Michael Rother

German musician Michael Rother is among the most influential artists in rock, experimental, and electronic music. He formed Neu! with Klaus Dinger in 1971, after both musicians were briefly members of an embryonic Kraftwerk, and the group's hypnotic, locked-groove rhythms (commonly described as "motorik") and free-form song structures helped define the Krautrock genre. Neu! gradually became a much-namechecked influence. Concurrently with Neu!, Rother formed Harmonia with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius, melding electronic rhythms with the cosmic explorations of the duo's similarly groundbreaking group Cluster. Rother launched his solo career with 1977's Flammende Herzen. His solo work evolved from Neu!-like art rock to electronic productions such as the upbeat Lust (1983), the more meditative Traumreisen (1987), and the abstract ambient pop of Remember (The Great Adventure) (2004). Active well into the 21st century, Rother released As Long as the Light (with Vittoria Maccabruni) in 2022.