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  Melody Maker | 7/96

> Immerse yourself in 'Krautrock' - this immersive, engulfing music par excellence - a combination of absolute freedom and absolute discipline.

A true fusion, merging psychedelic rock with funk groove, jazz improvisation, Stockhausen-style avant-electronics and ethnic flava.
The 'Krauts' anticipated the soundpainting and texturology of today's post-rock, while still retaining the rhythmic thrust of rock'n'roll.

Krautrock brought into focus an idea latent in rock, from Bo Diddley to the Stooges: that the rhythmic essence of rock music, what made it different from jazz, was a kind of machinic compulsion.

Pitched somewhere between Kraftwerk's man-machine rigour and James Brown's sex-machine sweat, bands like Can and Neu! created grooves that fused the luscious warmth of flesh-and-blood funk with the cold precision of techno. <

Simon Reynolds;
Melody Maker | 7/96