A blog about Bloomsbury Academic's 33 1/3 series, our other books about music, and the world of sound in general.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Kraftwerk Collection - now out in the US



The book is now out in the US and available at a fine retailer near you, or via the internet.

A bit about the book and what you'll find inside:

When they were creating and releasing their most influential albums in the mid to late 1970s, Kraftwerk were far from the musical mainstream – and yet it is impossible now to imagine the history of popular music without them. Today, Kraftwerk are considered to be an essential part of pop’s DNA, alongside artists like the Beatles, the Velvet Underground, and Little Richard.

Kraftwerk’s immediate influence might have been on a generation of synth-based bands (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, the Human League, Depeche Mode, Yello, et al), but their influence on the emerging dance culture in urban America has proved longer lasting and more decisive.

This collection of original essays looks at Kraftwerk – their legacy and influence – from a variety of angles, and demonstrates persuasively and coherently that however you choose to define their art, it’s impossible to underestimate the ways in which it predicted and shaped the future.

Here is a visual reminder of why we love Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk- The Robots - You Tube Video



Table of Contents

Introduction: The (Ger)man Machines
David Pattie
I. Music, Technology and Culture
1. Autobahn and Heimatklänge: Soundtracking the FRG
Sean Albiez and Kyrre Tromm Lindvig
2. Kraftwerk and the Image of the Modern
David Cunningham
3. Kraftwerk – The Decline of the Pop Star
Pertti Grönholm
4. Authentic Replicants: Brothers between Decades between Kraftwerk(s)
Simon Piasecki and Robert Wilsmore
5. Kraftwerk: Technology and Composition
Carsten Brocker (Translated by Michael Patterson)
6. Kraftwerk: Playing the Machines
David Pattie

II. Influences and Legacies
7. Europe Non- Stop: West Germany, Britain and the Rise of
Synthpop 1975–81
Sean Albiez
8. Vorsprung durch Technik – Kraft werk and the British Fixation
with Germany
Richard Witts
9. ‘Dragged into the Dance’ – The Role of Kraftwerk in the
Development of Electro- Funk
Joseph Toltz
10. Average White Band: Kraftwerk and the Politics of Race
Mark Duffett
11. Trans-Europa Express: Tracing the Trance Machine
Hillegonda Rietveld

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