Echo Mandala · Guides
Getting into krautrock: NEU!, CAN and Harmonia
The forward pull of Hallogallo, the spacious side of CAN, Harmonia’s electronics. Four records that make a broad, awkward genre label feel much more inviting.
Sources checked:
Hallogallo is a good answer to the question of where to start with krautrock. The attraction is immediate: that steady forward pull, and the room around it. You can enjoy the track long before you have sorted out what the genre name includes.
From there, CAN and Harmonia open up different possibilities. This guide stays with four records so there is time to get interested in one. We have chosen them for their contrasts: motion and stillness, short songs and long pieces, a familiar guitar sound and a more electronic setting. The records make a better introduction than a definition can.
Start here
Put on Hallogallo first. Follow it with Moonshake from CAN’s Future Days, then Harmonia’s Dino. Those three tracks should give you something to follow: the band you want more of, or the particular mood you wish had lasted longer.
NEU! · 1972
NEU!: the pleasure of staying in motion
NEU!
First track: Hallogallo
Hallogallo is the track we would put on before attempting an explanation. Its forward motion is easy to settle into, while the space in the arrangement gives small changes room to register. The appeal is in how much can happen while a piece seems to keep going in the same direction.
Weissensee offers a different mood on the debut. Grönland’s artist notes draw attention to the contrast between the band’s driving energy and its more melancholy pieces. Play the pair and see which one makes you want to stay a little longer.
CAN · 1973
CAN: a short song at the edge of something larger
Future Days
First track: Moonshake
Moonshake is a compact way into Future Days. It gives you a song to get attached to before the much longer Bel Air asks for your time. There is something inviting about an album that leaves room for both.
If the shorter track draws you in, let the rest play. Bel Air runs for about twenty minutes, so it helps to choose a moment when you can leave it uninterrupted. The pleasure of a long piece often arrives gradually; a quick excerpt can make the waiting feel pointless before you have heard where it leads.
Harmonia · 1974
Harmonia: let the small changes count
Musik von Harmonia
First track: Dino
Musik von Harmonia turns towards instrumental electronics. Grönland places the trio in both the krautrock and electronic traditions; we suggest Dino first, with Watussi close behind. You can follow that connection without learning the musicians’ entire family tree.
This is a good stop if the spaces in the NEU! record caught your attention as much as the momentum did. Let a piece run and notice which small change brings your attention back. That can be a more rewarding way in than waiting for a big chorus that may never arrive.
NEU! · 1975
NEU! ’75: come back for the contrast
NEU! ’75
First track: Isi
Isi brings you back to NEU! with another inviting starting point. Follow it with Hero. Grönland’s notes place those tracks at contrasting ends of the band’s emotional range, from driving energy to anger. That is a useful reminder of how much the same name can contain.
Return to Hallogallo or Weissensee afterwards if you want a comparison. By now there are particular pieces to care about, rather than a genre label to get to grips with. The next record becomes easier to choose when you know what you would like more of.
How we chose
The sequence and listening suggestions are Echo Mandala’s editorial choices. Release years and track names are checked against the linked artist and label pages.
Before you listen
What does the word krautrock tell me about the music?
It is a broad label, so it tells you less than a particular song will. The NEU! tracks alone cover markedly different moods. Use the name to find records, then narrow the search around the group or track that caught your attention.
Which album should I choose after these first tracks?
Stay with the band that made you reluctant to move on. If Hallogallo did, try the NEU! debut; if Moonshake did, give Future Days time. Harmonia is there if the instrumental electronics appealed. There is no advantage in rushing past a record you already want to hear again.
Do the long pieces need more than one listen?
They can, especially when their changes are gradual. A second play may give you something to anticipate. But repeated listening should come from curiosity, not guilt: Moonshake is a perfectly good song to love even if Bel Air does little for you.
Where to go next
Return to the track that held you, and let its album play. When you are ready for something else, try the neighbouring band here rather than opening a list of a hundred essentials. A few records you care about will give the wider history somewhere to begin.
