Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock

Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock (Part 1) (2019) is the fourth in a series of feature-length documentaries about Progressive rock written and directed by Adele Schmidt and José Zegarra Holder. Part 1 focuses on German progressive rock, popularly known as Krautrock, from in and around the Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg regions of Germany.

Part 2 will focus on bands from Munich, Wiesbaden, Ulm, and Heidelberg (including Guru Guru, Amon Düül II, Xhol Caravan, Embryo, Kraan, Popol Vuh, Witthüser & Westrupp). Part 3 will focus on bands from Berlin and Hamburg (including Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Günter Schickert, Agitation Free, Conrad Schnitzler, A.R. & Machines, Nektar and some contemporary bands such as Robert Rich & Markus Reuter and Coolspring).

The DVD was completed with the aid of an Indiegogo campaign in 2018.

Background
Adele Schmidt and José Zegarra Holder are co-founders of Zeitgeist Media LLC, a video production company based in Washington, D.C. Schmidt is an adjunct lecturer on Film and Media Arts at American University, as well as other honors. She has won the 2008 Gabriel Award and the 2009 Telly Award. Previous Progressive rock documentary films in the series include Romantic Warriors: A Progressive Music Saga (2010), Romantic Warriors II: A Progressive Music Saga About Rock in Opposition (2012) and Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales (2015).

Synopsis
Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock (Part 1) begins with attempts to define the term "Krautrock" by members of Floh de Cologne, Electric Orange and Stephan Plank (Conny Plank's son). Next a history of the band Can is given by Irmin Schmidt, Jaki Liebezeit and Malcolm Mooney. Vintage performance footage is interspersed with discussions of their albums Monster Movie and Delay 1968. After Malcolm leaves, Damo Suzuki is interviewed about Tago Mago and the band's desire to create a music not based on American rock of the period. The albums Ege Bamyasi and Future Days are discussed, then Damo left and Can recorded Soon Over Babaluma without a vocalist. Can's engineer describes Landed, their first album in a multi-track studio and how this changed their sound. Rosko Gee and Rebop Kwaku Baah further added to Can's evolution. Next Damo Suzuki's Network is featured, with live footage and a discussion with Damo on how he works with different musicians wherever he tours. A portrait of Floh de Cologne follows, where they claim they were not musicians but actors pretending to be musicians. Next Kraftwerk is profiled, with Wolfgang Flür and Eberhard Kranemann interviewed. Michael Rother and Stephan Plank talk about Kraftwerk, and their albums Autobahn, Radio-Activity, Trans-Europe Express and The Man-Machine are shown and described. Krautwerk, a contemporary duo of Harald Grosskopf and Kranemann is featured next, with interviews and performance footage.

A brief return to Floh de Cologne is followed by the story of Neu!, with Rother and Plank describing their respective roles. Neu!'s three albums are described, and this leads into a profile of La Düsseldorf. Hans Lampe describes the albums and the tensions that led to an early breakup. Next the band Faust is extensively profiled, with Werner "Zappi" Diermaier and Jean-Hervé Péron interviewed at length. Their history, and the influence of their producer Uwe Nettelbeck, are detailed. Collaborations with Slapp Happy and Tony Conrad are described, along with their passing from Polydor Records to Virgin Records to Table of Elements Records. Finally performance footage and interviews with the contemporary Krautrock-influenced duet Wume is shown. A final goodbye from Floh de Cologne closes this first episode of the Krautrock trilogy.

A companion DVD, entitled 'Got Krautrock? Romantic Warriors IV: Special Features DVD', is projected for release May, 2019 with additional unused interview footage and unused performance footage.

Reception

 * Progmistress Raffaella Berry wrote: "Although the deep poignancy that pervaded Canterbury Tales also emerges in Krautrock 1, the documentary never lingers too long on feelings of loss, but celebrates the unbounded vitality of the movement and its protagonists. In many ways, as the film shows with unrelenting clarity, Krautrock ran counter to the original prog movement, being closer in nature to punk and new wave than to Yes and ELP, though equally ambitious in its outspoken goal of creating a kind of music that was uniquely German. The film works both as an introduction for those who are still unfamiliar with the movement, and as a fascinating insight into its development for those who are already invested in it. Whether it will be enough to convert any unbelievers remains to be seen. In any case, even if the music may not be everyone’s cup of tea, Krautrock 1 is a must-see not only for fans of progressive music, but also for those interested in the history and culture of post-war Europe."
 * siLLy puPPY at ProgArchives wrote: "The next phase of the ROMANTIC WARRIORS universe comes in 2019 with the first of a planned trilogy of releases. ROMANTIC WARRIORS IV : KRAUTROCK, PART I starts the series by focusing on Krautrock that developed in the Cologne, Düsseldorf and Hamburg regions of Germany. The focus of these films is to highlight the bands that were innovative in the progressive rock scene and for the sake of not including every band that existed, the film opted to leave out bands that were more derivative of English prog and copycats of others. PART I captures many of the musicians who are still alive from Krautrock's early years and allows them to tell their stories while capturing some archival footage. Bands included on this first edition are Can, Faust, Kraftwerk, Floh de Cologne, Neu!, La Düsseldorf, Japandorf, Krautwerk, Electric Orange, Wume and the Damo Suzuki Network. While there is never enough footage to satisfy the hardcore fans in these kinds of documentaries as i could personally watch entire documentaries for each of the bands involved, this is a very interesting journey into the greater depths of Germany's unique contribution to the progressive rock universe and no matter how much you thought you knew already about this vibrant movement that began in the 70s, ROMANTIC WARRIORS is guaranteed to reveal some of the long lost secrets that have been tucked away behind the scenes for many decades."

Romantic Warriors series

 * Romantic Warriors: A Progressive Music Saga (2010)
 * Romantic Warriors II: A Progressive Music Saga About Rock in Opposition (2012)
 * Romantic Warriors II: Special Features DVD (2013)
 * Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales (2015)
 * Romantic Warriors III: Got Canterbury? Special Features DVD (2016)
 * Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock (Part 1) (2019)
 * Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock (Part 2) (2019)
 * Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock (Part 3) (2020)
 * Romantic Warriors IV: Got Krautrock? Special Features DVD (2019)