Episode 9 (Fall 2026)
15:00 - 16:00 Sunday, September 27th, 2026
Hosts: Christian, Henry, & Jenna

This week, we talk all about the origins and beginnings of independent rock in early 1970s West Germany - commonly known as Krautrock.

Deutsch Musicians (frequently young ones, often students) in the late 1960s were asking the question, "What does German rock sound like?" Many despised the mainstream "schlager" music of the time, and many were also participating in revolts against conservatives in power in Germany (some of whom were members of the former Nazi party – it never really went away after the war). There was push back to the presence of the American military in West Germany, and staunch opposition to the American's war in Vietnam. The rock music that did exist in Germany was seen as yet another Americanizing force. Krautrock can be thought of as a response to all the above then.

Like many of the scenes we discuss on our show, it was given it's label by outsiders and the musicians involved likely didn't consider themselves all part of one scene. There was amazing variety in style and form between bands. Popol Vuh's "Kyrie" might've been similar to the spacey, ambient textures on Tangerine Dream's Zeit, but vastly different from the jammy, jazz fusion of Guru Guru and Brainticket. Neu! put out many tracks (like "Negativland") that featured the scene's famous "Motorik beat," and that particular drumming style pops up in other contemporary group's performances, but it wasn't a necessary ingredient for a band to be labeled Krautrock.

I did find however that many of the tracks released during this time, in this location, tended to be very improvised, jammy, lengthy, and intent on creating a particular atmosphere for the listener to dwell in for a while. The instrumentation varied between bands (some kept with a more standard guitar-focused style, others adopted the new analog synthesizers of the time), but the long wave still swelled.

We ended this week's episode with the release of The Cosmic Jokers (1974) by The Cosmic Jokers. The recordings used for that release were from early 1973. Controversy around this release led to the dissolution of the Cosmic Couriers label (headed by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser), and around this time a few of the bigger names in the scene signed on with larger record labels like Virgin. Next week we'll discuss how the sound continued to develop throughout the 70s and into the 80s, until many of the musicians stopped making music and the alternative scene in Germany began to experience some fundamental shifts in sound.

Playlist - Selected by all 3 Hosts

"Burning Man" (1970) by Amon Düül
"Black Sand" (1971) by Brainticket
"Stone In" (1970) by Guru Guru
"Station 3 - Body" (1971) by A.R. & Machines
"Kyrie" (1972) by Popol Vuh
"Negativland" (1972) by Neu!
"Galactic Joke" (1973) by Cosmic Jokers

Sources / Further Learning

Krautrocksampler (1995) by Julian Cope (Book)
Under the Influence - Krautrock (2015) by Noisey (YouTube Video)