1970s German Krautrock generated electronic organ and synth drones as an alternative to Anglo-American pop

In the late 1960s and early 1970s a generation of German musicians sought alternatives to dominant Anglo-American pop by exploring long, static electronic tones — later labelled Krautrock or kosmische musik. Kraftwerk put long static chords on their self-titled 1970 debut; Klaus Schulze’s solo debut ‘Irrlicht’ consisted almost entirely of organ drones; Tangerine Dream’s ‘Zeit’ (1972) was an early ambient-drone record. Crucially, this was largely an independent rediscovery of drone in an electronic context, running parallel to — not descended from — the American avant-garde lineage of Young/Riley/Reich, and it fed directly into electronic ambient, drone ambient, and Berlin-school synthesis.

Examples

Kraftwerk (1970 debut): ‘long, static chords and tones.’ Klaus Schulze ‘Irrlicht’: ‘almost entirely of organ drones.’ Tangerine Dream ‘Zeit’ (1972). Germans ‘mostly generated their drones from organs, synths and sometimes flutes.‘

Assessment

Name two Krautrock artists linked to electronic drone and the instrument each used, and explain how their motivation differed from La Monte Young’s.