Kling Klang

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Liverpool krautrock band, see Kling Klang (band).

Kling Klang is the private music studio of the band Kraftwerk. Its name is taken from track on their Kraftwerk 2 album. The studio, or at least an office, is located at Mintropstraße 16, in the middle of the red light district of Düsseldorf, Germany.

Kraftwerk founders Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider first rented a room to use as a rehearsal space in 1970, and Hütter has cited this as the beginning of their group. Their facilities there developed steadily, however it was not until 1975 that they were sufficient to record an entire album there (Radio-Activity). The studio does not appear to have been christened Kling Klang until 1976.

The group have at times referred to the studio as their "mother ship", and as a musical instrument in its own right, which they play interactively. (The latter concept is similar to ideas put forward by Brian Eno in the early 1970s.) For Kraftwerk's 1981 Computer World tour, the band literally packed up their entire studio and took it around the world with them.

It is nearly impossible for anyone to come into contact with the studios, as all fan-mail is returned unopened and any outsiders are not welcome. The group is extremely secluded, and it was rumoured that even though there is a phone installed, the number was not known even by the record company; or that the telephone did not have a ring tone, as the group did not want any unwanted noise to interfere with their recording sessions. Nowadays it is possible to obtain contact details through online searches, yet their reputation for maintaining a carefully controlled distance from others has endured. There is an anecdote about Johnny Marr, of The Smiths fame; Marr wanted to hold a recording session in the studios, and after several fruitless attempts to call the studio directly and mailing to them, he was told by the record company to call at a precise time on a precise date. The phone was answered immediately by Ralf Hütter, without showing any sign of ringing.