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Ralf and Florian, 1973.<\/em><\/p>\n It’s a common problem when you like a musical artist so much that you own their entire catalogue: where to go next? In the case of Kraftwerk the problem has been exacerbated by the group’s famously sluggish rate of production: the last studio album was in 2003, the one before that was 1991. Cover versions are one solution, of course, and Kraftwerk have the advantage of providing simple yet memorable melodies that can stand no end of sonic mangling. I linked to a favourite Kraftwerk cover at the weekend, the Balanescu Quartet’s version of The Model<\/em>. What follows is a list of favourite Kraftwerk cover albums (as opposed to one-off tracks). Given the vagaries of the music business some of these may now be deleted.<\/p>\n Possessed<\/em> (1992) by The Balanescu Quartet<\/strong><\/p>\n Robots Kraftwerk are among the gods in the firmament of Mute Records so it’s not so surprising to find an erstwhile electronic label releasing an album of\u00a0arrangements by Alexander Balanescu<\/a>‘s string quartet. The Kronos Quartet were in the vanguard of working quartet variations on rock or pop music (their self-titled album from 1986 included a version of Purple Haze<\/em>) but Balanescu’s arrangements still stand out for attempting to render electronic music with string instruments. Model<\/em> is particularly good.<\/p>\n Trans Slovenia Express<\/em> (1994) by Various Artists<\/strong><\/p>\n Zrcalo Sveta (Das Spiegelglas Der Welt) by Laibach Also on the Mute label and less of a surprise since the contents are mostly from electronic groups. Laibach, who open and close the collection, were already Mute artists. Of the other Slovenians present, Borghesia and Coptic Rain were familiar names but the rest remain a mystery. This is nonetheless a great compilation with an equal mix of eccentric and sympathetic covers. Neonlicht<\/em> features a banjo and the Enzo Fabiani Quartet, Coptic Rain give The Robots<\/em> the Nine Inch Nails treatment while April Nine turn Radioactivity<\/em> into a sublime mystery. Trans Slovenia Express<\/em> Volume 2 appeared in 2005.<\/p>\n Die Roboter Rubato<\/em> (1997) by Terre Thaemlitz<\/strong><\/p>\n Die Roboter In which the musician\/artist\/theorist plays rubato piano variations on the well-known songs. The presence of Ruckzuck<\/em> from the first Kraftwerk album is a surprise\u2014hardly anyone does covers of tracks from the first two Kraftwerk albums. All Thaemlitz’s releases come with pages of accompanying text culled from Marxist theory, gender studies, queer politics and the like. Die Roboter Rubato<\/em> is no exception:<\/p>\n Kraftwerk’s most vibrant celebration of this Homoeroticization is in the composition Tour de France<\/em>. The sonic manifestation of the group’s well known adoration for cycling bears an undeniable resemblance to the sound of two men fucking one another \u2013 the rhythmic breaths of the top intermingling with the panting moans of the bottom.<\/p>\n Immediate questions come to mind: for all of the obviousness of homoerotic thematics in the world of the Mensch Machines<\/em>, how do such thematics remain undiscussed by popular media? Is the dominant silence around homoerotic themes an act of social suppression or social obliviousness? (etc<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Subsequent Thaemlitz releases have given similar rubato treatment to Gary Numan and Devo.<\/p>\n El Baile Alem\u00e1n<\/em> (2000) by Se\u00f1or Coconut Y Su Conjunto<\/strong><\/p>\n Introduci\u00f3n German electronic musician Uwe Schmidt uses his Se\u00f1or Coconut guise to present songs by synth artists as though they’d been covered by a cheap Latin American ensemble. Swiss group Yello introduced Perez Prado-style shouts and brass stabs into the world of Fairlight samplers in the 1980s so this may be regarded as the logical conclusion. Funny arrangements, especially Autobahn<\/em> where the car refuses to start and the radio is tuned to South American stations. Se\u00f1or Coconut’s 2006 album Yellow Fever!