Florian Schneider

The mysterious Florian Schneider, the one with the enigmatic smile, has died. Kraftwerk is rightly credited with pioneering and popularising electronic music, but their propensity for fun gets overlooked. Take Dentaku (live), recorded in Shibuya. It's a high-tempo, Japanese-language version of Pocket Calculator; a joyful three minutes shared between the band and chanting crowd.

I'm revisiting their best work, and reading Kraftwerk: Future Music from Germany, by Uwe Schütte, followed by Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany, by David Stubbs — and look forward to many Düsseldorf and Berlin references.

• music
• kraftwerk
• germany
• japan
• books