Band Feature: Kraftwerk

Author: Peter Muscutt

My fascination with Kraftwerk started in 1997, when it was revealed that the band would be headlining at the Tribal Gathering festival in Luton. Having been impressed by a previous visit, the group signed up for the event, sparking a rush of magazine coverage, and sending long term fans mad at the chance to see their reclusive musical heroes live onstage. For me, the experience was limited to listening to a live broadcast of the performance on Radio One (which I later found to be an edited performance, grrrr!) under my covers at around 1am, frantically trying to find a cassette to tape it on.

I had asked various people I knew for information on the band, from my parents, who described them as making "Dr. Who music" (I think it was the synthesisers that led them to make this assumption) and also friends of friends, who rather kindly printed off reams of information on the band members, albums, single releases etc. From leafing through it all, I was amazed by the reviews and descriptions of the music, hearing phrases like 'revolutionary', 'ground breaking', 'influential' and 'innovative' all the way. The very next day, I visited the local record store and bought every Kraftwerk album they had. Mad? Probably, after all, this was based on hearing one live performance on the radio!

Tribal Gathering kick started a blaze of activity not seen since Kraftwerk's last album, 1991's "The Mix", a rerecorded greatest hits package that received divided feedback from fans, some questioned the need to remix their most popular songs, fearing the creativity that had resulted in the original tracks being recorded would be compromised, whereas others hailed it as yet another innovative step by the electronic pioneers, updating and refreshing their music for the 'rave' generation.

Of course, it would have been just too perfect to expect a new album around the time of the Tribal Gathering appearance, but this didn't stop the rumour mill working overtime, with talk of new songs and even a single being released. Despite Kraftwerk airing two new compositions at Tribal (still unreleased, both, apparently, deemed 'unsuitable for release' by Messrs. Hutter and Schneider), there was no new music officially released (although the gig was a gift to bootleggers who, until some low key German concerts in 1997 and the Tribal appearance, had to be content with hawking copies of live gigs from 1991 and earlier).

Kraftwerk's live output continued steadily, with shows in the USA and South America in 1998, and the release of a (halfway) official live album, four tracks from a 1975 concert (which, rather hilariously, featured the band's electronic drumkit breaking down). The release of 1999's "Expo 2000" single raised pulses of Kraftwerk fans across the globe once more, yet this too proved to be a false start on the much anticipated new album, as the track was released as a standalone single, an extended version of a jingle the band had recorded for the Expo exhibition (the jingle was the subject of outrage when it was discovered how much they had been paid for 'composing' the musical motif).

And then, from out of the blue, came the day that all Kraftwerk fans had been patiently waiting for since 1986: August 4th, 2003, the release of a brand new album in the form of "Tour De France Soundtracks". Well, perhaps to say 'brand new' is incorrect, as the album consisted of cinematic pieces of music, a far cry from proper 'pop songs' like "The Model" and "Neon Lights". It was, in essence, a soundtrack to the world famous cycling event, a subject they had themselves sung about in 1983. The fact that there were two newly recorded versions of the track Tour De France (one a digital, The Mix style upgrade, the other a meandering 15 minute journey divided into various sections) may have seemed like filler, but to fans across the world this didn't matter. At last there was new material coming out of the secretive Kling-Klang studio. Although not as groundbreaking as previous efforts when electronic music was still in its infancy, it proved that the band could undeniably make a record that sounded like Kraftwerk, despite the lack of innovation.

And then there was the world tour to promote this new found creative streak. Spanning sixty nine dates across North and South America, Japan and Europe, it was a monumental undertaking similar to the approach of their 1981 Computer World tour.

The three London dates Kraftwerk played in March, split across the Royal Festival Hall and the Brixton Academy, were the UK fans' chance to experience the thrill of a Kraftwerk concert first hand. With a new album to promote, the set list differed from previous outings, immediately obvious with the change of opening song, from "Numbers" (which appeared much later in the set list) to "The Man Machine". This favourite had been resurrected on the 1997/98 concerts, and its promotion to opening number was telling. The staples of any good Kraftwerk gig were here in abundance, including rapturous applause for "The Model", the pure theatre of "The Robots"(an obviously prerecorded version while we were entertained by the 'dancing' robot dummies) and the impressive animations and video footage on the three large screens playing behind the band.

The group played for the first half of the show in dapper red shirts, black ties (a reflection of the 'uniform' of The Man Machine cover) and black jackets, however their attire towards the latter half of the gig changed dramatically, first to including flashing red LED's on the ties, and then to green luminous gridlike bodysuits. This striking change resembled something from the film Tron, and fitted in with the sound of the closing songs, including the burbling synthesizers and vocodered vocals of "Aerodynamik", the second single from the album. The traditional set closer, "Music Non Stop", was kept in place, and marked another Kraftwerk tradition, the playing of a solo by each member before they vacated the stage, leaving Ralf Hutter to end the track with the looping sample of 'music, non stop' as the assembled fans left the venue.

So what next for Kraftwerk? After the recent explosion in activity, it would be sensible to look back at historical trends and expect a long wait until something new happens with the boys from Dusseldorf, if indeed anything does happen (these guys are in their late fifties!) but then again they could surprise us with more new material, possibly taken from the sessions for the Soundtracks album? Ralf Hutter has spoken before of the concept of a 'global village' which may influence a future recording, but as seen before, rumours should not be taken too seriously, especially when it comes to the most reclusive band in the music business today.

Kraftwerk have never been an 'album a year' type of group (save for their earlier hippy days), but for that we should be thankful that the long periods of silence have brought us classics like the conceptual "Radioactivity", "Trans Europe Express", the album that inspired electro artists like Afrika Bambaataa and "Computer World", with its revolutionary look at technological advances (who would have guessed internet dating would be so successful after a song like "Computer Love"?). Whatever happens with 'the robots', fans will be hoping it will be worth the wait, however long that may be.