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 semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

band

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...

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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the ...

, 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 1990, 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, pat ...

, a member of the

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

band

. 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 Rarefaction, rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge lamp, gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed gla ...

; "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 1970, and became the only consistent member of the band (although he brief ...

. As a percussionist, Bartos was influenced by

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, as well as the composers

Carlos Chávez Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez (13 June 1899 – 2 August 1978) was a Mexican composer, conducting, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influence ...

Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French and American composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; h ...

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...

, and

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

. In addition to his percussion and keyboard playing, he was credited with songwriting on the ''Man-Machine'', ''Computer World'', and ''Electric Café'' albums and sang one lead vocal on the latter, contributing with some of the band's most popular riffs, such as

Das Modell "Das Model" ("The Model" in English) is a song recorded by the German group Kraftwerk in 1978, written by musicians Ralf Hütter and Karl Bartos, with artist Emil Schult collaborating on the lyrics. It is featured on the album, ''Die Mensch-M ...

Computerliebe "Computer Love" (German version: "Computerliebe") is a song by the German electronic band Kraftwerk. It was released in 1981 on their eighth studio album, ''Computer World'' (1981), and as a single in the same year. In the UK, it was released wi ...

, ''Computerwelt'' and other ones. Karl Bartos invented the influential

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic 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 ...

beat, which was used in Afrika Bambaataa's seminal hit

Planet Rock Planet Rock may refer to: * "Planet Rock" (song), a 1982 song by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force ** '' Planet Rock: The Album'', a 1986 album containing the song * Planet Rock (radio station) Planet Rock is a British digital radio sta ...

(1982) for

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

and

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

music, among others. 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 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 ...

. 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'' in 1998. In between the two albums, Bartos collaborated with

Bernard Sumner Bernard Sumner (born 4 January 1956) is an English musician. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, Electronic, and Bad Lieutenant. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the post-punk, synth-pop, and ...

and

Johnny Marr John Martin Marr (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Maher; born 31 October 1963) is a 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 sinc ...

Electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

's 1996 album ''

Raise the Pressure ''Raise the Pressure'' is Electronic's second studio album, released in July 1996. Recording Seven of the thirteen tracks were composed by full-time members Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner, and the other six co-written with former Kraftwerk me ...

'', 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 ...

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 that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

'' 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 Lance Taylor (born April 17, 1957), also known as Afrika Bambaataa (), is a retired American DJ, rapper, and record producer. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of ...

's song "

" 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 ...

between Kraftwerk and

Tommy Boy Records Tommy Boy Records is an American independent record label and multimedia brand founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman. The label is credited with helping and launching the music careers of Queen Latifah, Amber, Afrika Bambaataa, Stetsasonic, Digita ...

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 Wh ...

, as it uses significant parts from both Kraftwerk's " Trans-Europe Express" and "

". In 2003, using his own name, he released the

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

album ''

Communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

'', 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 Franco-Belgian comics, Franco-Belgian ''bandes dessinées'' (BD) tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim predomin ...

. 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 The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

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 Jean-Marc Lederman is a Belgian keyboard player and producer. He has worked with bands such as Fad Gadget, The The, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Weathermen, Belgian rock band Streets, and Front 242, and with other artists including Julianne Regan, ...

. 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 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

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), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

with Bartos being one of the inductees along with Schneider, Hütter and Flür. For a tour starting on 17 February 2024 in

Frankfurt/Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, he and sound designer Mathias Black created a new electro-acoustic

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari to be performed live, based on the version restored by the

F. W. Murnau Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is regarded as one of cinema's most influential filmmakers for his work in the silent era. An e ...

Foundation.

Discography

With Kraftwerk *1975: '' Radio-Activity'' *1977: '' Trans-Europe Express'' *1978: ''

The Man-Machine ''The Man-Machine'' () is the seventh studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. It was released on 19 May 1978 by Kling Klang in Germany and by Capitol Records elsewhere. A further refinement of their mechanical style, the album s ...

'' *1981: ''

Computer World ''Computer World'' () is the eighth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released on 11 May 1981. It was accompanied by four singles, including a double A-side UK no. 1 featuring " Computer Love". The album is themed around compu ...

'' *1983:

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

(single) *1986: ''

Electric Café ''Electric Café'' is the ninth studio album by German Electronic music, electronic band Kraftwerk, released on 27 October 1986. The initial 1986 release came in versions sung in English and German, as well as a limited ''Edición Española'' ...

'' *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 (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

'' *1998: '' Electric Music'' With Electronic *1996: ''

'' As Karl Bartos *2003: ''

'' (GER #85; SWE #30) *2013: '' Off the Record'' (GER #44; SWE #47; BE (Vl) #161) *2024: ''

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' () is a 1920 German silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. The quintessential work of early German Expressionist cinema, it tells the story of an insane hypno ...

'' Singles: *2000: "15 Minutes of Fame" *2003: "I'm The Message" *2004: "Camera Obscura" *2013: "

Atomium The Atomium ( , , ) is a landmark modernist building in Brussels, Belgium, originally constructed as the centrepiece of the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo 58). Designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn and the architects André and Jean Pol ...

" *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 300 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" (

)

References

External links

*
artist information/discography page at CyberNoise

Karl Bartos Interview (English)

Karl Bartos Interview (Deutsch)

Karl Bartos channel at YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartos, Karl 1952 births Living people Kraftwerk members German rock drummers German male drummers German male musicians Atlantic Records artists Columbia Records artists German electronic musicians People from Berchtesgaden Robert Schumann Hochschule alumni Electronic (band) members