Kosmiche

In 1968 a new wave of post war 'psychedelic' artists started creating new music. foremost in this new wave were the group Can, who were formed by two former students of Karlheinz Stockhausen, adding jazz to the mix (and in that way the krautrock scene can be seen to parallel the emerging Canterbury scene in England at the same time). The following year saw Kluster (later Cluster) begin recording keyboard-based electronic instrumental music with an emphasis on static drones. In 1970, Popol Vuh used an electronic synthesizer, to create what would be known as "kosmische musik". By 1971, the bands Tangerine Dream and Faust began to use electronic synthesizers and advanced production. The term Kosmische musik dates from that period. The bands Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, Sand (Golem album) and Cosmic Jokers (all linked by collaboration with Klaus Schulze), would follow suit in the years to come. Faust also made use of synthesizers and tape manipulation in a way foreshadowing the noise rock of the future.

By the mid-late 1970s onward the terms electronic rock, electronic music, new instrumental music and new age have been used more often than Krautrock and Kosmische Musik, though the early scene continues still today to be regarded as a style in and of itself.