Kraftwerk – in the manner of AI, or something just like it.
Diving into some early Techno for Lunch today – Kraftwerk, recorded in Vancouver at the Garden Auditorium on May 7, 1975 by I believe, the CBC.
When what became known as Krautrock started making itself known in America during the early 1970s, there was an offshoot that some found familiar from years earlier. From the 1950s we became familiar with Electronic Music and it’s practitioners like Karlheinz Stockhausen. It was somewhat cold and antiseptic to many, constructed in laboratories with banks of signal generators and tape machines. But once you got past that, you discovered there was an atmosphere that was surreal and other-worldly and it lent itself very nicely to getting very stoned and staring at your ceiling. Tangerine Dream were the High Priests of that.
But along came Kraftwerk – at first, following in the footsteps of Tangerine Dream, but then drifting into something that had commercial appeal – more or less playing on the in-joke of a pack of glacial Germans, hunkered over synthesizers. It was, for all intents and purposes, a natural progression – seeing possibilities that extended way beyond the sonic Laboratory or the incensed-drenched Happening – you could actually dance to it. Purists blanched but the mainstream loved it for all its quirkiness and potential theatricality.
And Kraftwerk became a household name in the 1970s, extending over a period of a half-century and inspiring numerous movements on the way – everything from synth-pop, hip hop, post-punk, techno, house music, ambient, to club music.
You might say they’ve made an indelible impression on Contemporary Music – and judging by the list of contributions, you’d be right.
So for an idea of what was coming in 1975, have a listen to what they were up to in Vancouver on May 7th of 1975.
You are the operator of your pocket calculator – and don’t forget it.
