Better werk stories

Local musicians, producers and DJs on the Kraftwerk influence.

Darryl "DLT" Thomson, DJ and producer

I was lucky to have a mum with eclectic musical taste - as you can tell by my DJing, I guess. She brought Trans-Europe Express home in about 1978 and that's why, when I heard Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock, I knew what it was - and that tripped me out. That's why I decided hip-hop was my thing, really because of the samples in Planet Rock.

I seriously think that if we didn't have Kraftwerk, if they'd stayed with rock music, we wouldn't have got the metronomic sound that was required for the type of dance that developed from the sound. The robotic moves of B-boys and B-girls owe a lot to the syncopated beat.

Kraftwerk still matters. If you are fortunate enough to be a pathfinder or a scout within culture, then you're relevant forever. Every record producer I know owes their life to those guys.

Martyn Pepperell, DJ and journalist

I was exposed to Kraftwerk as a kid through club and hip-hop records in the 80s, started looking into them more in the 90s, and really during the 2000s. I remember breakdancers dancing to their records on the streets in Wellington and there were always DJs around who specialised in that kind of sound. Funky robots and machines, what's not to love?