Kraftwerk (German pronunciation: [ˈkʀaftvɛɐk], "power station") are a German electronic music band formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970 in Düsseldorf. The band was fronted by both Hütter and Schneider until Schneider's departure in 2008.
The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies, mainly following a Western classical style of harmony, with a minimalistic and strictly electronic instrumentation. The group's simplified lyrics are at times sung through a vocoder or generated by computer-speech software. Kraftwerk was one of the first groups to popularize electronic music and are considered to be pioneers.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Kraftwerk's distinctive sound was revolutionary; the band has had a lasting effect across many genres of modern music. According to The Observer, "no other band since the Beatles has given so much to pop culture" and a wide range of artists have been influenced by their music and imagery. In January 2014, the Grammy Academy honored Kraftwerk with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Kraftwerk is the first album by German electronic band Kraftwerk. It was released in Germany in 1970, and produced by Konrad "Conny" Plank.
Chief Kraftwerk members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider used two drummers during the recording of the album; Andreas Hohmann and Klaus Dinger. Their playing provides the music with a rock edge. This proves to be quite distinct from Hütter and Schneider's previous band Organisation, or the following pair of Kraftwerk albums, Kraftwerk 2 and Ralf und Florian which were both recorded entirely as a duo by Hütter and Schneider. According to later interviews with Dinger, he plays on side two ("Vom Himmel hoch"), while Hohmann plays on side one ("Ruckzuck", "Stratovarius"), which was completed before Dinger joined the sessions.
The other instrumentation features Hütter on Hammond organ and a modified electric organ called a tubon (made by Swedish factory Joh Mustad AB), whilst Schneider supplied manipulated flute. The song "Ruckzuck" is driven by a powerful multi-dubbed flute riff, along with electric violin and guitar; these instruments often connected to further electronics via an Electronic Music Studios pitch-to-voltage converter.
Kraftwerk 2 is the second studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in January 1972.
Kraftwerk 2 was entirely written and performed by founding Kraftwerk members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in late 1971, with the sessions produced by the influential Konrad "Conny" Plank. Hütter later said of the album's recording:
Perhaps the least characteristic album of their output, it features no synthesizers, the instrumentation being largely electric guitar, bass guitar, flute and violin. The electronics on display generally belong to the realm of 1960s tape-based music more usually produced in academia, with heavy use of tape echo (for example the massed looping flute layers of "Strom"), and reverse and altered speed tape effects. Overall, the sound has a rather muted, twilit, dusky feel, similar in feel to "Megaherz" on Kraftwerk's debut album, as Hütter and Schneider explored the possibilities for electronic and auto-mechanical enhancement of their music.
Here is the West German Broadcasting Station with the news
Fifty nuclear power stations will be built in the West German Republic
In the next ten years
Each one can supply a city of millions with power
The North German Broadcasting Service with the news
In the whole world 355 nuclear powerstations are operational or being built
According to plans of the nuclear lobby there will be 2000
At the turn of the century
Here is the Bayerische Broadcasting Service with the news
No other postwar technology
... even space travel, ...
Here is Radio Bremen, we bring you the news
The supplies of easily fissionable uranium
Needed as fuel for the reactors is as limited as the supplies of oil
The now known supplies of uranium is just sufficient
To operate the reactors already operational and under construction