June
11th marks the 30th anniversary of Kraftwerk’s 10th studio album, The
Mix, which was issued on this day in 1991. While chronologically the
group’s 10th album, the group has, for some time now, dissociated
themselves from their first three releases and now counts this as their
7th proper album in what they now identify as their official canon of 8
releases (1 Autobahn, 2 Radio activity, 3 Trans Europe Express, 4 Man
Machine, 5 Computer World, 6 Electric Cafe, 7 The Mix, 8 Tour De
France).
Like Computer World a decade before it, The Mix came
about at a time of restructuring for the group as they sought to embrace
the digital age as it began to become ubiquitous throughout the
creative technologies. The last time they’d undertaken this, it was
with the objective of modularizing their performance configuration to
allow for easier touring. This was again the driving factor in terms of
further consolidating and condensing their gear into what we see today
as the sleek 4 person workstation arrangement that has come to exemplify
their stage presence. The group hadn’t toured since 1982 in support of
Computer World with no tours being undertaken to support Electric Cafe
in 1986.
By 1991, the personnel for the group had undergone
some changes from the classic lineup which had persisted from Radio
Activity through Electric Cafe. Both Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos were
gone by 1991, replaced by long time Kling Klang engineer Fritz Hilpert
and then Fernando Abrantes filling out the quartet. After a five year
gap since Electric Cafe, Ralf Hütter was concerned that people would
assume the group were defunct and no longer a going concern. Rather
than attempt a collection of new material or a “Best Of” collection,
what with the group working towards reinventing their back catalogue for
the stage, they hit on the idea of releasing a collection of updated
versions of their classics, utilizing the new equipment and
improvisational performance techniques they’d been developing.
Confusingly
titled, The Mix, the album is not a “remix” album of any kind. It
features brand new recordings of their songs with new instrumentation
and new arrangements. It is, in effect, a “live in studio” album as
they put into practice the methodologies they would subsequently use on
stage for what would become the remainder of their career. The album is
their first fully digital recording and, as such, was somewhat
controversial for analogue purists who found its sound too cold and
sterile compared to the group’s original versions of the songs. They
were also criticized for not offering any new songs nor really breaking
any new ground. The naysayers, however, turned out to be a minority in
the end as the album soon gained traction with a whole new audience
being introduced to the band through their revitalized and updated
sound. The album even landed the #1 spot on The Wire’s year end album
pole, this being the first time the magazine had opened it up to any
genre rather than only jazz recordings.
Personally, when this
album came along, it was something of a bolt from the blue. As much as I
loved Kraftwerk, I’d consigned them to the history bin for the most
part as the cutting edge of electronic music had been overtaken by the
likes of Acid House and Techno in the prior few years, though the
presence of Kraftwerk indeed informed these trends on the most
fundamental level. Hearing The Mix was a bit of a revelation to me.
Though I was initially skeptical thanks to its lack of new songs, the
dramatic reinventions that came forth when I played it immediately won
me over to its charms and I was thrilled to hear them update their sound
for the final decade of the 20th century.
Since its release,
Kraftwerk haven’t been overtly prolific in terms of offering new
material. In 1999, they released the Expo 2000 EP and then they
expanded on their Tour De France single from 1983 by releasing a full
album of new material build upon its foundations in 2003. Otherwise,
the group has principally focused on periodic live tours and
performances. These continue to represent the same basic approach and
sound as was put forth by The Mix. While the group continually refine
their tools and presentation, incorporating 3D visual accompaniment in
recent years, they have essentially settled on their laurels and that’s
okay.
I got to see them perform in Vancouver in 2014 and it
immediately jumped to the top of my list of all-time most impressive
gigs. I never thought that 4 guys standing at podiums for 2 hours could
be so mesmerizing, but the combination of those iconic songs and the
integration of the 3D visuals to perfectly illustrate them was
thoroughly engaging from the first note to the last. Who knows how long
they can continue to offer these experiences to audiences, especially
with the world of live music in such shambles after being devastated by
the COVID pandemic. If they can ever do this again, you’d be lucky to
see it. That mastery of performance began with The Mix and it remains a
pivotal component of their catalogue.
