There is no beginning and no end in music. Some people want it to end. But it goes on. | | | | Florian Schneider, far right, with Kraftwerk in Brussels, July 6, 1981.
(Gie Knaeps/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) | | | | | |  | "There is no beginning and no end in music. Some people want it to end. But it goes on."
| | | | | | rantnrave:// FLORIAN SCHNEIDER. Oh no. The heart of KRAFTWERK. Or maybe the brains. Maybe a bit of both, it was never entirely clear with those guys. But Schneider and RALF HÜTTER co-founded the band a half century ago, co-produced the classic run of albums in the '70s and '80s and, let's stipulate, co-changed the world. There may not be a single musician working today who wasn't either directly or indirectly influenced by their work, which radiated in a very short span of time through Detroit techno, Chicago house, British synth-pop and New York hip-hop and disco (for starters) and then radiated from there to every corner of the sentient pop music universe, to the point that it's possible ED SHEERAN is the only musician still standing who they're not in some way responsible for, and I'm probably wrong about him, I mean, you've heard what he does with loops, yes? You can try to calculate their influence on pop music or you can try to calculate the sun's influence on the earth, your choice. They were humans who spent a good part of their career trying to merge themselves with machines while making albums that celebrated the very human joys and mysteries of highways, trains and bicycles (three things that computers, left to their own devices, would have no need for); who could turn the sound of metal on metal into a piledriving beat that could fill a dancefloor four decades later, and who could melt your heart while contemplating the technological wonder of neon lights. One of my favorite TWITTER tributes, after the band announced Schneider's death Wednesday morning, was this clip of a 1970 German television performance, shared by electronic music adventurer HOLLY HERNDON with this short, simple note: "Kraftwerk, a few months after Woodstock." It took the world a little time to catch up. But catch up, the world did. Eventually. Here's WOLFGANG FLÜR, the percussionist who was another piece of Kraftwerk's classic lineup, in an UNCUT retrospective on the breakthrough album, AUTOBAHN: "During the first US tour, we had problems with equipment. The PAs in the halls were not designed for our massive analog sounds and many speakers burst." Schneider may be the man to blame/thank for that. The closest anyone has come to delineating exactly what he did in the band may be this answer Hütter gave to MOJO magazine in 2005: "Florian is a sound fetishist. I am not so much, I'm maybe more a word fetishist. These roles are not an obligation; they have just developed over the years as our preferences." In the context of this particular band, that clearly wasn't meant to be understood as a words vs. music thing. I assume it's more of a text/texture distinction. Schneider, a flutist by training and an electronic programmer by career choice, was an inventor, tinkerer and sonic perfectionist, and something of a philosopher of sound. "We are very much interested in origin of music, the source of music," he told LESTER BANGS in 1975. "The pure sound is something we would very much like to achieve." Kraftwerk's sound was one of pop's great leaps forward. The music was "beguilingly simple, but impossible to replicate," remembered PETER HOOK of JOY DIVISION, which used Kraftwerk's "TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS" as entrance music for most of its short career, and NEW ORDER, which "ripped off [Kraftwerk] as soon as we were able." They were "so stiff, they were funky," DETROIT DJ CARL CRAIG once said. Schneider left the band in 2008, long after they stopped making records but while they still touring with some regularity. He remained as mysterious outside the band as he had been within it, though he emerged in 2015 with a climate-change protest song, "STOP PLASTIC POLLUTION," based on a loop of dripping water in bathroom. "We don't make a distinction between an acoustic instrument as a source of sound and any sound in the air outside or on a manufactured tape," he had told ROLLING STONE 40 years earlier. "It's all electric energy, anyway." In 1975, that was a radical notion. By 2015, it was the sound of the pop charts. Some people can predict the future. Other people simply are the future... RIP also SWEET PEA ATKINSON, PETER JONAS, LEN FAGAN and RAY HENNIG. | | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | | | |  | The New York Times | | Independent venues are critical to local scenes and artists on the rise. With concerts on hold during the pandemic, they're struggling to hang on and fighting for government aid. | | | |  | Billboard | | As 2021 looks more likely for live music to safely return, agents argue that releasing music -- and finding new avenues for engagement -- is more important than ever. | | | |  | Rolling Stone | | "It's all electric energy, anyway," Schneider said, summing up a sonic philosophy that upended the Seventies rock ideal, and influenced everyone from Depeche Mode to Derrick May. | | | |  | Los Angeles Times | | Florian Schneider, the co-founder of Kraftwerk, the German electronic group that changed the sound of pop music, has died of cancer. | | | |  | Music Industry Blog | | There is an existential debate going on at the moment, around whether streaming is paying artists enough. It may feel like a rerun of old debates but it is catalysed by COVID-19 decimating artist income. | | | |  | Bloomberg Technology | | In an exclusive interview, Daniel Ek, chief executive officer of Spotify Technology SA, talks with Bloomberg's Emily Chang about how the music industry is experiencing massive changes. | | | |  | Vulture | | "If we didn't have all that stupid f***ing drama for all those years, would people even know who we are anymore?" | | | |  | Okayplayer | | The Verzuz series has been a Godsend for fans. But it won't reach its full potential until the playing field expands and more women participate.. | | | |  | Consequence of Sound | | Come prepared for great jazz performances and a killer Andre Holland turn. | | | |  | PEOPLE.com | | JoJo reveals Taylor Swift supported her when she was unable to release music due to a years-long legal battle with her former label. | | | | | Rolling Stone | | Rolling Stone's 1975 feature on the groundbreaking electronic-rock band. | | | |  | The New Statesman | | For the first time, the streaming platform has given listeners the opportunity to pay artists directly for their music. | | | |  | Pitchfork | | Buy from them on the internet now so you can enjoy them IRL later. | | | |  | SPIN | | SPIN's founder was a boy in London when "My Boy Lollipop" ruled the airwaves. | | | | | The New York Times | | The pandemic halted in-person gatherings, but a new type of party was born on social media, with rap stars leading the charge. | | | |  | The Guardian | | Clubs on the White Isle are starting to cancel their events, a disaster for workers who survive on summer income. Pete Tong and others explain what happens next. | | | |  | NME | | UK festival organisers cast doubt over the prospect of running mass gatherings with social distancing measures in place - and if festivals in 2020 will even be possible. | | | | | Los Angeles Times | | Adele's celebratory Instagram spurred compliments and criticism that are just as sexist as Donald Trump's comments about Donna Reed. | | | |  | Tone Glow | | I had initially asked Jim O'Rourke to pick something that defined his life at five year intervals. He told me that everything that had the largest impact on him happened earlier in his life, so I agreed to have him choose 10 events or pieces of art regardless of his age at the time. While we used these topics to guide our discussion, other stories are mentioned as well. | | | |  | HipHopDX | | From Afrika Bambaataa and DJ Shadow to Sir Mix-A-Lot and Kool G Rap, the German innovators left their indelible mark on Hip Hop. | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | From "Computer World" (1981). | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group | | |
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