Karl Bartos (born 31 May 1952) is a German musician and composer known for his contributions to the
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
band
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
.
Career
Karlheinz Bartos was born on 31 May 1952 in
Marktschellenberg
Marktschellenberg is a municipality in the district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe ...
, Germany, named after his grandfathers Karl and Heinz.
He was the drummer in a college band called The Jokers (later The Jolly Jokers in 1975) as Carlos Bartos, around 1965 to 1975. Between 1975 and 1991, he was, along with
Wolfgang Flür
Wolfgang Flür (born 17 July 1947) is a German musician, best known for playing percussion in the electronic group Kraftwerk from 1973 to 1987. Flür claims that he invented the electric drums the group used throughout the 1970s. However, pa ...
, a member of the
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
band
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
. This lineup of the group remains the most stable and productive yet assembled. He was originally recruited to play on Kraftwerk's US "Autobahn" tour where he changed his name to "Karl", as the band member's names were displayed on stage in
neon lighting
Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode ...
; "Karlheinz" was deemed too long and thus too expensive by Kraftwerk's front man
Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter (born 20 August 1946) is a German musician and composer best known as the lead singer and keyboardist of Kraftwerk, which he founded with Florian Schneider in 1969. On May 12, 2021, Kraftwerk was announced as one of the inductees of ...
.
In addition to his percussion playing, Bartos was credited with songwriting on the ''Man-Machine'', ''Computer World'', and ''Electric Café'' albums and sang one lead vocal on the latter.
Bartos left Kraftwerk in August 1990, reportedly frustrated at the band's slow progress in their activities due to the increasingly perfectionist attitude of founding members
Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter (born 20 August 1946) is a German musician and composer best known as the lead singer and keyboardist of Kraftwerk, which he founded with Florian Schneider in 1969. On May 12, 2021, Kraftwerk was announced as one of the inductees of ...
and
Florian Schneider
Florian Schneider-Esleben (7 April 194721 April 2020) was a German musician. He is best known as one of the founding members and leaders of the electronic band Kraftwerk, performing his role with the band until his departure in 2008.
Early li ...
. Karl Bartos hinted at this fact in the interview entitled "I was a Robot", which is a part of the documentary film "Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution".
In 1992 Bartos founded Elektric Music. This new project released the Kraftwerk-style
''Esperanto'' in 1993, and then the more guitar-based ''
Electric Music
''Electric Music'' was the second album by Karl Bartos' "Elektric Music" project, recorded after his collaboration with UK band Electronic on their 1996 album ''Raise the Pressure'' and released in 1998. The entire album was written by Bartos and ...
'' in 1998. In between the two albums, Bartos collaborated with
Bernard Sumner
Bernard Sumner (born 4 January 1956) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, and Electronic. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the post ...
and
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher, 31 October 1963) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerous ...
on
Electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
's 1996 album ''
Raise the Pressure
Raise may refer to:
Music
*''Raise!'', the name of a 1981 album by Earth, Wind, and Fire
* '' Raise'' (album), the name of a 1991 album by Swervedriver
Place names
* Raise, Cumbria, England
* Raise (Lake District), the name of the 12th highe ...
'', and co-wrote material with
Andy McCluskey
George Andrew McCluskey (born 24 June 1959) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer and bass guitarist of the electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), which he founded a ...
of
OMD, which appeared on both ''Esperanto'' and OMD's ''
Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a ...
'' album. In 1998, he also produced an album by Swedish synth-pop band the Mobile Homes, much in the style of his work with Electronic: guitar-pop with very slight synthetic references. It was received as a great disappointment to synth-pop fans, but it sold more than any of their previous albums and was used in an advert for an airline.
In 1992 Elektric Music were asked to remix
Afrika Bambaataa's song "
Planet Rock" for release on a remix album. Planet Rock was the subject of an
out-of-court settlement
In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in t ...
between Kraftwerk and
Tommy Boy Records head
Tom Silverman
Tom Silverman is an American entertainment executive. He is most notable for founding the pioneering hip-hop and electro-funk music label, Tommy Boy Records, now known as Tommy Boy Entertainment.
Early life and education
Silverman grew up in W ...
, as it uses significant parts from both Kraftwerk's "
Trans-Europe Express" and "
Numbers
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
".
In 2003, using his own name, he released the
synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...
album ''
Communication
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
'', featuring such songs as "I'm the Message," "Camera," and "Ultraviolet."
In 2007 his music provided the soundtrack to the documentary ''Moebius Redux – A Life in Pictures'', about the graphic artist
Jean Giraud
Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (; 8 May 1938 – 10 March 2012) was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer who worked in the Bandes dessinées, Franco-Belgian ''bandes dessinées'' (BD) tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim under the pseu ...
.
