Dusseldorf is the birthplace of Kraftwerk. It’s the location of the mysterious sound factory Kling Klang Studio, where the fathers of pop-electronica nourished their revolutionary ideas and recorded famous albums. The Grandbrothers duo also hails from Dusseldorf. Two young German musicians Erol Sarp and Lukas Vogel are worthy students of Kraftwerk’s founders who envisioned themselves as engineers of music, even though real engineers they were not. Kraftwerk were one of the first groups to use drum machines and synthesisers on stage, and they explored the unknown territory of electronic sounds. The Grandbrothers came of age, when the potential of musical electronics was already explored to the fullest, and so they went back to Kraftwerk’s point of departure, the concert grand piano.

The Grandbrothers came up with a beautiful and ingenious idea — they took the favourite instrument of Chopin, Liszt and Rakhmaninov to the lab, and, having fitted almost all of its parts with microphones or acoustic pick-ups, extracted from it the maximum number of unconventional sounds that a grand piano can possibly produce. In order to do that, they had to design and put together several original electromechanical devices. After carefully recording and converting all of the sounds, Erol and Lukas filed them into different folders and began to use the resulting audio parts for their own compositions, which inherited the exquisiteness and elegance of Kraftwerk design concepts. These compositions are always based on a catchy melody played on a grand piano in regular style, but the rhythm section, percussion, and all other sounds, implanted by the Grandbrothers into the musical fabric, are also “played” on a grand piano, even though it’s rarely noticeable. Erol and Lukas proudly claim that their music is 100% grand piano: “There are no artificial synthesisers and drum machines involved!”

The Grandbrothers’ music can be categorised as acoustic techno — the duo’s compositions find their way into remixes and DJ sets of progressive DJs such as Greg Wilson and Optimo DJs. The duo’s skilful pieces always have a clear rhythm that makes one want to dance. At their concerts, the Grandbrothers are prone to some appropriate improvisations, and constantly come up with new ideas for their live performances, striving to keep the audience on its toes.