That [the music's] apparent simplicity was achieved through considerable complexity of thought and practice is one of the many contradictions that Uwe Schütte explores in this highly stimulating critical biography.

... a captivating social history.

Schütte’s attention to the visual elements of Kraftwerk is one of the book’s strengths. He shows many of the band’s artistic influences, from El Lissitzky to Andy Warhol. And the visual angle fits the arc of Kraftwerk’s long history.

This book does not initially exude promise. For one thing, it is written in a lightly retouched academese that makes few concessions to a popular audience. Schütte expects his readers to know the surnames of obscure cultural critics who continually pop up in the text like old friends. For another, he refuses to indulge in what he calls 'gossip' about the band, and what an irredeemable philistine such as muggins here would think of as basic biographical information. Kraftwerk’s oeuvre is to be taken at face value and deep artistic intent read into their every decision. This seems a bit much.

An appropriately chilly and brainy history of the pioneering German electronic group.