Krautrock

Krautrock (sometimes called "kosmische Musik", German: "cosmic music") is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s. The term "krautrock" was originated by English-speaking music journalists as a humorous name for a diverse range of German bands whose music drew from sources such as psychedelic rock, the avant-garde, electronic music, funk, minimalism, jazz improvisation, and world music styles. Largely divorced from the traditional blues and rock and roll influences of British and American rock music up to that time, the period contributed to the evolution of electronic music and ambient music as well as the birth of post-punk, alternative rock and New Age music. Important acts of the scene include Can, Kraftwerk, Neu!, Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh, and Faust.

Links To Peel
Peel was an avid enthusiast of the movement and would often play tracks from the genre in the early/mid 70's. He described Tangerine Dream as the best of the Kosmische Musik bands and described listeners reaction in an article published in The Listener (later published in the Olivetti Chronicles, Corgi edition, page 193):

"'Whenever any of their extended works are played on the radio there is a heavy mail from listeners. Most of the letter-writers are for it, those that are against it are very against it indeed'."

In reference to Krautrock, Peel mentioned in the same article that  'the most interesting and genuinely progressive music anywhere in the world is coming from Germany.' Later years, punk started to become prominent in his playlist and the Kosmische Musik genre rarely got played, although its influence had many admirers including Peel's session artist Julian Cope, who wrote a book in 1995 about the music called Krautrocksampler.