SEÑOR COCONUT Y SU CONJUTO - EL BAILE ALEMÁN @ 25

 

Celebrating its 25th anniversary today is the sophomore release by Señor Coconut, El Baile Alemán, which was released on December 23rd, 1999. It's an album that, at least in my mind, both revitalized my interest in Kraftwerk and sparked my taste for Latin music.

Señor Coconut is actually an alias adopted by German electronic music producer, Uwe Schmidt, who adopted the name as a pseudonym after departing his home in Frankfurt for Santiago de Chile. While he'd started off in the arena of techno, the seduction of Latin music sparked this alter-ego to take hold, first producing an album of originals, then conceiving the idea to do an entire album of Kraftwerk covers in the Latin style.

Schmidt had developed an interest in Latin culture early in the 1990s when he took a sabbatical from his hectic production schedule to live in Costa Rica for six months. It was some time in 1993 that the idea for Señor Coconut took root, but it would be a few years before the concept would begin to take shape. Schmidt had found himself disconnected from the German techno DJ & dance scene, with the audience for that music not really taking notice of his work. By 1996, things had progressed enough that Schmidt was able to get himself organized for a move to Chile and the production of the first album with this new identity. After that album, the concept of the Kraftwerk covers album began without any real idea of the specific style, until he started to work on a set of demos that, as a bit of amusement, he created in a kind of "cha-cha" style. Entertained by the result of the first programmings, he produced a total of 4 songs which he sent to some record companies. One of those companies, Tōwa Tei's Akashic Records, immediately licensed the album, releasing El Baile Alemán upon completion of the production.

Uwe Schmidt obtained official permission by Kraftwerk themselves to release El Baile Alemán, though he had to remove his version of "Radioactivity" at the request of the band. European and North American record companies remained uninterested until triggered by the hype El Baile Alemán had caused in Japan. Soon a European, North American, Mexican, Hong Kong and a Russian release followed and the title "Showroom Dummies" was featured in the Mexican movie Y Tu Mamá También.

I discovered the album thanks to a recommendation from a friend. I had no idea who Schmidt was, nor any notion of his background & origins. All I knew was that the concept of Latin Kraftwerk covers sounded too good to pass up, and I was right! The album quickly became one of my favourite releases of that time. It was a regular and dependable party favourite. What Schmidt did with his arrangements of the songs was to highlight their versatility to being adapted to this seemingly incongruous style, demonstrating just how solid Kraftwerk's songwriting truly was. The intersection of their music with this style also brought my attention to exploring Latin music in its own right, leading me to open my ears to another vista of sounds and performing techniques. The album has remained a perennial pleasure to put on whenever I need a pick-me-up. It has not age a day in the quarter century it has been in my music library. It has a timelessness that makes it impervious to trends. It simply never fails to satisfy.

KRAFTWERK - TOUR DE FRANCE @ 20

 

Marking its 20th anniversary today is the eleventh studio album from Kraftwerk, Tour De France Soundtracks, which was released on August 4th, 2003. It was their only collection of new recordings in 12 years, with The Mix being released in 1991, but it was also their only collection of new compositions in 17 years, with the last set, Electric Cafe (aka Techno Pop), coming out in 1986. While the group continue to tour regularly, they have not released any new studio recordings since, albeit numerous live collections have been made available from their 21st century tours. Tour De France was also the last album to feature Florian Schneider before his departure from the band in 2008 and his passing in 2020.

The album was conceived as a tribute to the Tour De France bicycle race, which was celebrating its 100th anniversary that year, though the album release was delayed, missing the actual anniversary of the race. It was also an expansion on the single of the same name, which was released 20 years earlier, in 1983. The cover graphics for the single and album are nearly identical. Following the release of the album, the group began to tour again, revamping their live presentation to utilized the now familiar four podium "laptop" setup, with each member having a compact array of computers, keyboards and minimal controls, all backed by large visual projections, which eventually evolved into 3D graphics in more recent years.

With such a long lapse in activity from the band, it was a concern as to whether fans would be there to pick up on the release, but the band's impact had become so pronounced within the popular music world, with it's decisive shift towards electronic pop, that the album was a global hit, rising to the upper ranks of numerous charts. Stylistically, the album continued along the path of tight, punchy dance music forged by The Mix from 1991.

