Krautrock: an entry path
Krautrock is a label the bands hated, applied to one of the most generous wells in 20th-century music. Five albums across the spectrum: motorik propulsion, ambient stillness, and the proto-techno that made everything since possible.
genre_entry5 steps
Neu!'s self-titled debut introduced the 4/4 motorik beat that every post-punk and Britpop band would later steal. Hallogallo opens the door.
Can's Tago Mago is the genre's high-water mark: 73 minutes of improvised psychedelia anchored by Jaki Liebezeit's clockwork drumming. Halleluwah is the centerpiece.
Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express turned Krautrock into something else entirely — synth-pop, techno, hip-hop all start here. Cleanest entry point in the catalog.
Faust IV is the band at their most accessible — tape splicing meets actual songs. Just-listenable enough that it works as a pivot from the propulsive tracks earlier in the path.
Harmonia (Neu! + Cluster) ends the path in ambient territory. Brian Eno called them "the most important rock group in the world" — Musik von Harmonia shows why.