Altsounds - Kraftwerk 12345678: The Catalogue [Album Sampler]

One of the recent complaints made of electronic pioneers Kraftwerk is a lack of new music. Which is quite ironic for a group producing some of the most influential and ground-breaking music of the last 35 years; and who have given the world a highly idiosyncratic and in some ways prophetic vision of the future.

This year has seen triumphant live appearances from the four-piece (down to only one original member Ralf Hütter since the departure of Florian Schneider in January this year) at Manchester Velodrome and Bestival but still no new music since 2003’s “Tour de France Soundtracks.” And that followed a seven year gap from the previous album of new material. Now here is the re-issue of the eight albums (all digitally re-mastered at the band’s Düsseldorf Kling Klang studio) recorded between 1974 and 2003. Is the band of the future taking another step into the past? Well yes and no.

Kraftwerk may be joining the classic rock re-issue cavalcade, but these are essential records for anyone with an interest in electronic music and the re-mastering retains the pristine elegance of the originals but adds fresh depth and clarity. Listening to a 10 track sampler of these albums, it is good to be reminded just how familiar these sounds are, not just individual tracks but also how they have informed subsequent computerised pop and dance music. Kraftwerk’s influence has seeped into the DNA of many genres and artists over the decades including Bowie, Daft Punk, Aphex Twin, Afrika Bambatta, and Dr Dre. Has any other group influenced so many genres from proto hip-hop to early synth-pop, from techno and trance to minimalist electronica? Even the current wave of female electro-poppers like La Roux owe a debt. But although familiar, and with the first of these re-issued records approaching its 35th anniversary, they still sound shockingly modern.

“Autobahn” from 1974 (with its Beach Boys-referencing chorus “Wir fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn”) is a great example of their (occasional) droll humour but also how they use de-humanised pulsing electronics, synth drums and even quasi-field recordings (road noise, car horns) to soundtrack where the mechanical and human worlds meet. The next four albums continue this theme whilst looking at themes of nuclear power, travel (again), cybernetics and computing. These five albums cement Kraftwerk’s pioneering reputation. The later records however, “Techno Pop” and “Tour de France Soundtracks” (plus re-mix album “The Mix”) show the band not standing still but introducing more beats and subtle techno rhythms to their sound. Therefore a ten track sampler feels reductive and even redundant – to explore the ideas and sounds of Kraftwerk you need to surrender to the full majestic panoramas of individual albums or go the whole hog and invest in the box set. Back to the future indeed.

“12345678: The Catalogue” includes:

“Autobahn” (1974),
“Radio-Activity” (1975),
“Trans-Europe Express” (1977),
“The Man Machine” (1978),
“Computer World” (1981).
“Techno-Pop” (1986),
“The Mix” (1991) and
“Tour de France Soundtracks” (2003).