From Krautrock to Techno: Germany’s Electronic Pulse

Few countries have shaped electronic music as strongly as Germany. The story runs from experimental rock in the late 1960s to the techno clubs of Berlin.

Krautrock

In West Germany in the late 1960s and 1970s, a new generation of musicians wanted a sound of their own. Bands such as Can in Cologne, Neu! and Kraftwerk in Düsseldorf and Tangerine Dream in Berlin used long hypnotic grooves, tape experiments and synthesizers. The British music press labelled it “Krautrock”. The steady, driving motorik beat became one of its signatures.

The machine sound

Kraftwerk in particular turned electronics into pop, with drum machines, vocoders and synthesizers. Their influence reached far beyond Germany, into synth-pop, hip hop and early techno.

Berlin after 1989

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, empty buildings in the east of the city became clubs, and techno became the soundtrack of reunification. Venues such as Tresor, opened in 1991, helped make Berlin a destination for electronic music that it remains today.

Explore these sounds on Klangwelt and Global Beats.