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Florian Schneider has died

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Florian Schneider has died

#71

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #59
tomphoolery wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, of course it's made for acid house! Surely Roland wouldn't have made a bass accompaniment synthesizer sound that unrealistic! /s

Roland did that a lot. They produced these generic "bad" synthesizers and drum machines that turned out to be unbelievably funky when abused by the right people. It was a real next-level engineering super-talent. It doesn't even matter if it was deliberate. The fact that it happened so reliably is enough.

That's not next-level engineering. It's next-level marketing. The key thing about the [3-digits-here] series was that they were priced right. Not for Detroit ... priced right enough to sell enough of them, so that by the time Detroit (and Chicago) were ready, there were lots of them available second hand for very little money.

And thus: techno (and house) and their progeny.

OK, more precisely, that's not entirely fair. Early electro-funk (say, NYC 1978-1983) and even early hip hop did use these devices. But they were generally in studios and not widely used by everybody and their friend that just wanted to make a jam. By the time the 90s hit, the used market for 303/909 etc was primed and ready to burst.

Re: Florian Schneider has died

#72

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

the_arun wrote: post #33

I enjoy electronic music. Never knew Florian Schneider was one of the influencers. RIP!

Influencer? INFLUENCER?

Go wash out your mouth with soap.

An influencer in this context is someone whose IG feed, had there been IG back in the day, would have told you to check the latest from this crazy German band from Dusseldorf.

Ralf & Florian weren't influencers, they were inventors, pioneers, ground breaking visionaries (even if they didn't know it themselves most of the time).

Re: Florian Schneider has died

#73

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

tempsy wrote: post #34

I still will never forget that when Kobe died this community absolutely lost it and downvoted and flagged every link related to it.

How is basketball different because of Kobe?

How is contemporary music different because of Kraftwerk?

Answer these two questions accurately, and you will be surprised no more.

Hint: (a) not really all that much (b) completely reinvented

Re: Florian Schneider has died

#74

Post by tempsy »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #73
tempsy wrote: post #34

I still will never forget that when Kobe died this community absolutely lost it and downvoted and flagged every link related to it.

How is basketball different because of Kobe? How is contemporary music different because of Kraftwerk? Answer these two questions accurately, and you will be surprised no more. Hint: (a) not really all that much (b) completely reinvented

There isn’t a official HN guideline that clearly delineates between the two scenarios and says why one is allowed and the other isn’t.

My point is that it’s entirely subjective, but everyone flagging the Kobe story in January was yelling about how it broke site policy when it’s clearly just a preference thing.

Re: Florian Schneider has died

#75

Post by oliyoung »

tempsy wrote: post #34

I still will never forget that when Kobe died this community absolutely lost it and downvoted and flagged every link related to it.

Saying this, as a HUGE Lakers fan, and almost as big an electronic music fan.

Kobe was incredible basketballer and story-teller, but his passing has no business here, there are plenty of places to remember him.

Florian was an engineer, a technologist, a hacker, a massive influence on many of us and how we approach our work. This is absolutely the right place to remember him.

Re: Florian Schneider has died

#76

Post by AareyBaba »

gdubs wrote: post #48

Legend. I saw Kraftwerk live years ago and it was one of the most overwhelming performances I’ve ever seen in my life. Beneath the bouncy, poppy hooks there was a massive darkness — the pairing of visuals with the music really drove that home. (The only other live musical performance that I recall giving me a similar feeling was the band ‘Godspeed You Black Emperor‘, who also made use of projected imagery in such a t…

My favorite is Bill Bailey's tribute to Kraftwerk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwaxWoJPUC0

Re: Florian Schneider has died

#77

Post by vvpan »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #8

RIP. A titan of music. Not only Kraftwerk are among my favorite artists, but my 8-month-old baby loves Autobahn.

My three year old nephew would ask to play the "robot man", as I referred to Kraftwerk for a while. Then would walk around swinging his arms like a robot to "We are the robots". I, having my "cool uncle" aspirations, was almost tearing up.

Re: Florian Schneider has died

#78

Post by tempsy »

oliyoung wrote: post #75
tempsy wrote: post #34

I still will never forget that when Kobe died this community absolutely lost it and downvoted and flagged every link related to it.

Saying this, as a HUGE Lakers fan, and almost as big an electronic music fan. Kobe was incredible basketballer and story-teller, but his passing has no business here, there are plenty of places to remember him. Florian was an engineer, a technologist, a hacker, a massive influence on many of us and how we approach our work. This is absolutely the right place to remember him.

It’s entirely subjective. If you search for “has died” posts you will find plenty of posts of other public figures who are more similar to Kobe (not technologists) than Florian.

Anyway it’s not worth spending more time thinking about I just remembered being taken aback at the forcefulness of the flagging and downvoting of all the Kobe posts in seconds like nothing I’ve seen before.

Re: Florian Schneider has died

#80

Post by bogomipz »

justinator wrote: post #50
grillvogel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw "them" live a few years ago on that 3D tour. By then it was just Ralf and the 3 other guys. At one point his equipment was getting messed up and sounded odd, you could see him getting visibly frustrated. It was interesting to see a human reaction like that from the robotic pioneers.

Ha - to be fair, it was, "Ralf, Florian, and two other guys" from the beginning - they made it into a quartet to mimic acts like the Beatles in a weird way. Of course, "the two other guys" deny that.

That's not actually true Klaus Dinger the drummer was a permanent member. There was even a brief period where it was Florian and Klaus Dinger in the band but Ralf had quit. And both Conny Plank their legendary producer and Ralf thought very highly of him. Klaus was known for pioneering a hypnotic minimalist beat known as "motorik." Klaus and Michael Rother left Kraftwerk to form Neu! another hugely influential German group.
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