Kraftwerk
Afrika Bambaataa built 'Planet Rock' around their melodies, and Detroit's techno pioneers called them a founding influence. Kraftwerk, from Düsseldorf, imagined a future of clean electronic pulses, deadpan vocoder voices and four men posing as robots.
Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider broke through with the 22-minute motorway hymn 'Autobahn', then, with percussionists Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos, refined their sound at Kling Klang on Radio-Activity, Trans-Europe Express and The Man-Machine, featuring 'The Model' and 'The Robots'. Computer World predicted home computing and digital life with eerie accuracy.
Schneider left in 2008 and died in 2020, while Hütter has kept the group touring with immersive 3-D concerts.
If you like Kraftwerk you should check out: Cluster, Harmonia, Can, Tangerine Dream, Depeche Mode, New Order, Daft Punk, Aphex Twin, Autechre, David Bowie
