Music And The Moving Image: Kraftwerk
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Kraftwerk's distinctive sound was revolutionary for its time, and it has had a lasting impact across many genres of modern popular music.
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Music And The Moving Image: Kraftwerk
- 1. Kraftwerk “We Are The Robots…” http://youtu.be/VXa9tXcMhXQ
- 2. The Introduction The band was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008. The group's simplified lyrics are at times sung through a vocoder or generated by computer-speech software. Their are a mix of German and English, with some French and other languages. Several of their albums are available as separate English and German language editions, whereas others intentionally present a mix of languages. In the early to late 1970s and the early 1980s, Kraftwerk's distinctive sound was revolutionary for its time, and it has had a lasting impact across many genres of modern popular music.
- 3. Background of the Band Electronic music band from Dusseldorf -1970 One of the first groups to popularise electronic music Krautrock– generic name of the experimental music scene that appeared in Germany The band was influenced by German Composer Karlheinz Stockhausen
- 4. Influences Composers Karlheinz Stockhausen Tangerine Dream Rock Bands Can, The Beach Boys and The Kinks Image 30’s Culture, Art Deco and Emil Schult
- 5. Influenced Artists Human League, Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, OMD, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, AfrikaBambaataa, Arthur Baker Image 30’s Culture, Art Deco and Emil Schult Genre hip-hop, House music, and Techno
- 6. Background of the Video Band is replaced by four robots resembling themselves The video offers a new way of performance The lyrics reference the revolutionary technique of robotics, and how humans can use them as they wish. The red shirts blend in with the red background making the audience focus on their plastic, emotionless, robotic faces. They’re increasingly synchronised with the music as technology developed making this video memorable & famous It has been said that these "robots" give a far more life-like performance than the band themselves
- 8. Whenever the song ‘Robots’ was performed ‘live’ the robots took the place of the band members to perform to the audience.
- 10. Robots connote how the band feels about how they are treated in the music industry.
- 12. Representation Lyrics "Я твойслуга" "Я твой работник" A concept performance Visualisation goes beyond meaning The Beatles of electronic dance music
- 13. Philosophy “..the alienating effect of mechanisation on the modern consciousness.” “..the sight of immediate reality has become an orchid in the land of technology.” - Walter Benjamin (1936) "Simulacra and Simulation“ - Jean Baudrillard False representation and distorting a more "authentic" relationship with the natural world - Martin Heidegger and Theodore Adorno
- 14. Bibliography Geocites. (1997) Kraftwerk, The Early Years '71 - '73 [Internet] < http://webspace.webring.com/people/mt/tonefloat/h71.html > [Accessed 31 March 2011] Influences [Internet] < http://homepage.ntlworld.com/allan.icepalace/influences/influences.html >[Accessed 31 March 2011] Irish Independent (2008) Still Krafty After All These Years < http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/still-krafty-after-all-these-years-1475485.html. Retrieved 2008-09-16> [Accessed 31 March 2011] Pareles, Jon. (2005) The Live Concert Experience, as Mechanized as Possible [Internet] < http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/arts/music/03kraf.html?_r=2&oref=slogin > [Accessed 31 March 2011] Wikipedia. (2011) Techno [Internet] < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno > [Accessed 31 March 2011] Geocites. (1997) Call Them the Beatles Of Electronic Dance Music [Internet] < http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/15/arts/call-them-the-beatles-of-electronic-dance-music.html > [Accessed 31 March 2011] Wikipedia. (2011) The Robots [Internet] < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Robots > [Accessed 31 March 2011] Blunden, Andy. (2005) The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction [Internet] < http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm > [Accessed 31 March 2011]
Editor's Notes
- Like many other Krautrock bands - Kraftwerk drew on the influence of experimental electronic forces such as composerKarlheinz Stockhausen and Tangerine Dream to create minimalist music on synthesizers,drum machines and tape recorders.Ralf Hütter listed The Beach Boys as a major influence, apparent in their 1975 chart single, Autobahn.Wolfgang Flür also made a similar remark comparing Kraftwerk's German identity to the Kinks and their strongly-English brand of pop/rockFor their image Hütter stated that "The culture of Central Europe was cut off in the thirties, [as] many of the intellectuals went to the USA or France, or they were eliminated. [Kraftwerk were] picking it up again where it left off, continuing [the] culture of the thirties, and doing [it] spiritually".Emil Schult, an electronic violinist,was seen as the man behind the image. He had a masters degree that covered many aspects of the visual media including painting, photography and film, but also brought him into contact with some of the more revolutionary political student movements of the time.
- In the 80's Kraftwerk strongly influenced a generation of English new-wave groups like the Human League, Tubeway Army ( Gary Numan ), Depeche Mode and OMD, while David Bowie claimed to be have long been an admirer - this can be heard on his album 'Low' - Bowie asked to work with Kraftwerk, but typically, they refused the offer. Michael Jackson who was a huge fan, evident on his album 'Bad‘, asked Kraftwerk to produce his sister, Janet’s album ‘Control’, but they also refused the offer.The group are cited as a major influence on a host of electro artists, AfrikaBambaataaand Arthur Baker who produced their1982 'Planet Rock' single which was built around samples of both 'Trans-Europe Express' and 'Numbers' This melding of European electronic music with African American music led to the development of hip-hop, House music, and Techno.
- The lyrics reference the revolutionary technique of robotics, and how humans can use them as they wish."Я твойслуга" (Yatvoisluga, I'm your servant)"Я твой работник" (Yatvoirabotnik, I'm your worker)In the video Kraftwerk are communicating to the audience visually, although they’re not visible a representation of them as artists is shown.A quote from The New York Times states that while all concert performances are mechanical to the degree that they repeat well-rehearsed music,Kraftwerk had its own wry twist. Its robots were far more demonstrative than the band itself. Another article from The New York Times states that Kraftwerk is the most important music group since the Beatles. The band laid down a blueprint for the music's future, developing an automated, impersonal sound that although it seems ultra-intellectual and European, slipped across barriers of race, class and nationality...
- Transferring the spirit from the body to the machine is often the main analysis, but it’s essentially an expression of technological spirituality. In this manner: "techno dance music defeats what Adorno saw as the alienating effect of mechanisation on the modern consciousness“The equipment-free aspect of reality here has become an illusion; the sight of immediate reality has become an orchid in the land of technology. Pop illustrates and complicates Walter Benjamin’s theory of authenticity and the disappearance of aura in the age of mechanical reproduction. Although the notion of being ‘authentic’ is seen to be confirmed by the live performance, Kraftwerk used Robots instead of people. The audience isn’t going to be let down because everyone is used to the characters instead of the actual thing. Mona Lisa as an example; no one notices the real one from the fake.We can also reference Jean Baudrillard’s work on “Simulacra and Simulation“ , where the distinctions between representation and reality disappear.BothAdorno and Heidegger were concerned with false representation and distorting a more "authentic" relationship with the natural world