With Ralf Hütter now the only remaining founding member of the group (or from their "classic" era lineup), fans continue to speculate on whether or not they have another album of original new works in the wings. 20 years is a long time to go without anything new, especially for a group who are now recognized as being on the same level as The Beatles in terms of influencing the direction of popular music, and some could argue they've surpassed the Fab Four, and convincingly. They're still out there touring regularly and packing venues with their 3D live shows, which I got to see in 2012, and which duly blew my mind. I can't accept that they haven't got at least ONE more album up their robotic sleeves.

KRAFTWERK - THE MAN MACHINE @ 45

 

Marking it’s 45th anniversary this month is the seventh studio album from Kraftwerk, The Man-Machine, which was originally released in May of 1978. It would complete the dehumanization process which had begun with Autobahn and crystallize the band’s image is musical “robots”, precisely crafting the future of techno-pop music for generations to come.

While the band’s previous album, Trans Europe Express, did a lot to streamline and perfect the pulsing electronic rhythms which had been evolving throughout their previous two albums, particularly with its groundbreaking title track and their expanded use of step sequencers and automated rhythms, Man-Machine took those techniques to their logical conclusion. They enabled the group to achieve a kind of stately exactitude which had a transcendent quality, ushering the listener into an alternate mechanical universe. It was like they’d finally manifested the true “soul” of the automaton and, not only made it live and breath, but also imbued it with the uncanny ability to bust a remarkably funky move! The entire album was bursting with a syncopated dance-ability which had been bubbling up in past releases, but which was now the dominant force. The opening track in particular, The Robots, announced itself with such bass shaking authority that it sent listeners cranking their volume to fully exploit its shuddering groove.

When I first bought the album, sometime around 1979/80, I brought it over to my friend’s place because he had a proper hi-fi stereo system. He aptly pointed out to me how perfect it sounded, with no sense of acoustics from the natural world. It sounded completely synthetic, though not at all “plastic” or phony. It was like hearing sound directly for the first time, like it was being transmitted to your brain with no interference from the atmosphere, like you were hard-wired. It was pure and pristine and unaffected. That made it stand out from any other record I had in my collection, electronic or otherwise. The uncompromising elegance and precision that was in place throughout every track put it in a category all its own. There was nothing else that came close to it.

That distinctiveness carried through to the artwork and even the promotion of the album, where Kraftwerk had commissioned the creation of mannequins to be made in their exact likeness. This allowed them to host two synchronized release events, one in London and one in NYC, where the former was attended by the group themselves and the latter was attended by their mannequins. In later years, they would be evolved to become actual physical robots and then 3D computer generated avatars. Artwork for the cover was produced by Karl Klefisch, based on the work of the Russian suprematist El Lissitzky – the words "Inspired by El Lissitzky" are noted on the cover. The back cover image is an adaptation of a graphic from Lissitzky's book for children About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale of Two Squares in Six Constructions. The image of the band in their coordinated attire also set a precedent for the group, who would hence-forth always adopt coordination in their outfits, especially for live presentations.

Strangely, the album did not sell well when it was initially released, but it proved to be a sleeper. In the UK, it took until 1982 for it to chart high enough to become the group’s 2nd best selling record behind Autobahn. Two singles where released from the album with The Model, again, becoming a sleeper hit in the early 1980s. It’s like it took a few years for the world to catch up with Kraftwerk and figure out how far ahead of the game they were. Of course, the release of Computer World finally reinforced their visionary comprehension of where electronic music could go and there’s NOTHING in that world today which hasn’t built on Kraftwerk’s foundations. The Man-Machine is still my favorite album from them and its pristine songs hold up time and time again.

KRAFTWERK - TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS @ 45

 

45 years ago this month, Kraftwerk put their sixth LP on the tracks as the iconic Trans-Europe Express hit the shops in March of 1977. It would solidify their conceptual identity while becoming one of their most influential albums.

