Neu Klang: The Definitive History of Krautrock

by Christoph Dallach

West Germany, 1968. Like everywhere else in the Western world, the young generation is pushing for radical change, still suffering the after-effects of the Second World War. Many stream out of the lecture halls and onto the streets. Some into the underground. And some into the practice basements, in search of the soundtrack of the movement.

The unique and adventurous sounds that German bands like Can, Neu!, Amon Düül, Popul Vuh, Tangerine Dream, Faust, Cluster or Kraftwerk produced back then, now known as Krautrock, are considered a blueprint for modern rock music. And the stream of their creative admirers and continuators has been constantly widening since the first fans like David Bowie and Iggy Pop: whether Blur, Aphex Twin, Sonic Youth, Radiohead or the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

In Neu Klang, Christoph Dallach interviewed its pioneers, including Irmin Schmidt, Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay of CAN; Neu!'s Michael Rother; Dieter Moebius of Cluster; Klaus Schulze of Tangerine Dream; Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and many others. Their answers combine to form an oral history that points far beyond the individual band histories: on the one hand, into the past, to Nazi teachers, post-war parental homes, free jazz, terrorism, LSD and extremely long hair; but just as much into the future, to global recognition, myth-making, techno or post-rock

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, 21st Century

448 pages, Paperback

Published June 3, 2025

Reviews

[Oscar Jelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 'definitive' history only in the sense that it makes definitively clear that there can be no such thing: this lot can't even agree on what 'Krautrock' means. In fact it's a collage of interview snippets, artfully and at times humorously arranged (one chapter is called 'Hair') and very inventively translated. Though it's good at establishing the context in which the music emerged (a bit of '68er rebelliousness, a bit of pioneering new technologies, a bit of following the example of Stockhausen, Cage, Reich et al.), it also had that enjoyable kick-up-the-arse quality common to books about subcultures in the long tail of the '60s (which to me encompasses punk, post-punk and even the '90s DIY scene) when a load of people seemingly just went: "Nothing interesting was happening, so we decided we'd have to make it happen ourselves!" Made me want to do another zine or something.

[Kobe Rombouts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dacht dat het een leuk idee was om dit tijdens mijn Berlijn-reis te lezen, dus bij dezen! Jammer om te zien dat er zo weinig van de beschreven plaatsen nog bestonden in Berlijn, m'n hoop op een krautrock-bedevaart viel pardoes in het water :(

Ok nu over het boek

Dallach koos ervoor om enkel quotes van geïnterviewden weer te geven en monteert zelf dus amper iets. Soms leidt dat tot heerlijke anekdotes, maar ook tot een overdaad aan details die weinig bijdragen aan het geheel. Maar dan passeert er ineens een verhaal over hoe een bepaalde muzikant tijdens een optreden "zijn muzikale energie probeerde te kanaliseren zodat Nixon een hartaanval zou krijgen" en dan ben ik terug een gelukkig mens.

Eentje voor de krautrock-diehards, beginners kunnen beter bij de Wikipediapagina over het genre starten

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engrossing history of one of my favorite “genres” of music. Everything I could possibly want out of a history of krautrock.

[Jacob Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I was still a dilettante, but I understood that a universal dilettante can overtake an expert, by all means. Experts are always afraid of making mistakes, instead of internalising the music. Only dilettantes can do that. Once I realized that, I was never scared again. There’s no way I can be so bad that nothing works out at all.”
– Holger Czukay

*

[I knew Krautrock was made by hippies, but I didn't actually realize how hippy most of them were.]

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent oral history of 'Krautrock'-- a post-hoc amalgamation of free jazz freaks, hippies, leftists, avant garde classical music students and rock fans. Dallach's subjects do a great job weaving these disparate scenes together from Berlin to Munchen to Hamburg and Dusseldorf. However, the book is limited by who remained alive for interviews (the book was published in 2024, and year zero for most of the groups was ~1968 in one form or another). Chapters on stalwarts like Can, Neu! and Amon Duul are wide ranging, as are sections on smaller acts like Guru Guru and AR & Machines.

The chapter on Kraftwerk exemplifies the limitations of the book as Dallach is forced to rely on Bartos and Michael Rother rather than Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter. In the end, it reads like an oral history of outsiders to the group.

Highly recommended, with caveats, to anyone interested in German music of the late 60s and 70s. Come for the funny anecdotes about hippie communes, stay for Irmin Schmidt of Can's detailed and insightful reflections on German identity, Nazi parents, anti-racism and art.

[John Spiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Neu Klang" tries to do for Krautrock what "Please Kill Me" did for punk: tell the story of a genre of music through the musicians and those adjacent to the musicians. Because none of the musicians are identified by band, the reader is left to continually Google the names. (Of course, if the reader recognized all the names, then "Neu Klang" will be hardly revelatory.) Because the experiences of the bands covered were so disparate, no coherent narrative emerges. Overall it felt like a series of articles from Mojo magazine strung together into a book.

[James McNally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a good introduction to some of the bands and musicians, but this oral history just comes at you full speed with a lot of names. I thought the biographical reference section in the back would help, but it only covers the people interviewed. There were many important omissions, making the rest of the book really hard to understand without heading to Wikipedia or some other website. It took much longer to read this than I'd anticipated.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely put together from interviews with the musicians and others involved in the movement thought of as "Krautrock" after the event. Grouped together thematically, or focussing on one band at a time it allows you to see this diverse group within the context of everything else going on in Germany at the time. Enjoyed that.

[Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardly the definitive history, next to nothing on Popol Vuh or Ash Ra Temple, however it's a good read and very importantly managed to catch the thoughts of several musicians who have since passed away, well worth a read....

[Ipswichblade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of Krautrock done very simply with interviews with the main players at the time and no editorial comment

[Douglas Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed getting the story and background to the music from the musicians themselves.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This covers well trodden ground. It didn’t feel that definitive.

[Rene Salomon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid genre study. Love the direct interview for only a few sentences and they switching off to the next person. Very proud musicians which did leave their mark on the music history map.

[Patrick Neylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Calling this book a 'history' isn't quite accurate. It consists entirely of quotes from the participants, grouped under themes such as 'jazz' or 'Berlin'. There is no narrative. As such, it would be brilliant source material for anyone writing a proper history but as a history itself it falls short.

[Cameron U. · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, the best way to gain knowledge of any event in history is to have those involved in it share their story. And this book achieves that brilliantly. Featuring interviews from those within bands such as Kraftwerk, Neu!, Faust, Can, and others, it paints a holistic picture of the krautrock movement that may not be replicated again. And Dallach's decision to just let the musicians and other figures speak for themselves is wonderful, coming straight from the horse's mouth gives the words so much clarity. It's also interesting to see differing perspectives on events such as the breakup of Can, or the 1968 student protests, as numerous contradictions between people arise again and again, flowing back into the holistic nature the book portrays. A fantastic read for anyone into the krautrock movement, I cannot recommend it enough.