Karl Bartos announced in early 2008 that he had opened the first edition of the audio-visual exhibition ''Crosstalk'' for public viewing at the white cube section on the official Karl Bartos website. The program holds 21 films, remixes, cover versions, and mash-ups from Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, the USA, and Japan.
In March 2011, Karl Bartos released ''
Mini-Composer'', an
iPhone app. It's a simple 16 steps sequencer with 4 basic waves synthesizer. It has been designed with Japanese artist Masayuki Akamatsu and the executive producer is
Jean-Marc Lederman.
On 15 March 2013 he released his next studio album, ''
Off the Record'', preceded by "Atomium" the first single taken from it. The 7" version, released worldwide on 1 February 2013, was limited to 1,000 copies.
In September 2020, the official Karl Bartos email newsletter announced that Karl is currently working on a new project and intends to present this work live once the covid-19 pandemic slows down.
On 12 May 2021, Kraftwerk was announced as one of the inductees of the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
with Bartos being one of the inductees along with Schneider, Hütter and Flür.
Discography
With Kraftwerk
*1975: ''
Radio-Activity
''Radio-Activity'' (German title: ''Radio-Aktivität'') is the fifth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk, released in October 1975. The band's first entirely electronic album is also a concept album organized around the theme ...
''
*1977: ''
Trans-Europe Express''
*1978: ''
The Man-Machine
''The Man-Machine'' (german: link=no, Die Mensch-Maschine) is the seventh studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. It was released on May 1978 by Kling Klang in Germany and by Capitol Records elsewhere. A further refinement of the ...
''
*1981: ''
Computer World
''Computer World'' (german: link=no, Computerwelt) is the eighth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released on 10 May 1981.
The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. In keeping with the album's co ...
''
*1983:
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
(single)
*1986: ''
Electric Café''
*1991: ''
The Mix'' (sound-data programming, uncredited)
With Elektric Music
(now Electric Music)
*1992: Afrika Bambaataa and The Soulsonic Force – Planet Rock (Classic Mix)
*1993: ''
Esperanto
Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
''
*1998: ''
Electric Music
''Electric Music'' was the second album by Karl Bartos' "Elektric Music" project, recorded after his collaboration with UK band Electronic on their 1996 album ''Raise the Pressure'' and released in 1998. The entire album was written by Bartos and ...
''
With Electronic
*1996: ''
Raise the Pressure
Raise may refer to:
Music
*''Raise!'', the name of a 1981 album by Earth, Wind, and Fire
* '' Raise'' (album), the name of a 1991 album by Swervedriver
Place names
* Raise, Cumbria, England
* Raise (Lake District), the name of the 12th highe ...
''
As Karl Bartos
*2003: ''
Communication
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
'' (GER #85; SWE #30)
*2013: ''
Off the Record'' (GER #44; SWE #47; BE (Vl) #161)
*2016: ''Communication''
Singles:
*2000: "15 Minutes of Fame"
*2003: "I'm The Message"
*2004: "Camera Obscura"
*2013: "
Atomium
The Atomium ( , , ) is a landmark building in Brussels, Belgium, originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo '58). It is located on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Laeken (northern part of the City of Brussels), where the exh ...
"
*2016: "Life"
*2016: "I'm The Message (Matthew Herbert's Doctor Rockit Mix)"
*2016: "15 Minutes of Fame"
Unreleased
*1994: 2nd proposed Elektric Music album (Most of the songs were performed at Elektric Music's Virtual Summer Tour in 1994).
*2007: Moebius Redux – Ein Leben in Bildern / Une vie en images / A Life in Pictures (original soundtrack)
Bibliography
*2012: "Kraftwerk: Publikation" – preface (
Omnibus Press
Omnibus Press is a publisher of music-related books. It publishes around 30 new titles a year to add to a backlist of over 250 titles currently in print.
History
Omnibus Press was launched in 1972 as a general non-fiction publisher to complem ...
)
*2017: "Der Klang der Maschine: Autobiografie" ()
*2022: "The Sound of the Machine: My Life in Kraftwerk and Beyond" (
Omnibus Press
Omnibus Press is a publisher of music-related books. It publishes around 30 new titles a year to add to a backlist of over 250 titles currently in print.
History
Omnibus Press was launched in 1972 as a general non-fiction publisher to complem ...
)
See also
Influenced drummers or rhythm composers
References
External links
*
artist information/discography page at CyberNoiseKarl Bartos Interview (English)Karl Bartos Interview (Deutsch)Karl Bartos channel at YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartos, Karl
1952 births
Living people
Kraftwerk members
German rock drummers
Male drummers
German male musicians
Atlantic Records artists
Columbia Records artists
German electronic musicians
People from Berchtesgaden
Robert Schumann Hochschule alumni
Electronic (band) members