If there had been any trace of the band’s early free-form experimentalism typical of their first three LPs remaining on Autobahn & Radio Activity, it was thoroughly excised with the release of TEE. Everything on this album adhered to the strict, controlled compositional aesthetic which had been taking over as their trademark. Part of the reason for this was the introduction of the Synthanorma Sequenzer, a customized 32-step 16-channel analog sequencer made for the band by Matten & Wiechers. This piece of gear allowed them to finally realize the precise machine-like rhythms they’d been dreaming of while freeing them from the drudgery of having to perform these repetitive maneuvers manually. The effect on their sound was immediate and profound.

This impact was even manifest in the way the group presented themselves on the LP’s stylized cover. They were dehumanizing themselves by creating a visage that more resembled mannequins, something which would be literally implemented by the next album and further enhanced in later years with the introduction of actual robotic replicas and, finally, CGI avatars. This attitude extended beyond mere visual representation of the group. They also adopted a strict set of guidelines in terms of their public behavior and demeanor, enacting rules such as restricting themselves from indulging in intoxicants while socializing or performing.

Conceptually, the group were keen to distance themselves from any perception of being associated with Nazis. This was something which had been a bit of an issue with the Autobahn album and its controversial celebration the German Third Reich’s enduring infrastructural achievement. To accomplish this, they adopted an idea suggested by their friend, Paul Alessandrini, who encouraged them to write about the new Trans-Europe Express rail system. This was something that would emphasize the European identity, an idea which was further reinforced by the song, Europe Endless. This aligned them with the values of the emerging European union, moving them away from anything that smacked of Germanic nationalism. Parallel to their emphasis on European culture, the group also focused on the concept of personal identity and self-reflection as embodied by songs like The Hall of Mirrors and Showroom Dummies, the latter of which was key in terms of the construction of their new image.

In terms of the impact of the album, while it did respectably in terms of sales, the cultural impact it would manifest over the years and even generations is immeasurable. Most profoundly, its title track managed to find its way into the hands of emerging hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, who sampled it for his 1982 classic Planet Rock single. It would then go on to influence the Detroit techno community, along with the groups followup LPs, Man Machine and Computer World. The ripple effect within the world of electronic dance music was only matched by the synergistic works from Giorgio Moroder, who’s epic disco hits like I Feel Love and The Chase, dovetailed elegantly with Kraftwerk’s similar emphasis on powerful electronic sequenced rhythms. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Innumerable artists within the general world of pop and rock music were turning to Kraftwerk for inspiration at this time, including artists like Davie Bowie, who was embarking on his “Berlin” phase at the time TEE was being recorded and who, along with Iggy Pop, found themselves immortalized within the very lyrics of Kraftwerk’s titular song.

Nearly a half century after its release, the album remains a touchstone for anyone who picks up a synthesizer or plunks away on a drum machine. You simply can’t have techno without Trans-Europe Express laying the tracks for it to travel into the future. Only The Beatles can lay claim to having a bigger impact on modern popular music and there are many who could justly debate who had the larger influence.

KRAFTWERK 2 @ 50

Released in January of 1972, Kraftwerk 2 celebrates its 50th anniversary this month. The album was recorded entirely by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in late 1971 as “Nobody wanted to play with us because we did all kinds of strange things ... feedbacks and overtones and sounds and rhythms. No drummer wanted to work with us because we had these electronic gadgets.”

Despite the above statement, the album is rather uncharacteristic for its lack of synthesizers, with the instrumentation being largely electric guitar, bass guitar, flute and violin. The electronics on display mostly belong to the realm of 1960s tape-based music with heavy use of tape echo and reversed or altered speed tape effects. The overall mood of the album comes across as more muted as the group explored certain auto-mechanical techniques for their music. They were gradually moving away from formlessness into more structured arrangements, but were still some distance away from the machine-like precision of their classic albums.

Along with their eponymous debut and the follow-up to this, Ralf & Florian, the group have yet to embrace this trio of early works into their acknowledged “catalogue” of classic LPs. All three remain without official reissues or remastering attempts. Though some discussion of such has taken place, it is obviously not a priority for the group, or at least for Ralph Hütter, the only remaining founding member who would be responsible for spearheading such a project. The result is that these sometimes lovely, quirky experiments continue to live in a twilight of unofficial “bootlegs”, only pursued by the bands most ardent fans.

