Karl Bartos is a German musician who is possibly best known for serving as percussionist in the pioneering electronic music group Kraftwerk between 1975 and 1991. Bartos left the group because he was frustrated with the tepid progress in the group due to the perfectionist stances of founding members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. However, after leaving Bartos would go on to collaborate with other well known musicians--notably the Smiths guitarist Johnny Maar and New Order frontman Barnard Sumner in their supergroup Electronic--in addition to launching a solo career with his debut 2003 album, Communication.