Uwe Schütte

Interesting book provides an analysis of the music, with small mentions of Schneider's shyness at a concert, Bowie's playing of Radio-Activity before his concert tours in 1976, Kraftwerk joining Japanese concert organised by Sakamoto as part of the campaign to stop for nuclear power (but what has the author got against Rammstein?!)
The group faced struggles with identity, Nazi history, xenophobia in America, and producing new a music genre, which the author compares to Andy Warhol's art and factory.
I enjoyed learning about the space connection: Wernher Von Braun "proposed the utopian idea of setting up a permanent space station orbiting Earth as a basis for experiments .", and how their 2018 concert was linked live to astronaut on the ISS during the song Spacelab.
The author discusses historic automatons made to make music: Jacques de Vaucanson, Pierre and Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz, (Daft Punk), Les Robots Music.
He mentions Kraftwerk's: admiration of the film Metropolis film, the Children's TV show Robbi, Tobbi und das Fliewatüüt.
How the band influenced Ladytron, Client, and Craftwife. He compares Sex Object (song) to Giorgio Moroder's I feel love.
He describes how the band reproduced sounds breathing, anvils, trains, cars, etc
Bauhaus influence on artwork, particularly Oskar Schlemmer Bauhaustreppe, and eventually the typeface used on album cover
Kraftwerk influenced by Peter Thomas orchestra's theme music to the German science fiction TV show Raumpatrouille Orion (1966), and their synchronization of visuals and music, use of the electronic flute, how the music reflects everyday sounds in a way like Smetana's Vlatava, and how they incorporated the GB Team cyclists cycling around the Manchester Velodrome during their performance there in 2009.
He described how the band transformed into artists, performing at the Tate and MoMA, and appreciated Emil Schult comics, the artists Gilbert and George, and produced Kraftwerk 3-D catalogue Munich exhibition 2011.
Kraftwerk 's principal of minimalism and privacy, Ralph Hütter's reservations about the internet as a communication tool and his known scorn for social media: "I am not a fan of the internet. I think it is overrated. Intelligent information is still intelligent information and an overflow of nonsense does not really help. In German, it's called Datenmüll: data rubbish
The autor also talks of how Bowie appreciated their music and plugged them on his Isolar tour.… (plus d'informations)

Listened to “Trans Europe Express” last night:



“Rendezvous on Champs-Elysees

Leave Paris in the morning with TEE

In Vienna, we sit in a late-night cafe

Straight connection, TEE"



Just doesn't cut it like this:



"Rendez-vous auf den Champs Elysees

Verlass Paris am Morgen mit dem TEE

In Wien sitzen wir I'm Nachtcafe

Direkt Verbindung TEE”



I remember their first Portuguese appearance so well in Lisbon at Coliseu dos Recreios in 2004, it was a joy to behold. Over the following days, myself and some of my geeky devoted friends who had already perfected the robotic stances and movements added the 'oleaginous' smile and were busy freaking out our mates at work by turning it on (I know, we were shallow back then...I’m still shallow now). But we really did love the music. The first German I committed to memory was "Vor uns liegt ein weites Tal, Die sonne scheint mit glitzerstrahl". They had it all, cutting edge, image and much of the time they were off the beaten track so making the journey much more personal.

You know what shone through Kraftwerk’s music back then? There was a sentiment in there that the future was going to be fantastic. In amongst all the magical music and the sublime melodies, and despite the occasional dystopian moment there was (is?) a wonderful humanity and a sense that what was coming was much better than the past. Compare that to the stuff we’re being subjected to now, where it’s all about donkey torture and shitty breakups. 4 chords on repeat mostly!!! What did they have that was new? Easy: The pioneering electronic instrumentation paradoxically pumping out wonderful melodies and incredibly danceable rhythms. The sly humour, the po faced banality & the ambiguous fascination with technology. The meticulous cultivation of image & graphics. The highly mannered stage presentation when almost every else was doing the opposite. Still recall how shocking their heavy bass driven live sound was in the 80’s especially for the Gary Numan fans that weren’t familiar with dub soundclash. Kraftwerk mainly reflected on and channelled the German character and society which they grew out of, still overshadowed by the fallout from the war. There are fundamental attitudes to work, authority, standards and lifestyle that are particularly German and Kraftwerk tapped that, but also looked at it from an alternative perspective that grew in the younger generation like mine.

In the 80S I bought the album “Ralf and Florian” on the strength of the completely off kilter black and white cover. I had no money either, and it was a weird spontaneous buy. I can honestly say it changed my life. Had no idea that such exquisite beauty could be found on a piece of vinyl and so I spent the rest of my life trying to find it. Had some success and a lot of failures. The pursuit rolls on.… (plus d'informations)