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“When composing music together, one member, often Ralf or Karl, would introduce a melodic riff or coda, and the other members of the band would ‘jam’ on their synths for several hours. Florian would focus on altering the texture and sound of the music during these sessions. Once locked into a groove they liked, the band would let the sequencers run, sometimes for days at a time, with little change or variation, as if to test the riff for musical fitness, like an athlete competing in run-up events prior to the Olympic Games” (16).

“Their primary aim was to create a sound texture (eg, they focused on the timbre of individual notes, color of the tone, resonance) rather than song writing and song construction as such. As Ralf put it: ‘We spend a month on the sound and five minutes on the chord changes’” (18).

Steve Tupai Francis, Kraftwerk’s Computer World (2022)