Its impossible to imagine ambient music developing as it did without the influence of krautrock. In fact, its worth remembering that although Brian Enos Ambient 1: Music for Airports was immediately preceded by an extended period in Germany, producing Low and "Heroes" for David Bowie and recording 1977s Cluster & Eno with krautrock heavies Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius. Deconstructing western pop down to its most psychedelic gestural properties, German musicians had already struck upon ambient musics defining characteristics, fashioning a sound as ephemeral as vapor. The "Berlin school," meanwhile-a loose assemblage that included Tangerine Dreams Edgar Froese and onetime TG member Klaus Schulze-transformed progressive-rock bombast into increasingly electronic and ethereal shapes, pioneering the glistening timbres and tumbling arpeggios still fashionable in ambient music decades later.
