Karl Bartos
| Karl Bartos | |
|---|---|
Karl Bartos live, 2005
|
|
| Background information | |
| Born |
31 May 1952 Berchtesgaden, West Germany |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Percussion, synthesizer, vocals |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Labels | AudioVision Bureau-B SPV Columbia/SME Records Atlantic Records |
| Associated acts |
Kraftwerk (1975–1991) Elektric Music Andy McCluskey Electronic |
| Website | www.karlbartos.com |
Karl Bartos (born 31 May 1952 in Berchtesgaden, Germany) is a German musician and composer. Between 1975 and 1990, he was, along with Wolfgang Flür, an electronic percussionist in the electronic music band Kraftwerk. He was originally recruited to play on Kraftwerk's US "Autobahn" tour. In addition to his percussion playing, Bartos was credited with songwriting on the Man-Machine, Computer World, and Electric Café albums and sang one lead vocal on the latter.
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.
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 and Johnny Marr on Electronic's 1996 album Raise the Pressure, and co-wrote material with Andy McCluskey of OMD, which appeared on both Esperanto and OMD's Universal album. In 1998, he also produced an album by Swedish synthpop 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 synthpop 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's song "Planet Rock" for release on a remix album. Ironically, Planet Rock was the subject of an out-of-court settlement between Kraftwerk and Tommy Boy Records head Tom Silverman, as it uses significant parts from both Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" and "Numbers".
...
Wikipedia