Wolfgang Flür has announced a special London show at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on Saturday 24th January 2015.
Entitled ‘Musik Soldat’, the former KRAFTWERK percussionist said the show was a presentation of music and storytelling that was like “The Brothers Grimm with synthesizers”. But his latest musical venture has been a marvellous electronic number entitled ‘Activity Of Sound’, recorded in collaboration with iEUROPEAN.
The project of Dublin based artist Sean Barron who was formally a member of the band EMPIRE STATE HUMAN, the additional female monologue for ‘Activity Of Sound’ incidentally is provided by Barron’s wife, Izabella.
The track sees Herr Flür quoting an archive interview with the late avant garde composer John Cage. It was Cage who famously conceived the piece 4’33” which consisted of four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence. ‘Activity Of Sound’ on the other hand consists of four minutes and thirty three seconds of synthetic bliss.
Wolfgang Flür was one of the first musicians to be widely seen playing a self-built electronic percussion set on German TV Station ZDF when he joined KRAFTWERK in 1973. After contributing to six albums from ‘Autobahn’ to ‘Electric Café’, he left in 1986. Herr Flür’s last full length album ‘Time Pie’ was issued in 1997 under the moniker of YAMO. His memoirs of his time at Kling Klang were collected together in his revealing autobiography ‘I Was A Robot’, published in 2000.
METROLAND are the Belgian conceptual duo with synthetic sounds from the ‘underground’.
Highly influenced by KOMPUTER and KRAFTWERK, although the capital letter ‘K’ is highly resonant in their sound, METROLAND are perhaps more textural.
They are like a ride through an electronic landscape, layered with authentic warm sequences, robotic vocals and uniquely vintage drum machines, all designed for the commuter world.
Their version of IGGY POP’s ‘The Passenger’ has to be heard to be believed and such has been the quality of tracks like ‘It’s More Fun to Commute’, ‘Enjoying The View’, ‘Harry Beck’ and ‘2013’, several unscrupulous eBay dealers in Russia were passing off CD-Rs of three tracks from the debut long player ‘Mind The Gap’ as KRAFTWERK demos in 2013! Meanwhile, METROLAND were invited to work their technological magic on well received remixes for OMD, MARSHEAUX and RUSTY EGAN.
METROLAND have now returned with their Kling Klang flavoured Technopop courtesy of the multi-formatted single ‘Thalys’, a tie-in with the European high speed train operator. Passengers S and A kindly spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about their upcoming railway journey…
You supported OMD on the Benelux leg of their ‘English Electric’ tour, how was that for you?
Imagine that a local priest gets an invitation from the Pope to do a service in Vatican City. Well, it mostly felt like this. Everything fitted so well.
Andy McCluskey was browsing for information on ‘Metroland’ one evening whilst travelling homewards on the train and he stumbled across our material and instantly liked it due to the KRAFTWERK touch. He got in touch via e-mail and the funniest part was that in his correspondence, he mentioned his band ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK, as if we never heard from them.
How modest can you be? Here we have gotten an e-mail from a man, who wrote himself into history several times, and that is precisely who Andy is: an amazing person to whom we looked up during our childhood (and we still do), who gave us hours and hours of listening pleasure and then, one day, you get to meet him in person and support that ‘band’ we never heard of 🙂
A highlight in our career, no doubt… proud we had that opportunity!
Last time we spoke, you had just completed your rework of OMD’s ‘Metroland’. They must have liked what you did because they asked you to do another of ‘Night Café’ which many consider to be even better?
When we played together in Brussels, we talked about loads of things, amongst which we talked about the new single to come… by that time ‘Dresden’ was the presented single and the outside world was not aware yet that ‘Night Café’ would become number three.
Of course we also discussed the ‘Metroland’ remix, how we got to do it and especially that it took over 50 hours in total to do the final mix down. But Andy was most happy about the fact we did not butcher the song to death, making it something that was unrecognizable. He stated that it was an OMD song with a different approach, and it was precisely that what made him give us a second opportunity.