KRAFTWERK - ELECTRIC CAFE @ 35

 

December 16th marks the 35th anniversary of the release of Kraftwerk’s ninth studio album, Electric Café, which was issued this day in 1986. After a five year gap since their previous LP, Computer World (1981), this album would mark the end of their “classic” period and lineup of Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos, which had been consistent since 1975 following the release of their groundbreaking Autobahn LP.

Though Wolfgang was still credited as a member of the group and performed with them during their tour to support Computer World in 1981, he had not actually played on that album and would not contribute anything in the studio for Electric Café either. With the increased reliance on sequencers, his duties as percussionist became drastically reduced and, coupled with certain creative differences, he chose to make his permanent exit from the group shortly after the release of Electric Café.

Work on the album began in 1982 and one of the first songs to emerge from these sessions was Tour De France, which was originally intended to be part of the new album. After completing their last tour, Ralph had become obsessed with the idea of finding a form of exercise which fit in with the philosophies and aesthetics of the group and become an avid cyclist, even encouraging the rest of the group to take up the activity as well as become vegetarian. He was so enthusiastic about it that he campaigned to make cycling the central theme of the new album, but was ultimately unsuccessful in that effort. Instead the original concept for the album was to call it “Technicolor”, but this idea had to be abandoned because of the branding of that name, so it became “Techno Pop” for a while before being renamed to Electric Café for its initial release. However, it ended up being renamed again for its remastered CD reissue back to “Techno Pop”.

Though the album’s production began in 1982, Ralph’s obsession with cycling kept him out of the studio more and more, delaying production. This was greatly exacerbated when he was involved in a serious cycling accident, which left him in a coma for several days. A long recovery kept him out of the studio for some time. As a stop-gap, the group released Tour De France as a single and decided to keep it as a stand-alone release and not include it on the new album.

As Ralph recovered and production gradually got back on track, the group sought to develop their sound in order to keep pushing the envelope of the technology. This involved moving to progressively more digital based sound production and processing gear. Tour De France had set the stage for this with its extensive use of sampled sound effects of bicycle gears, breathing patterns and other associated noises. Even so, when it came to trying to put together the finished mixes, Ralph was not confident that they were reaching the level he had envisioned in terms of keeping the group on the cutting edge of their genre. To help them with this, they brought in the help of New York DJ/producer, François Kevorkian, who had helped with the mix on Tour De France. Aside from the move towards a more digital sound, the album also features the first and only lead vocal from Karl Bartos on The Telephone Call.

Upon the album’s initial release, it was rather limply received. The gap between Computer World and Electric Café had seriously lost the group the momentum it has gained from that previous release and Ralph was right to worry about the group not seeming cutting edge anymore as the album, despite their best efforts, still managed to feel more “of the times” than ahead of it. Critics called it dull and sales were disappointing. I remember buying it when it came out and my own initial reaction to it was a feeling that the group weren’t anticipating the future like they’d done on previous albums. I loved the opening track, Boing Boom Tschak, with its syncopated voice samples and had hoped to hear more of that throughout the album, but it all seemed like familiar territory after that and even a bit like a self-parody in some cases. Ultimately, it would be the groups last full album of new material until the release of Tour De France Soundtracks in 2003. The only other releases before then were the 1991 “best of” rebuilds for The Mix and the 1999 single, Expo 2000.

Though it is mostly considered one of Kraftwerk’s weaker albums, lacking the focused conceptual framework of classic period masterpieces like, Radio Activity, Trans Europe Express, The Man Machine and Computer World, several of its songs have become mainstays of their live performances and have proven themselves to be durable and just as melodically infectious as anything else in the upper echelons of their catalogue. The title song, Electric Café, in a slightly sped-up form, became something of a cultural meme thanks to its use by Mike Myers on SNL in the 1990s for his recurring "Sprockets” German television spoof. My own appraisal of the album has changed for the better over the years as I have grown to find more and more to love about it now that it no longer seems to feel diminished by its relationship to their earlier works. I’m more able to appreciate it on its own merits. These days, I think it has earned its place as an essential piece of the Kraftwerk puzzle among the sacred 8 of their official “Catalogue”.

