KRAFTWERK. Die Mensch-Maschine

I can hardly imagine that Kraftwerk did not know how important they were for the black masses in 1977 when their "Trans Europa Express" was released. I immediately thought: This is one of the craziest and best records I have ever heard. These words from the American DJ Afrika Bambaataa exemplify the current music journalism and musicology discourse, which attributes significant historical achievements to the Düsseldorf group Kraftwerk in the field of popular electronic music. Undoubtedly, Kraftwerk's spirit of musical and technological innovation continues to serve as a source of inspiration for countless music creators today. The question, which has so far been only marginally addressed, of what makes the group's music special in terms of composition and sound aesthetics is the subject of the book—where, analogous to Kraftwerk's concept of man-machine, the interaction between composition and instrumentation is a permanent focus of the chronologically structured musical analysis. The group's ongoing career spans over 50 years. Thus, the book is not only a treatise on Kraftwerk but also a comprehensive document of both the development of studio technology and the evolution of popular electronic music as a whole.