Krautrock, post-punk & the ever-present Funk

I wish to discuss the connections between Krautrock, Post-Punk, and Funk. Why they exist, and how they came to influence each other so much. Also, the discussion of other recursive genres associated with them such as avant-funk or punk jazz.

I'll start like this. What would you consider to be the common denominator between the bands:

1. The Pop Group

2. Neu!

3. James Brown

Edited by KeironCioran on Oct 22nd 2018 at 7:45:22 AM

While Can certainly did their own brand of 'funk' and there were Post-Punk bands that certainly mutated it in their own unique ways (e.g. The Pop Group as you mentioned, Gang Of Four), I'm not sure your usual (read: American) Funk bands were ever influenced by those genres. In fact, I'm pretty sure most black American musicians within the Funk realm weren't paying much attention to stuff beyond what they knew (the Funk, the Jazz, the Disco) in terms of symbiotic influences.

Also, I don't think Neu! were ever influenced by Funk. Their motorik beat has more in common with the likes of Maureen Tucker or early Kraftwerk (from which Neu! was born out of, after Dinger and Rother left them). Kraftwerk and Can did like the dry rhythm of James Brown's rhythm section, for what it's worth.

Holger Czukay and Jazi Liebezeit from Can at least later got along with a few Post-Punk musicians (e.g. Jah Wobble, with whom they recorded an EP, iirc). The former's solo album Movies certainly ran along more or less the same lines of music making that, say, Brian Eno & David Byrne's My Life In The Bush of Ghosts ran.

Edited by Quag15 on Oct 23rd 2018 at 1:50:01 PM

I was hoping that you would respond. Anyway, your post pretty much vivisected this entire thread. I actually posted that to start something of conversation on the similarities between those genres and how those genres interacted, whether by influence or not, to create other genres like avant-garde jazz or experimental electronic. But then I looked at it again and realized it was put together in a manner that really wouldn't make any sense to anybody but me (I feel like Klaus Dinger, Mark Stewart and James Brown all have similar vocal styles. And, at times, Mark can sound like James if he had a one-armed scissor stabbed into his vocal cords). But I kept because I hoped I could change the topic to bands/artists/genres more obviously interconnected (i.e. Can's influence on Hip-Hop, Kraftwerk's influence on anything even referred to as Electronic Music) so maybe the thread could sew easier. But I guess it ended in failure.

I never thought much about post punk and funk having any connection to each other until I listened to There's A Riot Goin' On by Sly and the Family Stone - the minimal arrangements, use of early drum machines, and overall Darker and Edgier feel put me in the mind of certain varieties of Post-Punk, despite that genre not even existing at the time. Helps that I heard Magazine's moodier, slowed down cover of "Thank You (Falettime Be Mice Elf Again)" before I heard Sly Stone's own "Thank You For Talking To Me Africa", which also a slowed down, moody version of that song.

Edited by MikeK on Nov 7th 2018 at 12:36:32 PM

It’s worth noting that Bernie Worrell of P-Funk fame did in fact join Talking Heads for some length of time, so there are some more direct connections. To whit, contrary to what you might think, many funk musicians, particularly on the psychedelic edge of the movement, were quite aware of musical innovations outside of their spheres in the same way that groups like The Beatles looked to composers like Ligeti and Stockhausen for inspiration. And of course Kraftwerk were a huge deal to the emerging electro and techno scenes and consequently a rather odd influence on Afro-Futurist aesthetics.

To put it another way, musicians respect musicians. Borders are largely artificial if you are speaking enough of a shared language.

Edited by JHM on Nov 4th 2018 at 11:08:19 AM

Out of the three, funk is the only one I ever listen to, so I can't say I'd be worth much in this discussion.