Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Kraftwerk evergreen


Last Sunday, the Times ran one of my fave music-writer perennials: the Kraftwerk appreciation concomitant with re-issues! Yay! Let's dissect:


1. Afrika Bambaataa was mentioned!



2. the phrase "electronic Beatles" was well in!



3. a box-set is out! New re-masterings even more glacial and
pristine!



4. Even though Florian "V2" Schneider has quit the scene, Ralf "Lauren"
Hutter promises new music soon! Right?



5. Mentions of Kling Klang Studios. Now, barring the "Expo 2000" track from
1999 and the odd Tour De France remix and pointless The Mix LP
from 1991, there has been no new music from these since 1986. What goes on in
the rarefied bunkers of Kling Klang, then, actually? Bicycles are endlessly
re-honed and specks of dust are hunted down and banished? How do they eat? Oh,
wait - they are man-machines. I keep forgetting!



6. "Numbers" (1981) is cited as birth of hip-hop and one of their greatest
tracks - even though it sucks!


Anyway, when next The Catalogue is reissued in some new format that will plug directly into your waiting nervous system, you will have all you need to write your own Sunday think-piece - IF you clip 'n' save the handy list above!

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