German Progressive Rock & Krautrock — Scene Guide: Essential Bands, Albums & Listening

German progressive rock and Krautrock — an atmospheric scene illustration with the Cologne skyline, the Rhine and vintage electronic gear

SceneProgressive Rock

German Progressive Rock & Krautrock

  • StyleKrautrock & kosmische
  • Peak years1970–1977
  • OriginWest Germany

In the years after 1968, a generation of West German musicians set out to build a music with no debt to British blues or American rock — and ended up changing the course of both. Lazily lumped together by the British press as ‘Krautrock’, it was really many things at once: hypnotic motorik rhythm, free psychedelic chaos, and the first truly cosmic electronic music.

From the groove experiments of Can and Neu! to the deep-space synthesizers of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, this is the most forward-looking scene in all of progressive rock — the place where post-punk, ambient and electronic pop were quietly invented.

Krautrock and Kosmische Musik

Two broad currents ran through the scene. One was rhythmic and experimental: Can built tracks from endless hypnotic grooves, Neu! distilled rock down to the relentless ‘motorik’ beat, Faust cut music into radical collage, and Amon Düül II channelled commune-house psychedelia. The other was cosmic and electronic — the ‘Berlin School’ — where Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel and Klaus Schulze turned synthesizers and sequencers into vast, drifting soundscapes, and Popol Vuh made music of strange devotion.

Not everything here is avant-garde. Germany also produced a rich seam of symphonic and space-rock prog — Eloy, Grobschnitt, Triumvirat and others — closer in spirit to the British bands but with a flavour all their own. And running underneath it all, Kraftwerk took the era’s electronic ideas and drew the blueprint for modern pop.

The essential German bands

Start with these — the records that define the scene. Tap any name for a full guide to their albums, members and history.

CanHypnotic, groove-driven Krautrock pioneers.FaustRadical, collage-based sound provocateurs.Neu!Inventors of the motorik beat.KraftwerkPioneers of electronic music.Tangerine DreamVast, sequenced electronic soundscapes.Amon Düül IIPsychedelic, communal Krautrock.Ash Ra TempelCosmic, improvised space rock.ClusterAbstract electronic minimalism.Popol VuhMystical, devotional soundtrack music.Klaus SchulzeEpic pioneer of sequencer electronics.HarmoniaA Krautrock electronic supergroup.Guru GuruWild, free psychedelic Krautrock.EloyGermany’s great space-rock prog band.NektarAnglo-German psychedelic space rock.GrobschnittTheatrical German symphonic prog.TriumviratKeyboard-trio symphonic prog.

Complete band index

Ready to go deeper? Every German band in the archive, A to Z:

Agitation FreeAmon Düül IIAnyone’s DaughterAsh Ra TempelBirth ControlBrainticketCanClusterCosmic JokersDzyanEloyEmbryoEpitaphFaustFrumpyGilaGrobschnittGuru GuruHarmoniaHölderlinJaneKlaus SchulzeKraanKraftwerkLa DüsseldorfLucifer’s FriendMichael RotherNektarNeu!NovalisPopol VuhSchicke Führs FröhlingTangerine DreamTriumviratWallensteinXhol Caravan

Where to start

New to the scene? Three doorways: Can for the groove, Neu! for the motorik pulse, and Tangerine Dream for cosmic electronics. Each opens onto a very different corner of the same restless scene.

Beyond Germany, explore the British, Italian (RPI), American and modern scenes — with the Canterbury and neo-progressive corners too.