Florian Schneider Leaves Kraftwerk

05Jan09

Send to a Friend | Feed for this Entry | Filed under: Electronic Musicians

Florian Schneider, co-founder of German electronica band Kraftwerk, has officially quit the band, leaving Ralf Hütter as the only remaining original member.

The announcement was made on Kraftwerk’s fan site:

Florian Schneider leaves Kraftwerk…

Florian Schneider leaves Kraftwerk after a 40 years partnership with Ralf Hütter.

This partnership has generated an incredible music and huge advances in music technology.

Florian is a great musician, always seeking the perfect sound through technology. Refined and perfected sounds and vocoders to impossible levels of perfection.

Our thanks for the state of art that led to Kraftwerk’s music all these years.

And our wishes for success Florian’s new projects as well as to this new Kraftwerk.

Schneider’s departure makes you wonder: how long until the entire band is replaced by robots?

Schneider did participate in Kraftwerk’s most recent tour. Kraftwerk plans to keep touring, and is scheduled to open for Radiohead on the group’s tour of Latin America, starting March 15 in Mexico City.

Kraftwerk was founded in 1970 by Florian Schneider (flutes, synthesizers, electro-violin) and Ralf Hütter (electronic organ, synthesizers). The two had met as students at the Düsseldorf Conservatory in the late 1960s.

Tags: Florian Schneider, Kraftwerk, Ralf Hütter

10310CommentsFlorian+Schneider+Leaves+Kraftwerk2009-01-06+01%3A10%3A19synthhead to “Florian Schneider Leaves Kraftwerk”

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1 Jyoti Mishra on Jan 5th, 2009 said:

Sad news.
2 synthwidow on Jan 5th, 2009 said:

Perhaps Florian Schneider is just disgruntled because he feels neglected, now that no one uses the flute in contemporary music anymore.

It would be incredible to get to see Kraftwerk, even without Schneider, on the same bill as Radiohead.
3 Alex on Jan 6th, 2009 said:

I wonder why he left and what is he going to do from now on…
4 HongKongGeorge on Jan 6th, 2009 said:

rumours say the downfall started when they did the “tour de vagabunden” track with heino, for wat thats worth.
5 Torley on Jan 6th, 2009 said:

Florian should team up with Edgar Froese, since the latter is the only remaining original member of Tangerine Dream and they have more in common now than they ever realized before.
6 Heino Lives on Jan 6th, 2009 said:

Heino !!! oh man, could you imagine.

Heino, with Señor Coconut would be more likely. But i’d take that with Florian on the vocoder any day.
7 chris james on Jan 6th, 2009 said:

Yes - sad news and end of an era. But hey, we’re still listening to Bach centuries after he stopped performing. In the end it’s his musical legacy that matters. I’ve no doubt that this will be everlasting.
8 synthhead on Jan 6th, 2009 said:

Think they could get away with calling it “DreamWerks”?
9 Fat Roland on Jan 7th, 2009 said:

In that picture, he looks like he’s going to plug an industrial power mains into his face.

Maybe that’s how they make the music. P’haps.
10 nurna on Jan 7th, 2009 said:

it’s a dummy from 1978-81 , not his real face
11 elaine jameson on Jan 8th, 2009 said:

Kraftwerk have been coasting for close to 20 years, since Bartos left the group.

He played on all their great tracks, with the exception of AutoBahn.
12 Renegade_Kid on Jan 9th, 2009 said:

This is terrible news. I actually secretly hoped they were working on a new album. They have been more prolific of late. TDF Soundtracks in 03′ (I believe) Minimum Maximum in 05′. Touring quite a bit (a ton by Kraftwerk standards). Their mixes were constantly changing in very subtle ways. Yeah, I was hoping for a new album, but now, maybe not.

“He played on all their great tracks, with the exception of AutoBahn.”

Mostly true. He was nowhere to be found on Tour De France Soundtracks which was a brilliant album.
13 Amerigo on Jan 10th, 2009 said:

yeah…”Americanos wherever we goes”
14 synthie on Jan 12th, 2009 said:

scheiße, was soll das, florian?
15 nanobot6 on Jan 12th, 2009 said:

Founded the year of my birth, I have loved them since I understood what they do and will always love them, I am now passing that love of Kraftwerk on to my young nephews.

Sorry to hear he has left Kraftwerk.
16 GogglyGogol09 on Jan 13th, 2009 said:

“Sometimes he saw his real face, now there is a stranger at his place.”
Who could replace Florian? with Ralf he was the nucleus of the original lineup.
17 Ganschow on Jan 15th, 2009 said:

I first heard Kraftwerk at the age of 13 in Milwaukee, 1975. I loved them instantly. I hope they never end. If Ralf Hutter should ever decide to retire, I hope they replace him too, even if there are no original members! Make the Kraftwerk concept bigger than the founding members…like a corporation.
Endless…endless…endless…endless…endless…endless..endless…
18 disco d on Jan 17th, 2009 said:

I hope he concentrates on putiing out his own music.
I’ve been listening to Karftwerk since the 70’s and have been lucky to see them 6 times from the Computer World era onwards.
Their shows had gotten to be more fancy over the years but, I have to say, in all honesty, the music has not been AMAZING as it once was in the first two decades of their career.
So, from that point of view, I don’t think this news is bad.

They should’ve quit whilst they were ahead and, left people wondering… what if? More mystery! More intrigue!
19 mik300z on Feb 9th, 2009 said:

seems sad, especially after being together for such a long period. Hopefully they will both aspire to doing some new projects on their own.
20 funk sinatra on Apr 7th, 2009 said:

sad day for music
sad day for electronic music

and radiohead should get on their knees and beg kfatwerk to OPEN for them. right? pardon me, but it’s like Diane ross & the supremes opening for rihanna - utter insanity
21 theboot on Apr 13th, 2009 said:

I think he has just stopped touring, and for his new adventure, i bet he will be still working out of the klingklang studio!

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