The very next day, we were already in touch with the friendly people at 100% Records, who also were happy with the results. We noticed that the ‘Night Café’ remix was doing well on Soundcloud and in particular on Youtube. Passenger H boosted the remix into a much higher region by creating two ex-tre-me-ly nice videos.
Your remix for RUSTY EGAN of ‘Dreamer’ has had a very positive response as well
So far we did indeed only read nice reviews, so we hope that when it gets released, more people will find their way to METROLAND. The funny thing about this remix is that RUSTY EGAN himself is truly fond of our remixes…even so, we stumbled across tweets and messages in which he asked if there is a METROLAND mix available. So kind and warm of him 🙂
But 2013 was killing us on the remix part, we actually did nothing else but creating ‘versions’ for other people. You should know that we quite often integrate new sequences, sounds, melodies, bass sequences into our remixes and we repeatedly felt that we were only making music to give away. So we decided to stop doing remixes until we finished our own material, ‘Thalys’ included, as this was a monstrous project in every sense of the word.
Talking of dreaming, who would be your dream artists be to remix?
There is only one which we both have high in our lists, and that is ORBITAL. Next to that, we have ERASURE, CHVRCHES… quite some 🙂
We would also love to do MARSHEAUX again, as we feel we did not do so well with ‘Can You Stop Me?’.
That remix was our first one we made as METROLAND, and we did not want to go too far and next to that, f*cking up songs from such a top-top-top-top and even over-the-top good band… we were too modest and too shy at the time… regarding making a remix that is, we’re always modest and shy 😉
2013 was an interesting year for METROLAND as your songs were being bootlegged and passed off as new KRAFTWERK demos…what were your feelings about that?
We still don’t know if we should take this as a compliment or not. On one side, it is a true shame this has happened for sure, especially when our songs where regarded as only demos.
“Are our songs nothing more than demos?” we kept asking ourselves. Looking at it differently, it is amazing that people would then think that our songs could have been from the godfathers of electronic music.
Now, there was some buzz about it, but not that much….we only got an invitation from Ralf H to come over for tea, as he liked our music a lot and he wanted some tips… but we kept that as a secret 😉
What did you think of KARL BARTOS’ new album ‘Off The Record’?
Passenger S loves it, typical Kraftwerkian material with these lovely melodies… wow! Passenger A is a bit more critical and only found it so-so. It is just a matter of taste, and that cannot be discussed. We saw him live in Brussels, and that was a stunning good show. It is good to see that someone continues the real KRAFTWERK spirit. Not a lot of material since 2003 from the godfathers…
So what is the concept behind the new single ‘Thalys’?
A train, that’s the simplest answer we can come up with 🙂
The story behind it is something else. When we had ‘Mind The Gap’ out into the open, we got a lot of reactions like “nice concept, but how long can a band continue with that?”...
True, but do we need to continue with underground and transportation themes? No, we don’t… but still, there were some things that we felt were not completed, and it was one day that we texted a message to each other saying “a song about a train”… ok, eh… crazy lads…
And so we had an arrangement about ‘The Elephant’ (due to the fact it is linked to Belgium), but it stayed an arrangement. Some weeks later, we had a new 6-second melody… and months later it ended up being a song lasting more than 11 minutes. We felt fascinated by the Thalys trains immediately. OK, they are normal high speed trains, but the typical colour makes them so unique.
Whilst we had the idea growing slowly in between all the remixes and the OMD support, we picked it up several times and continued working on the song at a very, very, very, slow, slow pace… at a certain moment, we decided to involve the Thalys company as we saw this ‘concept’ was growing bigger and bigger. This means that at this very moment, we are writing history, as no band ever before us has written a song about Thalys, and so we hope that our name will be linked to these burgundy red trains for as long as they exist 🙂
You have gone on a multi-format extravaganza with this release?
Seeing our ages and background, and our sources of inspiration, there is one name that should instantly pop-up and this would be Mute. We are so truly fond of their marketing approach that we always wanted to do something similar. This made us propose to our label Alfa Matrix and ask if they would allow us to release a 12 inch vinyl (and not an album). Strangely enough, they went all the way with this (again) crazy idea.