<\/em> reworks the Yellow Magic Orchestra to similar effect.<\/p>\n 8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk<\/em> (2007) by Various Artists<\/strong><\/p>\n The Robots (Die Roboter)<\/a> by Bacalao The masters of minimal aesthetics here receive some minimal cover treatments. Advertised as being “performed on vintage 8-bit video game systems” I was disappointed when some tracks failed to adhere to this stricture and added other instruments.The voices can also be a letdown when they’re left unprocessed. Complaints aside, the fat and bouncy rhythms are a good match for tunes which in other electronic hands were being lured into techno remix tedium. And it’s also good to see Tanzmusik<\/em> from the Ralf & Florian<\/em> album given an airing.<\/p>\n As I noted at the weekend, Kraftwerk give a series of retrospective concerts at the Museum of Modern Art<\/a>, NYC, in April.<\/p>\n Previously on { feuilleton } Ralf and Florian, 1973. It’s a common problem when you like a musical artist so much that you own their entire catalogue: where to go next? In the case of Kraftwerk the problem has been exacerbated by the group’s famously sluggish rate of production: the last studio album was in 2003, the one before that … Continue reading “Reworking Kraftwerk”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29,3],"tags":[3373,122,3383,3386,4392,3384,3387,4252,4255],"class_list":["post-11009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-electronica","category-music","tag-balanescu-quartet","tag-kraftwerk","tag-laibach","tag-mute-records","tag-nine-inch-nails","tag-terre-thaemlitz","tag-uwe-schmidt","tag-yello","tag-yellow-magic-orchestra"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pq7rV-2Rz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nModel<\/a>
\nAutobahn
\nComputer Love
\nPocket Calculator<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nThe Robots by Coptic Rain
\nTrans Europe Express by The One You Love
\nRadioactivity by April Nine
\nAirwaves by Beitthron
\nTransistor by Data Processed Corrupted
\nOhm Sweet Ohm<\/a> by Borghesia
\nNeonlicht<\/a> by Mitja V.S.
\nAntenna by Z-Entropa
\nMan Machine by Strelnikoff
\nHome Computer<\/a> by Random Logic
\nThe Model by Demolition Group
\nKometenmelodie Part 1 by 300,000 V.K.
\nSpacelab<\/a> by Videosex
\nLie-Werk by Kraftbach<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u00c4therwellen
\nTour De France
\nComputer Welt
\nTechno Pop
\nRuckzuck
\nRadioland
\nMensch Machine
\nSchaufensterpuppen
\nMorgen Spaziergang<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nShowroom Dummies
\nTrans Europe Express
\nThe Robots
\nNeon Lights
\nAutobahn<\/a>
\nHome Computer
\nTour De France
\nThe Man-Machine
\nMusic Non Stop<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nPocket Calculator by Glomag
\nComputer Love by Covox
\nShowroom Dummies<\/a> by Role Model
\nThe Model by Nullsleep
\nRadioactivity by David E. Sugar
\nKristallo by Oliver Wittchow
\nSpacelab by 8 Bit Weapon
\nComputer World (Computerwelt) by firestARTer
\nElectric Caf\u00e9 by Neotericz
\nTrans-Europe Express by Receptors
\nTanzmusik<\/a> by Herbert Weixelbaum
\nIt’s More Fun to Compute by Bubblyfish
\nAntenna by Bit Shifter
\nThe Man-Machine (Die Mensch-Maschine) by gwEm and Counter Reset<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u2022 Martin Rushent, 1948\u20132011<\/a>
\n\u2022 Autobahn animated<\/a>
\n\u2022 Sleeve craft<\/a>
\n\u2022 Who designed Vertigo #6360 620?<\/a>
\n\u2022 Old music and old technology<\/a>
\n\u2022 Aerodynamik by Kraftwerk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"