DJ_Zarathustra
December 31st, 2004, 12:24 PM
We all know that it would be horrible, unthinkable, and just plain evil to use terms such as "race music" for blues, or "negro spirituals" for gospel. Even the term "jap pop", which is used by fans of this stuff, is a no-no on commercial music download sites. Take emusic.com, for example, whose CEO is one Danny STEIN, and whose editor-in-chief is Michael AZERRAD. No nasty racialist genre names for these socially-conscious businessmen.
Well, almost. Click on their link for electronic music, and you will see a number of styles listed. Scroll down and see if you can spot something which surely must have been an oversight on the part of the good and decent executives at this company. Or, maybe not. Give up?
"Krautrock".
For those of you not familiar with this term, I should note that emusic.com did not invent it--it has been around for years. Another website cheerfully defines it:
"Krautrock was a musical style or movement that was largely associated with a number of German acts during the late 1960s and 1970s such as Can, Faust, Tangerine Dream and Neu!.
Mostly instrumental, the signature sound of "Krautrock" mixed rock music and "rock band" instrumentation (guitar, bass, drums) with electronic instrumentation and textures, often with what would now be described as an ambient music sensibility. Later German groups such as Kraftwerk are also sometimes considered part of the Krautrock movement. "
Hey, everybody says it! It must be OK. Emusic.com certainly seems to think so.
Interestingly, they also offer music from France, Spain, the British Isles, and even Italy in a category they call "World/Reggae", but one European country is conspicuously absent from the list. Just a coincidence, I'm sure.
Well, almost. Click on their link for electronic music, and you will see a number of styles listed. Scroll down and see if you can spot something which surely must have been an oversight on the part of the good and decent executives at this company. Or, maybe not. Give up?
"Krautrock".
For those of you not familiar with this term, I should note that emusic.com did not invent it--it has been around for years. Another website cheerfully defines it:
"Krautrock was a musical style or movement that was largely associated with a number of German acts during the late 1960s and 1970s such as Can, Faust, Tangerine Dream and Neu!.
Mostly instrumental, the signature sound of "Krautrock" mixed rock music and "rock band" instrumentation (guitar, bass, drums) with electronic instrumentation and textures, often with what would now be described as an ambient music sensibility. Later German groups such as Kraftwerk are also sometimes considered part of the Krautrock movement. "
Hey, everybody says it! It must be OK. Emusic.com certainly seems to think so.
Interestingly, they also offer music from France, Spain, the British Isles, and even Italy in a category they call "World/Reggae", but one European country is conspicuously absent from the list. Just a coincidence, I'm sure.