An exploration of the astounding musical phenomenon that is Kraftwerk, and how they revolutionised our cultural landscape.
Uwe Sch tte is a Reader in German at Aston University, Birmingham, where he teaches and researches contemporary Austrian and German literature, the writer W.G. Sebald and German popular music.
A highly stimulating critical biography. Written from a European
perspective, Kraftwerk is a pleasure to read.
*New Statesman*
An engaging critical introduction to the band ... you can see them
everywhere: most fascinatingly in hip-hop, most obviously in techno
music, but also in the chrome-helmeted anonymity of Daft Punk, in
the industrial philosophy of Factory Records and the Haçienda
nightclub, and, ultimately, in the general trajectory of pop music
ever since Kraftwerk's run of great albums between 1974 and
1981.
*The Guardian*
As the music of the 20th century fades from our ears, Kraftwerk's
sound is still moving.
*The Spectator*
I read Uwe Schütte's fascinating new book, and became convinced
again of Kraftwerk's peculiar genius ... They remain revolutionary
because they have given modern music its primitive pulse.
*Prospect*
Schütte proposes that Kraftwerk was, in effect, a redemptive
project, a reclamation of pre-war modernism and its aims ... This
book is the German take on the German pop phenomenon.
*The Quietus*
Read Schütte's entertaining and meticulously-researched history of
the band and it's hard not to conclude that Kraftwerk demand
equivalence at least with the Fab Four.
*The Herald*
Fascinating ... Highlights just how innovative and influential they
are. Kraftwerk didn't just beam themselves into the future, they
invented it.
*The Scotsman*
Born in Germany but based in the UK, Schutte is able to assess
Kraftwerk from both the German and non-German perspective. This is
a lucid, accessible, authoritative and indispensable account of the
Düsseldorf group once mocked for their Teutonic 'otherness', who
went on to lay the foundations for modern electronic music.
*David Stubbs, author of Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of
Modern Germany*
Schutte positions Kraftwerk not merely as a popular music
phenomenon but as the embodiment of our transition from the
uncertainty and hope of post-war Europe through to 21st century
techno-hyperreality. A forensic analysis of Kraftwerk's
socio-political roots and their ongoing cultural effect. Schutte
sees beyond the regular band trivia to show a deeper understanding
of the impact of Kraftwerk on all aspects of popular culture which
enclose us.
*Dr Stephen Mallinder, founding member of Cabaret Voltaire and
Wrangler*
Schütte follows the foundational electropop group that inspired
David Bowie's alienist late 1970s adventures and a multitude of
electrovariations. He charts how they were a surprising European
component in the emergence of hip-hop, as much through their
sung-spoken words as their machine-made rhythms ... The book
functions nicely as an introduction for newcomers to Kraftwerk's
history.
*Financial Times*
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