Thursday, April 2, 2009

Werk'n the Kraft!

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When we gather around to talk music we sometimes discuss authenticity; validity of acts playing what they believe is 'theirs' within their genre. Ok, I'll stop sounding like an absolute wanker but only if you take my hand as I'll throw you into the world of real, pure, authentic Electronic music.

Ich bin Kraftwerk!
This month I'll be posting a couple of songs from what I think were the great Kraftwerk albums. Starting with their earlier Radio-Activity 1975 and right through til their well awaited for 2004 Minimum-Maximum tour album.

Kraftwerk are Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter at the core of the mixing desks in their KlingKlang Studios, Dusseldorff, Germany. Along with other various musicians, most commonly with Wolfgang Flur and Karl Bartos these guys set the tone for a future sound embracing technology. It will definitely put all you aspiring dj/producers in the knowledge park that preceded the works of Daft Punk, Digitalism, Justice, SMD etc by about 35 years.

Minimal, authentic electronica at it's F*ing best! You hear these guys developing their own instruments - own drum pads, own synths and sequencers. Believe it or not you Ableton/Logic rapists - digital drum machines and computers didn't ALWAYS exist. Remember, without Kraftwerk, we wouldve had to have waited a lot longer for hip/hop, techno and other various dance cultures. So be polite and when next on the decks...whisper a kind "Thank You, Kraftwerk".

So here is the first off the bat - Radioactivity from 1975 Album RadioActivity - not the greatest of tunes but quite advanced at the time with high frequencies playing a big part in basing the sound of "radio activity". Number 2 is the damn brilliant "Computer Love" from their awesome 1981 - ComputerWorld album. This was a turning point in music as you can imagine as they embraced the new world language of software and computers. Great tune, melody used by Coldplay in "Talk".

Radioactivity - Kraftwerk

Computer Love - Kraftwerk

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