to the public disclosure of personal information.

In August 2003 the band released Tour de France Soundtracks, its first album of new material since 1986's Electric Café. In 2004 a box settitled The Catalogue was planned for release. It was to feature remastered editions of the group's albums from 1974's Autobahn to 2003's Tour de France Soundtracks. The item was soon withdrawn from Kraftwerk and EMI's album release schedule. It was only released as a promotional item on CD, which has become a much-wanted item that has often appeared on internet auction sites such as eBay.[6] In 2007, the group showed a renewed interest in releasing the collection, although an official street date was not given.

In June 2005 the band's first-ever official live album, Minimum-Maximum, which was compiled from the shows during the band's tour of spring 2004, received extremely positive reviews. Most of the tracks featured had been heavily reworked and remodeled from the existing studio versions. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album. In December, the Minimum-Maximum two-DVD set was released to accompany the album, featuring live footage of the band performing the Minimum-Maximum tracks in various venues all over the world.

[edit] Invading United States

April 2008 saw the band back on tour in the United States leading up to its previously announced show at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.[7] Florian Schneider is absent from the lineup.[8] The quartet currently consists of Ralf Hütter, Henning Schmitz, Fritz Hilpert, and Stefan Pfaffe. In September, the group played five dates, with a single festival show in Ireland, three consecutive festival gigs in Poland and a date in Ukraine. In November, four dates will be played at various locations in Australia along with a date in New Zealand. In December, the quartet will play their first show ever in Singapore, along with a date in Hong Kong. On the 22nd of November Kraftwerk were scheduled to headline the Global Gathering Festival in Melbourne Australia but had to cancel at the last minute due to a heart problem from Fritz Hilpert.[9]

Source: Official Website

[edit] Current Members

[edit] Awards & Certifications

Nomination

Year	Award	Category
2005	Grammy Award	Minimum-Maximum - Best Electronic/Dance Album

[edit] Chart Toppers

Year	Title	German	UK Singles	US Hot 100
1975	Autobahn	9	11	25
1977	Trans-Europe Express	-	-	67
1978	The Robots	18	-	-
1979	Neon Lights	-	53	-
1981	Pocket Calculator	63	39	-
1981	Computer Love	-	36	-
1981	The Model	7	1	-
1982	Showroom Dummies	-	25	-
1983	Tour de France	47	22	-
1986	Musique Non-Stop	13	82	-
1987	The Telephone Call	-	89	-
1991	The Robots	-	20	-
1991	Radioactivity	-	43	-
1999	Tour de France	-	61	-
1999	Expo 2000	35	27	-
2003	Tour de France 2003	50	20	-
2004	Aerodynamik	80	33	-
2007	Aerodynamik (Remixed)	79	78	-

[edit] News

[edit] Tours & Concerts

There are no current tour and concert schedules for the artist.

[edit] Announcements

There are no announcements in the present.

[edit] Discography

Comprehensive list of the recordings made.

[edit] Albums

Tone Float 1970 RCA	Kraftwerk 1970 Philips	Kraftwerk 2 1972 Philips	Ralf und Florian 1973 Philips
Autobahn November 1974 Philips	Radio-Activity October 1975 Kling Klang	Trans-Europe Express May 1977 Kling Klang	The Man-Machine May 1978 Kling Klang
Computer World May 1981 Kling Klang	Electric Café December 1986 Kling Klang	The Mix June 1991 Kling Klang	Tour de France Soundtracks August 2003 Kling Klang
The Catalogue Kling Klang	Minimum-Maximum June 2005 Kling Klang