Biography
Participants in the cult German group Kraftwerk were the pioneers of the electronic direction and before acquiring popularity were considered among the most vivid representatives of the European underground and alternatives. In the late 1970s, after the release of a number of recognized and commercially successful albums, the team had an impact on the synth-pop, hip-hop, postpank, techno and club music, so the American Academy of Recording was honored with His Honorary Prize "Grammy".The history of creation and composition
The history of the German electronic group began with the acquaintance of the musicians of Ralph Hutter and Florian Schneider, who former students of Dusseldorf University of Robert Shuman and together participating in the views of Krautrock. Then they joined the popular Quintet Organization and participated in the record of the only studio album "Tone Float".
In 1970, the guys became interested in synthesizers and imbued with the creativity of elegantly dressed artists-avant-gardeists who worked in the genre of photographs, "live sculptures" and famous in Europe and the UK under the name of Art Duet Gilbert and George.
By purchasing the appropriate mood and image, Ralph and Florian organized the Kraftwerk project and until the mid-1970s worked with such instrumentalists like Wolfgang Flour, Michael Rother, Karl Bartos and Emil Schulz. Over time, the team has repeatedly varied, and now there are other participants in it: the founder of Ralph Hutter, Percussionist Fritz Hilpert, the video engineer Falk Griffenhagen and sound engineer Henning Schmitz.
Music
The Studio Biography of the Kraftwerk group began with the release of two albums of the same name, which were an electronic improvisation and a study of various sound recorder techniques. And on speeches of that time, Huitter and Schneider appeared accompanied by a synthesizer and a specially configured drum machine and with the help of these unusual adaptation to the public compensated for the absence of living performers and created a unique synthetic and surround sound.In 1973, for a plate called "Ralf Und Florian", the group began using the vocoder, which became their business card on all albums of the next years. Then, when creating songs, the participants used Minimoog and an analog device EMS Synthi, which appeared in the "AutoBahn" track, which was included in the studio project of the eponymous. Thanks to this non-standard approach to the work of Kraftwerk, they fell on tour to America and first performed the live "Kometenmelodie", "Morgenspaziergang" and "Mitternacht".
The German experiments attracted the interest of the overseas producers, and, by signing a contract with a professional studio, the group released the Radio-Aktivität plate. Her commercial success allowed participants to speak with concerts in the European part of the globe and, leaving behind the stage of experiments, to develop their own unique style.
As a result, after the release of TRANS-Europe Express albums and Man-Machine, recorded and enclosed in Los Angeles, the musicians became associated with red shirts and black ties. In this image, they fulfilled the Single "The Robots", "SpaceLab", "Neon Lights" and "The Model".
In the early 1980s, Kraftwerk staged a fantastic world show in support of Computer World, which became the eighth studio work, and used during speeches slides, mannequins and many unknown electronic devices.
And then Ralph and Florian fanatically fascinated by the cycling and on the eve of Tour de France 1983 presented to listeners a new program consisting of minimalist video clips filmed on the TECHNO POP conceptual album.
In the 1990-2000, having released a cool "Electric Cafe" plate and a remix collection, which was included in the discography called "The Mix", the group began to arrange long breaks in tour and speeches. It resulted in third-party projects and split among the permanent participants and ended with the release of Tour De France SoundTracks.
Kraftwerk now
In the 2010, Kraftwerk with a modified composition of the participants presented the project "3-D The Catalogue", which won the prestigious Music Prize "Grammy" and consisting of a "concerter" with old and new songs, an autobiographical book and a set of Blu-Ray.
And in 2019, by saying fans that work on the next studio album is going on, the group spoke at e-festivals in the summer, in parallel playing in the halls of Orchard Hall, Anfiteatro Di Ostia Antica, Edpcooljazz and Neumünster Abbey.
Discography
- 1970 - "Kraftwerk"
- 1972 - "Kraftwerk 2"
- 1973 - "Ralf Und Florian"
- 1974 - "AUTOBAHN"
- 1975 - "Radio-Activity"
- 1978 - "TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS"
- 1978 - "The Man-Machine"
- 1981 - "COMPUTER WORLD"
- 1986 - "ELECTRIC CAFÉ"
- 2003 - "Tour de France Soundtracks"
Clips
- "COMPUTER WORLD"
- "NEON LIGHTS"
- METROPOLIS
- "Music Non Stop"
- "The Robots"
- "RADIO ACTIVITY"
- "Tour De France"
- "COMPUTER LOVE"
- "Der Telefon Anruf"