The management at Alfa Matrix have been close friends from us for over 20 years now and they know that when we have an attitude towards our ideas, that we go for the full 150% to make it happen. Yes, it was a crazy ride with quite some obstacles to be where we are, but we made it 🙂
On top of this, we decided to go vintage all the way and created a cassette tape (how 80s can you get, right?) to accompany the vinyl. Of course, the label had their say and marketing-wise, they wanted to add a CD to the vinyl for the fans. So they have not yet turned totally grey or bald and have their ‘modern’ (but nearly outdated as well) digital medium 😉
Next to this we went one step further and thought, with a blink to the past, “why not create several versions in a different language?”. Thus we created a radio edit of the 11 minute-song in English, called the ‘London edit’ (which can be downloaded in regions where they don’t speak French or German) and a ‘Düsseldorf edit’ for the German speaking countries and a Paris edit…you can guess the rest.
Let’s not forget that we also have three totally blasting remixes so you will have loads of ear candy to enjoy! Did we also mention that every medium has exclusive versions ? Yep… again the Mute way of thinking. But it has been quite stressy getting this together, so ‘Thalys’ will just be a unique fact and happening 🙂
Where do you think METROLAND will be heading for the next album?
We do have at the moment of taking this interview, 16 tracks ready for musical review. In other words, the arrangements have turned into demo songs, and these demos turned into unbalanced songs and we need to put the dots on the i’s.
After this focussed time consuming (not to mention good beer too) job, it is time to do the production mixdown, making sure everything is in balance and off it goes to the mastering. Then all files will head over to the pressing plant where the complete concept will take shape too. For the central theme and concept for this next album, we will be musically travelling to Germany, but it will be something that no-one will expect, truly not 🙂
The style of music is a little darker and harsher than on ‘Mind The Gap’ which was at times mellow while still having a sort of tristesse drenched in electronics. The new album has a different tone of darkness and synthetic sounds. We never experiment, we always go for the up tempo sequences and bass lines… so no need to worry yet 😉
What would be the perfect location for one of your live presentations?
The Transport Museum in London, the one place we would love to go and present our audio-visual experience (we prefer not to call it a live performance). And of course the Hammersmith Odeon in London. Can someone make this happen? 🙂
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to METROLAND
‘Thalys’ is released by Alfa Matrix in a 12” vinyl / CD / cassette bundle package and three territorial download EP formats, further information at http://www.alfa-matrix.com/bio-metroland.php
The concept of the single in the past has been to present an artist’s most immediate work for mass consumption and appreciation, often as a trailer for an album or compilation.
Like it or not, many acts’ best songs have been released as singles. They often reach an audience who would not normally be interested in the tribulations of a much longer journey.
Looking back throughout pop history, many pinnacles of a group’s career have been exclusively single releases; THE WALKER BROTHERS ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’, THE BEATLES ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ and THE JAM ‘Going Underground’ are a number of examples.
Today’s culture of individual track downloading now makes virtually every song in existence a single. However, a fair number of recordings which have become standards within live sets and have become a key part of a band’s history have never been accorded a single release. Such were some bands’ standings in their heyday that many were potential hits.
So here are 25 synth friendly songs which ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK felt should have been given singular status. Listing tracks not released as 45s or CD singles in the UKwith a limit of one song per artist moniker, they are arranged in chronological and then alphabetical order.
GARY NUMAN Metal (1979)
With Minimoog riffage in abundance, ‘Metal’ would have made a perfect follow-up to ‘Cars’ and in hindsight, been less of a public anti-climax than the brave, but misguided release of ‘Complex’, as great a song as it is. Full of dystopian resignation with references to “liquid engineers” and chilling vox humana courtesy of the Polymoog, ‘Metal’ was Sci-Fi musicality at its best. Even NINE INCH NAILS covered it and nearly 35 years later, it is still part of the Gary Numan live set.
