The Cambridge Companion to Krautrock

by Uwe Schütte (Editor)

Overview

This Companion is the first academic introduction to the 1960s/70s 'Krautrock' movement of German experimental music that has long attracted the attention of the music press and fans in Britain and abroad. It offers a structured approach to this exceptionally heterogeneous and decentralized movement, combining overviews with detailed analysis and close readings. The volume first analyzes the cultural, historical and economic contexts of Krautrock's emergence. It then features expert chapters discussing all the key bands of the era including Can, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Faust, Ash Ra Tempel, Cluster and Amon Düül II. The volume concludes with essays that trace the varied, wide-ranging legacy of Krautrock from a variety of perspectives, exploring in particular the impact of German experimental music in the Anglosphere, including British post-punk and Detroit Techno. A final chapter examining the current bands that continue the Krautrock sound closes this comprehensive overview of the Krautrock phenomenon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781316511077
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/27/2022
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Music
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.89(w) x 9.84(h) x 0.98(d)

About the Author

Uwe Schütte worked as a Reader in German in British higher education until Brexit. Now based in Berlin, he is Privatdozent at the University of Göttingen. Schütte has edited some ten volumes and written more than fifteen monographs on contemporary German-language literature and German pop music, with a focus on W. G. Sebald and Kraftwerk.

Table of Contents

Introduction Uwe Schütte; Part I. Context: 1. Krautrock: definitions, concepts, contexts Ulrich Adelt; 2. Krautrock and the radical politics of 1968 Detlef Siegfried; 3. Krautrock in the British and American Music press Alexander Simmeth; 4. Infrastructure of the German music business Jan-Peter Herbst; 5. The sound of krautrock Heather Moore; Part II. Music: 6. Kraftwerk Uwe Schütte; 7. Can Patrick Glen; 8. Tangerine dream Sean Nye and Michael Krikorian; 9. Neu! David Stubbs; 10. Faust Alexander Henkle; 11. Cluster/Harmonia David Pattie; 12. Popol Vuh Sascha Seiler; 13. Ash Ra Tempel, Manuel Göttsching and Klaus Schulze Pertti Grönholm; 14. Amon Düül II Ryan Iseppi; 15. The flip side of Krautrock Jens Balzer; Part III. Legacy: 16. Krautrock and German Punk Jeff Hayton; 17. Krautrock and British post-punk Alexander Carpenter; 18. Krautrock and German Free Jazz, Kraut Fusion, Detroit Techno Marcus Barnes; 19. Krautrock Today Alex Harden; Index.

Editorial Reviews

‘The Cambridge Companion to Krautrock is a valuable resource for both scholars and fans of German music of the 1970s, offering rigorous and historically grounded analysis of the kind that this supremely rich and intoxicating era of experimental rock and electronic music deserves.’ Simon Reynolds, author of Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–84

From the Publisher