KRAFTWEKR - THE MIX @ 40

 

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.

KRAFTWERK - COMPUTER WORLD @ 40

 

Released on May 10th, 1981, Kraftwerk’s seminal cornerstone of the digital age, Computer World, is celebrating its 40th anniversary today.

At the time of Computer World’s release, computers were not much more than a curiosity. They were seen as something only used by huge corporations and scientists for esoteric purposes beyond the concerns & comprehension of normal people living their mundane lives. In popular fiction, super-computers might take over the world, but people didn’t perceive them as being part of routine activities. Kraftwerk, however, saw what was coming and created a gleaming set of compositions which celebrated the looming digital age. They saw how the computer would become ubiquitous within our lives and homes and completely integrated into our culture. Within a few years of its release, the first inexpensive home computer systems were finding their place on desktops around the world and started changing the way we lived, worked and socialized.

Though Kraftwerk had well established the synergy between people and technology with their previous LP, The Man Machine, that album had dealt mostly with the mechanics of the day. Robotics, space travel, urbanization and consumer culture were its focus. However, a new branch of technology was fast gaining traction and the revolution inherent in this advancement required a total rethinking of both processes and production tools. In order to go to the next level, the band would need to do a major overhaul of just about every aspect of their methodology. There’s a three year gap between Man Machine and Computer World which was necessitated by a full rebuild of their Kling Klang studio setup. One of the objectives of this redesign was to modularize and miniaturize their gear in order to make it more easily portable for live performances and world touring. To accomplish this, some pretty intensive engineering innovations had to be developed to create the “work station” configuration they’d eventually arrive at and continue to refine throughout the rest of their career. Each member of the quartet would have a similar kind of setup which would help to drive the sense of consistency and unity among the members.

Once the technical aspects of their setup were addressed, then came the process of composing a set of precisely and minimally arranged pieces to capture the essence of the theme being developed. The album needed to show how this technology would integrate into our lives and function as an extension of both our physical and mental existentialism. They explored the basics of the technology in Numbers, showing how the simple process of digital calculation could be used as a creative infrastructure. They anticipated social media with Computer Love. They identified the entertainment value of the tool with It’s More Fun to Compute. They foresaw the arrival of the computer as a standard appliance in Home Computer. They predicted the miniaturization which would eventually lead to devices like smart phones in Pocket Calculator. Nearly every aspect of computer technology which we now take for granted was spec’d out here and delineated.

The impact of the album was immediate, profound and continues to resonate to this day. Starting in the early 1980s, hip-hop producers like Afrika Bambaataa began liberally sampling from it, along with earlier works like Trans Europe Express. Once House music and Detroit techno started to emerge in the mid to late part of the decade, a new generation of producers regularly referenced and paid homage to Computer World and earlier works, through both direct sampling and more oblique acknowledgements. Again and again, throughout the ensuing decades, Kraftwerk’s prescient masterwork became a touchstone for each new generation of electronic music and techno-pop practitioners. And Kraftwerk themselves would continuously find ways to reinvigorate their creation through remixes, remakes and reissues and live performances which consistently found ways to update their sound to make it relevant for the present day. They were simply so far ahead of the curve, even their most perfunctory efforts were able to align these works with the latest trends.

Personally, Computer World is what I perceive to be the high water mark for Kraftwerk in terms of foresight and innovation. The follow up album, 1986’s Electric Cafe, while possessing some great tracks, was not able to capture the kind of cultural zeitgeist that had been perfected on Computer World. Both in terms of technology and conceptualization, the perfection of Computer World is essentially impossible to surpass. It came along at the perfect time and in the perfect form and nothing the group has done since then has made such a massive leap forward. You can look back across the preceding albums and see a clear progression from the abstract experimentalism of the early albums through the shift into more controlled composition, all the while also refining their image from intellectual hipsters into meticulously groomed cultural executors. Once you hit that height of materialization, there’s not much room to move beyond making periodic adjustments in order to maintain one’s altitude. But that’s not a criticism as I have seen them perform live within the past 10 years and was squarely blown away by what they put on stage and how powerful its presence remains. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

KRAFTWERK AT 50

50 years ago today, on December 1st, 1970, the world was introduced to a group who would change the nature of pop music forever. Recorded and mixed between July & September of 1970, the eponymous debut Kraftwerk LP would formally announce the arrival of Germany's most influential musical entity, not only of the decade, but for generations to come.