“I want to be a machine” cried JOHN FOXX as far back as 1977 on the first ‘Ultravox!’ album. Starting off side two of ‘Metamatic’, the former Dennis Leigh realised his mechanised JG Ballard inspired electro theories and went up to the next level with ‘A New Kind of Man’. Is it about genetically modified humans or homo superiors? Who knows? But the chilling Elka string machine and frightening detuned synthetics made it a distinctly new kind of song in a brave new world.
Available on the JOHN FOXX album ‘Metamatic’ via Edsel Records
JAPAN found a refuge at Virgin Records who released their fourth album ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’. One of its best numbers was ‘Swing’ which combined David Sylvian’s muzak travelogue with Richard Barbieri’s Oriental synth textures. It was probably one of the last times JAPAN were fully as one. Guitarist Rob Dean made a full contribution before being forced out while the rhythm section of the late Mick Karn and Steve Jansen were amazingly fluid over the drum machine bossa nova.
OK, so JOY DIVISION never took singles from their albums but what if they had? This would have been a contender. Featuring an ARP Omni and an early version of the Simmons drum synthesizer, ‘Isolation’ was the most electronic track JOY DIVISION ever recorded although Hooky’s bass ensured there was a gritty punk rock edge. When NEW ORDER reformed for the first time in 1998, a drum ‘n’ bass flavoured rework of ‘Isolation’ was part of the live set.
Available on the JOY DIVISION album ‘Closer’ via WEA Records
THE HUMAN LEAGUE The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (1981)
Optimistic and aspirational, ‘The Things That Dreams Are Made Of’ is the key song from ‘Dare’ and was a metaphor for THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s then pop ambitions. Gloriously spacious and delightfully catchy, each synthesizer voicing has its place while Phil Oakey gives full justice to Adrian Wright’s shopping list of life’s pleasures to a perfect Linn Drum clap track. It certainly deserves to be played live more often… “New York – ice cream – TV – travel – good times”
Available on THE HUMAN LEAGUE album ‘Dare’ via Virgin Records
Hooky, catchy and futuristic, ‘Computer World’ with its Speak & Spell voices and infectious four note theme was an ideal KRAFTWERK single if ever there was one. However, the perky and novelty laden ‘Pocket Calculator’ was chosen to trail the parent album. It is unlikely ‘Computer World’ could have hit the top of the charts like ‘The Model’ did, but such was the song’s popularity, the native variant got released as a limited run remixed maxi-single in Germany.
Available on the KRAFTWERK album ‘Computer World’ via Mute Records
It was a tricky call between ‘She’s Leaving’ and ‘Radio Waves’, but the North-by-North West melancholy of the former won over the upfront Germany Calling salvo of the latter. A wonderful synthetic cross between JOY DIVISION and Paul McCartney, ‘She’s Leaving’ was pencilled in as the fourth single from OMD’s huge selling ‘Architecture & Morality’ but was vetoed by the band. However, when ‘She’s Leaving’ did come out as a single in the Benelux region, it flopped.
As proven by their covers of ‘Tainted Love’, ‘What?’ and later on during their 21st Century comeback ‘The Night’, SOFT CELL always had a love of the UK’s Northern Soul scene. Its influence would seep into their own compositions like ‘Secret Life’. Marc Almond’s narrative on a philanderer’s hypocrisy was an apt reflection of suburban life while Dave Ball’s solid use of keyboards provided a suitably accessible but gritty sub-Tamla soundtrack.
The perfect balance between art and pop, ‘New Religion’ was a key highlight from DURAN DURAN’s ‘Rio’ album. “A dialogue between the ego and the alter-ego”, Simon Le Bon’s conflicting schizophrenic voices added tension in the bridges before a classic Duran chorus. With an ambient intro that JAPAN would be proud of, it then moved at breakneck speed through the quintet’s other influences like Bowie, Roxy, Moroder and Chic with speed being the operative word.
