As reported by Resident Advisor, pioneering krautrock musician Holger Czukay was recently found dead in his home after construction workers onsite realized that they had not seen him on the property for a few days. A cause of death has not been released. He was 79.
Czukay was born in Poland in 1938, but the onset of World War II resulted in his family being expelled from the country. He became interested in radio technology and music as a young man, but he wasn’t particularly concerned with rock music until he heard The Beatles’ psychedelic 1967 track “I Am The Walrus.” He founded influential krautrock band Can shortly after that, playing bass and running most of the engineering and recording for the group. He recorded nine albums with Can, leaving the group after Saw Delight in 1977.
Czukay released 11 solo albums over the years, developing recording techniques and pioneering the art of sampling. This was before computers made sampling an effortless practice, as it originally required the sampler to physically cut strips of tape.
News of Czukay’s death comes a little more than the death of his wife, Ursula, and a few months after the death of his Can bandmate Jaki Liebezeit.