Krautrock is a term invented by the British in response to the rise of a wave of German bands in the sixties, all of which were trying to find a music that was not parroting American styles but rather was pushing into something all of its own. Krautrock is a nationalism that does not seek to define itself through military domination but rather through music and cinema.
The sixties revolution in Germany had an additional edge as the Nazi infrastructure still existed within government as there way to run the post-war society without them. There was tremendous resistance to this from young people and this was expressed through street protest and very much through krautrock. While the term krautrock was coined as a derogatory reference to Germany, in fact it represented the antithesis to the Nazi war years rather than an expression of them.
The German nationalism is of very high interest to me in large part due to my negative reaction to the nationalism of the U.S. for some decades now. The consequence of it has been highly destructive to the world and to America itself so it seems, based on the evolution of krautrock, that we might well expect to see a similar movement within the U.S. in coming years to combat it.
For an extensive discussion of krautrock, please see the Wiki. It is not my purpose to duplicate that effort but rather to express my impression of what I see of it. While krautrock was invented as a negative reference, one thing I notice particularly is the extreme resentment of any implication of anti-semitism in Cat while I see unrepentant expressions of anti-semitism fairly commonly in Greece and previously in America. In the latter examples, it is veiled in hatred for the transgressions of the bankers but it is still the same thinking that motivated so many other things in the past.
The greatest musical identity in krautrock is electronica as exemplified most popularly by Tangerine Dream as they have created the soundtracks for a great many American movies but there are many other electronic bands that rose from within Germany. This musical form was particularly appealing as it wasn't representative of anything from anywhere else and this gave them total freedom to develop something quite new.
The first concert Cat ever attended was Amon Düül and I had never previously heard of their work as I was on the other side of the ocean, just as they say in the video, following the guitar gods. The guitar gods were precisely what krautrock did not seek to emulate. While, as a guitarist, it may seem somewhat self-destructive to want to learn more about krautrock, I don't see it that way at all as what I learn is of the need for free expression that is not constrained by anything from anywhere else.
There is a tremendous association between German cinema and the krautrock bands and Werner Herzog used the music of Popul Vuh in his films. The motivation in both mediums was an expression of free thinking, an unconstrained expression of life.
Another group that was very familiar with krautrock was the Baader-Meinhof gang that originated in Bavaria and were great fans of Amon Düül. At some point the resistance to convention shown in the music was not sufficient for the gang and they moved to violence with the history beyond that fairly well-known.
Through all of this my appreciation for music that has no debt to anything has grown immeasurably. While my skills may never be sufficient to reach the standards of expression shown in krautrock, it shows very much that anything is possible. I'm tremendously admiring of this type of nationalism which really wasn't nationalistic at all but which now is part of their pride in the rebirth of Germany.
Something that is growing in importance to me is the potential for jamming with Reis and Aldo in Italy as Aldo is a phenomenal musician very much devoted to pushing his music into as many worlds as he can. Perhaps there is the potential for collaboration in a way I have never considered before. Krautrock is something from which we can all learn and it motivates me to push even more toward things I've never done before.
Yes, of course Cat put me onto this. It's a wonderful thing to love a woman and how wonderful to go beyond and learn from her. We can all learn from her and so I share what I have discovered as sharing is very much her purpose.
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