At the time, Kraftwerk were not quite the "machine" they would become in later incarnations. The group consisted of founders Ralph Hütter and Florian Schneider, who were accompanied by drummers Andreas Hohmann (side A) and NEU! co-founder Klaus Dinger (side B). Production duties were handled by Conny Plank. Emerging from a previous incarnation known as Organization, Ralph and Florian were still very much into their more experimental phase with much of the album consisting of free-form improvisations with Ralph handling the keyboards and Florian on heavily processed flute. There's a bit of guitar and violin in there as well and a touch of electronic percussion and early synthesizer embellishments. There's very little to indicate the kind of rigid, precise compositional style the group would evolve into by the latter half of the decade, beginning with the landmark 1974 Autobahn LP. Only the opening number, Ruckzuck, offered any indication of this with its initial "motorik" rhythm and syncopated echoed flute layers. This style surfaces intermittently throughout the album, but the bulk of it floats freely in the either of spontaneous improvisation.

It is perhaps because of this divergence from the "classic" Kraftwerk approach that the first three albums from Ralph and Florian have been essentially excised from the group's canon of official releases. None of them have had official reissues since their release with the exception of the 1975 Exceller 8 album, which compiles tracks from those first three albums and was released after the success of Autobahn. Kraftwerk themselves have referred to their first three albums as "archeology" and have only hinted at the possibility of a proper remastered reissue at some point in the future, though there has been little evidence of that actually occurring. However, there have been unofficial CD and LP reissues on the market since the 1990s for determined collectors to get their hands on.

Regardless of its official status within the group, the album still holds the core DNA of what would come to be the building blocks of modern electronic pop music. Those first few minutes of Ruckzuck alone are enough to provide a signpost that points directly to that future. A half century on and we're still nowhere near seeing the end of that tsunami of influence lose its strength. This is the point of detonation for it.

INFLUENTIAL ALBUM - JEAN MICHEL JARRE, EQUINOXE

From 1974 until 1981, legendary singer and actress, Dinah Shore, had a daytime variety talk show called Dinah! One afternoon in1978, while I was home for one reason or another, my mom was watching the show and the musical guest that day was this dashing young Frenchman by the name of Jean Michel Jarre. He was discussing his music and how he made it using all these electronic instruments and then they played a promotional video for one of his compositions from his most recent album, Equinoxe. The piece was Equinoxe Part 5 and was a sweeping instrumental with a driving, pulsing rhythm underpinning some majestic synthesizer swells. The video features various shots of Jarre wandering around while this odd looking graphic character featured on the cover of his album kept popping up. These binocular viewing blue men were positioned in various odd locations and the resulting effect for the video was something rather humorous, though also a bit unsettling.

At the time, I was just starting to get into electronic music and I think I'd just picked up my first Kraftwerk LP. Jarre was a bit different, however, because there was something of a classical leaning to his music. Not too surprising, I suppose, given his father was famous film score composer, Maurice Jarre. There was a more romantic and picturesque quality to Jean Michel's music over the overtly mechanical, robotic vision of Kraftwerk. Equinoxe plays out very much like a film score, seamlessly shifting through each movement, only interrupted by the separation of sides on the album. Otherwise, every piece segues into the next with remarkable precision and fluidity. The album is a journey through an alien electronic landscape, brimming with dynamics which completely belie the assumption that electronic music was incapable of expressing such emotion and dexterity.

Unlike a lot of the music I'm prone to enjoy, this work represents something meticulously crafted and composed rather than the more spontaneous and improvised genres that normally dominate my musical preferences. The proof of this is in the fact that Jarre has replicated it, note for note, in live settings, utilizing the exact equipment employed during its original creation. It's a bit of indulgence which is very familiar to Jarre and to fans of his work. He can be, at times, rather overtly a "showman" with his live presentations, and while this often is a bit much for me, there have been times when his excesses have been constrained enough for me to find certain works endearing and enduring far beyond their genesis. This is one of his best, for my money.

