Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk started to take off after they chose to focus on experimental music as opposed to their krautrock sound of their early albums.  They took the innovative technologies available to them and formed a new type of music that was completely different than everything else at their time.  They set up in their own studio, named Kling Klang, and started working with synthesizers, vocoders and drum machines to develop what would become the most influential style of music.  It was the droning and repetitious drum beats that went on to inspire artists in almost every genre of music, pop, rock, R&B, hip-hop, etc.…  It was the mechanical and robotic qualities of their music that they extended to their appearance.  They made themselves look almost like robots by dressing in a very clean matching look with matching short haircuts.   

Kraftwerk made their first 3 albums with real instruments featuring a traditional flute with little success.  They made a decision to get a bit more static in their sound and experimenting with electronic instruments and song writing to create their 1974 release Autobahn.  Autobahn was a success and awarded the band the freedom to take over the production role of their albums.  They followed up Autobahn with Radio-Activity, which saw little success but for a gold record in France.  Trans-Europe Express was released in 1977 and managed to win a Disco Award in New York a year later.  1978 saw the release of The Man-Machine, a relative flop of an album.  They waited 3 years to release Computer World.  They released one of the tracks as a single, The Model, which became the group’s most successful record in the UK.   

It is clear that Kraftwerk has influenced more artists than anyone.  Their simplistic style and approach to their compositions and production is one of the biggest influences on pop music.  Many current albums are put together in a similar fashion by minimalizing the sounds occupying the same space on a recording.  That process leaves room for melodies to stand out.  Drums are a huge factor in the success of the band as they were able to create the repetitious drumbeats that were irresistible, a critical element of most styles and genres of music today.  Experimentation was another attractive element of the band’s influence.  They were not afraid to be different, to sound different in fact they embraced it and managed to encourage everyone else.

I prefer to listen to the more structured songs by the band.  Experimentation is great however I crave any sign of structure even if it is amongst chaos.  One of the factors that I will bring to my future projects, as a production professional, is experimentation in a sonic form.  I believe in creating form with beautiful sounds and words that can take the listener into the emotion of the artist that wrote and recorded the piece of music.  That will make it easier to connect with your audience overall.