kraftwerk
kraftwerk on Elsewhere by Graham Reid - browse 30 items of content tagged as 'kraftwerk'.
8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk (Receptor/EMI)
Okay, this is for those who remember playing Frogger and being thrilled by the new technology. This collection is of people using vintage video game systems to play the music of electro-pioneers Kraftwerk, which does make some kind of bent sense. It is kinda lo-fi fun, especially if you know Kraftwerk's extensive catalogue. Although...
music/1081/8-bit-operators-the-music-of-kraftwerk-receptor-emi/
RECOMMENDED RECORD: Vor-Stellen: Parallelograms (digital outlets)
From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this which comes as a double album. Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . . . In the world to the left of mainstream guitar rock is a heavily populated region usually referred to as indie or alternative...
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Fripp and Eno: Beyond Even; 1992-2006 (Opal/Southbound)
As mentioned in the previous posting of the Travis and Fripp album, when guitarist Fripp got into the studio alongside musician-without-portfolio Brian Eno for the albums Evening Star and No Pussyfooting in the early 70s a particular magic was created. Not ambient music (that was to follow from Eno) but more like music as an emotional...
music/1771/fripp-and-eno-beyond-even-1992-2006-opal-southbound/
KRAFTWERK'S RALF HUTTER INTERVIEWED (2008): The werk ethic
Ralf Hutter -- founder of the innovative German electro rock pioneers Kraftwerk rarely does interviews. And when he does speak to the press he sometimes doesn’t make it easy. One reporter tells of the constraints being placed on questions: the first being no asking about Kraftwerk. Kraftwerk are, shall we say, different: their...
absoluteelsewhere/1877/kraftwerks-ralf-hutter-interviewed-2008-the-werk-ethic/
Kraftwerk: Trans-Europe Express (1977)
In the rush to acclaim Kraftwerk as electro-pioneers, it is often overlooked how they grew out of the German avant-garde/post-hippie prog-rock scene. As Organisation -- and on the first two Kraftwerk albums -- founders Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider (and others) engaged in long, almost free-form jams with Schneider playing flutes and...
essentialelsewhere/1994/kraftwerk-trans-europe-express-1977/
BEST OF ELSEWHERE DVDs 2008 Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution (DVD)
Not only does this excellent overview of the German electronic scene come in at a whopping and thorough three hours, but it also has good timing: it is released just as Kraftwerk make a rare return appearance in New Zealand. This ambitious (but not officially sanctioned) look at Kraftwerk's place in the techno-cosmos places the group within...
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Lucky Dragons: Dream Island Laughing Language (Mistletone)
Hmmm, interesting and definitely not for everyone as this LA group (with a very flexible line-up) strip things right back to primitive music-making (handclaps, simple percussion, shakers, flutes, wordless vocal chants) and then edit the results into spare "pieces" which have a neatly minimalist quality. They aren't averse to...
music/2008/lucky-dragons-dream-island-laughing-language-mistletone/
STEVE REICH INTERVIEWED (1990): The maximal minimalist
American composer Steve Reich finishes telling of his new work – an enormous three-years-in-the making multi-media project – and then reflects on the austerity of his early music which enraged audiences two decades ago. “Yeah, it’s easy to see backwards and how all these new things came from that early stuff –...
culturalelsewhere/2016/steve-reich-interviewed-1990-the-maximal-minimalist/
Car Crash Set: Join the Car Crash Set (Anna Logue Records)
Elsewhere is always pleased to bring local vinyl to your attention (see Super Turtle and Body Corporate) and so here's another welcome opportunity: the album release of Auckland 80s electronic outfit Car Crash Set, here collected on vinyl by (of course) a German company. The Germans have a thing for archiving Kiwi music on record (in the...
music/2051/car-crash-set-join-the-car-crash-set-anna-logue-records/
NEU!: NEU! (1971) NEU!2 (1973) NEU! ‘75 (1975)
Musical innovations can happen by accident or out of necessity: a stoned John Lennon allegedly spooling the tape of Rain into his player the wrong way and discovering the sound of backwards guitars (he wanted the whole song released in reverse, but settled for just the coda). Or Brian Eno who was mostly confined to bed after an accident...
essentialelsewhere/2208/neu-neu-1971-neu2-1973-neu-‘75-1975/
CAN, THE CATALOGUE AND THE CULT: Talkin' 'bout a revolution
By definition most people miss cult acts. And to their tuned-in loyalists that makes them even more special. There is nothing like the whiff or martyrdom, or being ignored or misunderstood, to elevate a musician’s reputation among the faithful. Like most people, I missed Can in the late 60s/early 70s. No matter, the albums are out...
absoluteelsewhere/2306/can-the-catalogue-and-the-cult-talkin-bout-a-revolution/
DAVID BOWIE; VH1 STORYTELLERS (EMI CD/DVD)
At the very end of the Nineties, David Bowie released one of his best album in years, Hours. Unfortunately by that time fewer and fewer people were listening to him. He'd started the decade with the two Tin Machine albums in which he tried to bury himself within a band format (about as successfully as McCartney did with Wings) and although...
Philip Glass: Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
There are few things more depressing than observing a revolution become a style (or the Beatles’ Revolution become a Nike ad). Or to witness innovation morph into cliché. When director Godfrey Reggio’s innovative film Koyaanisqatsi appeared in the early Eighties it had an immediate impact on popular music and film culture....
This Heat: This Heat (1979)
Understandably, many hail the Sixties as the greatest ever decade for popular music: the undeniable brilliance of the Beatles and what they spawned on both sides of the Atlantic, not to mention globally; the whole shift from pop to rock, and from singles to albums, which freed minds and arses that followed; the innovations of Hendrix, Cream and...
