| Kosmische Musik | |
|---|---|
| Other names |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1960s – early 1970s,West Germany |
| Derivative forms | |
| Subgenres | |
| Other topics | |
Kosmische Musik ("cosmic music") is a style of music denoting 1970s Germanelectronic music which usessynthesizers and incorporatesthemes related to space or otherworldliness;[2][3] it is also used as a German analogue to the English term "space rock".[4] Though the genre often rejectedrock music conventions. The term is often used synonymously withkrautrock.[2] However, it was coined and in regular use before "krautrock" and was preferred by some German artists who disliked the English label.[5]
Kosmische Musik was often instrumental and characterized by "spacy",ambient soundscapes.[3] Artists used synthesizers such as theEMS VCS 3 andMoog Modular, as well as sound processing effects and tape-based approaches.[2] They often rejectedrock music conventions, and instead drew on "serious" electronic compositions.[3]
The term "kosmische Musik" was coined in 1971 byEdgar Froese and later used by record producerRolf-Ulrich Kaiser as a marketing term for bands such asAsh Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, andKlaus Schulze.[6] The following year,Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser'sOhr Records used the term when he released the compilationKosmische Musik (1972) featuring tracks by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel, andPopol Vuh.[2] Kaiser eventually began referring to the style as "cosmic rock" to signify that the music belonged in a rock idiom.[4] German producerConny Plank was a central figure in the kosmische sound, emphasizing texture,effects processing, and tape-based editing techniques.[5] Plank oversaw kosmische recordings such asKraftwerk'sAutobahn,Neu!'sNeu! 75, andCluster'sZuckerzeit.[5]
Several of these artists would later distance themselves from the term.[2] Other names for the style, and for sub-genres were "Berlin School" and "Düsseldorf School", both of which are recognised and actively contributed to by artists such as Node, Martin Sturtzer, Propaganda, Kraftwerk, Tannheuser and Fritz Mayr, from the 1980s through to the present day.[7] The style would later lead to the development ofnew-age music, with which it shared several characteristics.[3] It would also exert lasting influence on subsequent electronic music andavant-garde rock.[4]
| Neo-kosmische | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 2000s, United States |
| Other topics | |
Neo-kosmische is a style of music used to refer topost-noise[8][9] groupEmeralds,[10] who "prompted a wave of millennial interest inkosmische music (Deuter,Klaus Schulze,Cluster et al)".[11] The term was also used byPitchfork to label Brooklyn band Titan.[12] In 2012, neo-kosmische would be used as a term by British magazineFact.[13] That same year, Canadian magazineExclaim! referred toDaniel Lopatin on the collaborative albumInstrumental Tourist as "neo-kosmische noodling".[14]
By December,The Quietus published a review of Bee Mask'sWhen We Were Eating Unripe Pears by Rory Gibb, where he associated the term "neo-kosmische" with post-noise, stating "Of all the neo-kosmische/post-noise explorers whose balmy currents have lapped at our shores over the past few years, Chris Madak is among the few who seem hellbent on mapping out genuinely new territory."[15][16] In 2025,Pitchfork stated that Lopatin "was at the vanguard of the American noise scene in the hazy years when it retreated fromfeedback-soaked harshness into an unkannykosmische".[17][18]