INFLUENTIAL ALBUM - AMON TOBIN, BRICOLAGE

For a long time, electronic music was beaten down by the cudgel that it lacked "feeling' and was too "stiff" and "rigid".  This was something that was even embraced by groups like Kraftwerk, who integrated the rigidity of electronics into their aesthetic, to brilliant effect, i might add.  But still, for the first two decades as the technology worked its way from novelty to necessity in the creation of popular music, there were restrictions on its flexibility.  It took time for keyboards to develop sensitivity to velocity and after-touch and rhythmic devices like drum machines and sequencers were generally slavishly tied to quantization. 

It wasn't until the 1990s that the tech began to truly develop the abilities to incorporate more organic feeling attributes into its compositions.  One of the most preeminent pioneers in terms of breaking electronics free from the shackles of perfection and repetition was Amon Tobin, who debuted with his first album, Bricolage, in 1997. 

I recall this album being something of a revelation in my social circles as we'd never heard anything that sounded quite so loose and spontaneous before.  I remember listening to this with fellow musicians who were well up on the latest tools and techniques and being aghast at the fluidity of the percussion and the arrangements.  So much was going on and no two bars of music seemed to be the same.  There were constant shifts and variations happening and it all felt like someone was really playing this stuff, even though we knew it was mostly done by sampling and editing.  We couldn't figure out how the hell he was doing this stuff.

The style of the music also broke free of genre pigeonholes.  Tobin would effortlessly glide from devastating drum & bass to downtempo coolness to jazzy chill without breaking a sweat.  The title, Bricolage, which is an arts term for "the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work constructed using mixed media", fit the contents perfectly as it was a diverse assemblage of sounds and styles that created its own unique vision for both the dance floor and the living room in equal measure.

INFLUENTIAL ALBUM - Señor Coconut Y Su Conjunto, El Baile Alemán

On this day where we mourn the loss of the inimitable Florian V2 Schneider, it only seems fitting that I look back at an album which celebrated the genius of Kraftwerk and showed how truly timeless and classic their songs are.  The album was created by German musician & producer, Uwe Schmidt, in 1999.  After relocating to Santiago, Chile, Schmidt conceived of the alter-ego, Señor Coconut, and began creating Latin infused reinterpretations of classic songs.  His stroke of genius was to make his second outing a complete dedication to the music of Kraftwerk.

I first heard the album shortly after its release when it was played to me by a friend.  El Baile Alemán, at first glance, seemed like an absurd idea.  Doing classic Kraftwerk as Cha-Cha and Merengue music felt completely contradictory, until you heard it.  Once the disc started to spin and you heard those first notes, it became immediately apparent how beautifully these songs adapted to these interpretations.  Song after song sends you on another journey you never expected these compositions could take you.  Autobahn, for example, morphs from being a slip-stream cruise on modern pavement into a loping clip-clop donkey ride as the car refuses to start and you have to saddle up instead.  The movement and the sense of traveling are still there, but the pace is just so much more leisurely, perfect for enjoying the scenery.

Listening to this album gave me an entirely new appreciation for the songwriting craft of the "Man Machine".  It illustrates the precision and elegance of their compositions and how each element is vital to the picture the song paints.  It shows how each sound can be translated into an analog which retains the conceptual integrity of the original while transforming it into a new shape.  After hearing Señor Coconut, my view of Kraftwerk as song writers was more akin to how I see classical composers vs "pop" musicians.  But I shouldn't have been surprised by this, given Ralph & Florian's background. 

But let's not heap all the praise on the source material alone.  Schmidt's work here is genius in itself.  The way he's arranged these songs and performed them is so flawless, he manages to create his own space while at the same time paying tribute to its origins.  Though the tools he's using are decidedly electronic in nature, the feel of the album is totally organic and natural, even when he slips in the odd breakbeat trill. 

After 20 years in my music library, it's an album I can go to any time and find it just as fresh and fun as the first time I played it.  It's a celebration of many things on many levels, and a sincere, genuine love letter to both Kraftwerk and Latin music.