HARMONIA AND ENO '76; TRACKS AND TRACES REISSUE, CONSIDERED (2009): The quiet revolution
Even during his days in Roxy Music, Brian Eno professed an admiration for not just the music coming out of the German electronic movement (Can and so on) but for their collective spirit. They often lived communally and kept outside the mainstream, and (the commune thing excepted) so did he. That they had so many musical interests in common...
Underworld Vs the Misterons: Athens (K7/Border)
This might not be what some would expect from the techno stars Underworld, but this excellent compilation serves a number of purposes outside of being fascinating in its own right. It is a collection of some of their favouite tracks from the more meditative end of the musical spectrum so has a kind of neo-ambient, avant-jazz flavour, and...
Hot Chip: One Life Stand (EMI)
Artists should not be held to their press releases, but after a couple of tracks of wimp-pop for disco-cum-dance clubs you have to wonder why the promo sheet on this album speaks of it being "awash with Hot Chip's trademark creative bravery and a searing emotional intensity from first track to last". Sorry, bullshit on both counts....
The Chemical Brothers: Further (Parlophone)
And in this further installment, our heroes effect a blend of Barrett-era Floyd (given a techno twist) and Baba O'Reilly-meets-Pseudo Echo (on the soundstage of Bladerunner) then set their control to the heart of dancefloor synthedelic music. Add some pure pop vocals out of the Brian Wilson school with a few nods to Kraftwerk's Motorik beats...
Embryo: 40 (Trikont/Yellow Eye)
Might as well confess, until a fortnight ago I had never heard of Embryo at any point in their 40 year career -- but they are already well on their way to becoming my new favourite German jazz-rock ensemble. From my reading of the impressive booklet which comes with this double disc they should have been across everyone's sightlines at some...
The Trons: The Trons (Pieplate CD/DVD)
A few decades ago Devo advanced the idea of "devolution", that Mankind wasn't going forward but actually regressing and you could see that in the behaviour of the mob. Regrettably it seems they might have been right if idiot postings on Facebook and You Tube are anything to go by, not to mention the guy who will hold up store at...
Arthur Russell: Another Thought (1985)
Curiously, it has only been in recent years that the British music press "discovered" Arthur Russell. But maybe not so curious: Russell died of Aids-related illnesses in '92 and although he left behind literally many hundreds of reels of recordings (everything from disco through experimental pop to Russell singing with just his cello...
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Ham Hornhead of the Trons
Standing at more than two metres tall and playing powerful rhythm guitar, Ham Hornhead of the Hamilton band the Trons, is a towering figure in New Zealand contemporary rock. A distinctive vocalist but one rarely given to interviews, Hornhead prefers to let the music speak for him and the band of equally disciplined -- one might almost say,...
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The Tin Syndrome: Artefacts Which Reason Ate 1980-83 (Jayrem)
The Tin Syndrome were very much a Wellington band in a number of ways. Their reputation didn't translate much into the rest of New Zealand in the early Eighties, but more than that they also had what we might call "Wellington" concerns to the fore. If you live in the capital city of any Western country you are bound to see a lot of...
music/4073/the-tin-syndrome-artefacts-which-reason-ate-1980-83-jayrem/
F in Math: Couch (Flying Nun)
The witty nom de disque here belongs to Michael Logie, former bassist with New Zealand's Mint Chicks who makes some steps as a solo artist working with computers, electrobeat and processed vocals. You can guess the words "squelchy" and "edgy" will be applied to this -- as they invariably are when lo-fi computer sounds are...
Various Artists: Forbidden Planets Vol 2 (Chrome Dreams/Triton)
Subtitled "More Music from the Pioneers of Electronic Sound", this double disc with a booklet will not be for everyone. But if the original theme to Dr Who, the Bebe and Louis Barron soundtrack on the film Forbidden Planet and even the more demanding music in 2001: A Space Odyssey (nope, not the Strauss) held any appeal then you should...
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BRIAN ENO: THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (2011) (Sexy Intellectual/Triton DVD)
Despite the title here being appropriated from David Bowie, this does seem a fair description of Brian Eno, the self-described "non-musician" who made his name in Roxy Music as the flamboyant synth-twiddler who brought an avant-garde sensibility to a band which might have otherwise simply sounded retro and poopy. Eno's sonic...
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Brian Eno: Drums Between the Bells ((Warp)
Brian Eno first encountered the work of poet/spoken word artist Rick Holland more than a decade ago and despite some small attempts to collaborate things didn't come to much. Until now. Here Eno creates the textural soundbeds for these readings of Holland's work by various people (himself included) and sometimes they have a drilling, intense...
CAN'S CLASSIC TAGO MAGO; 40 YEARS ON (2011): Pre-post-rock with a sonic sweep
If you applied cold logic, on paper most band line-ups wouldn't make much sense. With hindsight you can see the internal faultlines which would pull apart so many of them. None of that matters of course, as long as at some point they make great music. And Can out of Germany certainly did that, although on paper the line-up for their...
absoluteelsewhere/4590/cans-classic-tago-mago-40-years-on-2011-pre-post-rock-with-a-sonic-sweep/
Can, Tago Mago (1971)
Only a rare band could count among its admirers and proselytisers the young Johnny Rotten, David Bowie and Brian Eno, eccentric UK rocker Julian Cope, and Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream. Oh, and various contemporary classical composers, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and post-hippie rock fans. But then, Can from Germany were a...
Jean Michel Jarre: Oxygene (1977)
Sometimes in history there comes that rare conjunction of the artist, the time and the art. In the case of Jean Michel Jarre it seemed they were all out of alignment. He could not have chosen a more inhospitable climate into which release his work. Jarre's album Oxygene came out in France in 1976 but wasn't given release in...
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