Available on the DURAN DURAN album ‘Rio’ via EMI Records
A huge song with two drummers drumming as well as lashings of Jupiter 8 and a marvellous bass engine, ‘New Gold Dream’ and its parent album highlighted an ambitious streak in SIMPLE MINDS akin to their Virgin label mates THE HUMAN LEAGUE when they released ‘Dare’ the year before. Already six minutes in length, an extended mix was released as a 12 inch single in Italy while as a sample on URSURA’s ‘Open Your Mind’, ‘New Gold Dream’ became a club hit in 1993.
Available on the SIMPLE MINDS album ‘New Gold Dream’ via Virgin Records
With its heavy metronomic beat sans hi-hats, ‘The Anvil’ was Steve Strange’s tale of a night out in New York’s notorious club of the same name. But that wasn’t all, Billy Currie’s screaming ARP Odyssey and Dave Formula’s brassy synth riff completed the excursion. Rusty Egan said: “For me, ‘The Anvil’ was the lead track, ‘The Anvil’ in German (‘Der Amboss’), the 12-inch remixes, all that which I did with John Luongo was for me, the single. But the record company didn’t support that!”
Available on the VISAGE album ‘The Anvil’ via Cherry Pop
Showcasong one of the best Alison Moyet vocals, Vince Clarke’s minimal programmed backing gave her plenty of space to let rip with raw emotion on ‘Midnight’ . Back in those days, Mute Records usually only took two singles from an album so with ‘Only You’ and ‘Don’t Go’ already accorded singular status from ‘Upstairs at Eric’s’, a 45 was never likely. But it sort of belatedly became a single when it was sampled and manipulated by REX THE DOG for ‘Bubblicious’ in 2008.
Originally the B-side to ‘Waves’, ‘Game Above My Head’ signalled the more disco based direction Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe later trod on ‘Blind Vision’ and ‘That’s Love, That It Is’ with American producer John Luongo. Merging the busy Linn Drum patterns that characterised BLANCMANGE’s debut ‘Happy Families’ with a funkier outlook, ‘Game Above My Head’ was included on their second LP ‘Mange Tout’. Today, the song remains a constant in the live set.
Available on the BLANCMANGE album ‘Mange Tout’ via Edsel Records
HEAVEN 17’s most underrated track and referencing The Doomsday Clock, ‘Five Minutes To Midnight’ followed on from ‘Let’s All Make A Bomb’ to highlight the absurdity of Mutually Assured Destruction. Using and abusing the Fairlight CMI, the ‘Protect and Survive’ styled civil defence announcements, deathly whoops and a doomy orchestral crescendo bring a frightening finality as the song suddenly stops… “Hot as a furnace – wing to wing contact! AARGH!”
Available on the HEAVEN 17 album ‘How Men Are’ via Virgin Records
‘Equality’ exploited new MIDI technology like the Prophet T8 and Yamaha DX7, combining it with a Jupiter 8 and Pro-One; “it was one of those ones that really suited my live rig” said Howard Jones With its poignant human rights message, whether ‘Equality’ would have made a better single than ‘Pearl in the Shell’ is a moot point, but the song was released as a single in South Africa as a commentary about Apartheid.
Available on the HOWARD JONES album ‘Human’s Lib’ via Cherry Red Records
Despite their use of synthesizers, it was rare that ULTRAVOX went the whole sequencer route. They did so with this song about the impending 1997 handover of the British Colony of Hong Kong to Red China. The lyrics captured a sense of pessimism over a bouncy electro disco soundtrack influenced by ‘Blue Monday’. Slated for release as a single in the UK, ‘White China’ had a special extended mix prepared but Chrysalis Records preferred the more obvious ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’.
Available on the ULTRAVOX album ‘Lament’ via EMI Records
A-HA were perceived as a teenybop group in their heyday, but their Nordic melancholic depth was apparent even on their only UK No1 ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’. “Cut my wrist on a bad thought” is a superb piece of second language expression that no native speaker could have come up with. Morten Harket veers from a semi-spoken growl to a full voice salvo for the terrific chorus while Pål Waaktaar’s twanginess adds some edge to Magne Furuholmen’s glacial synthetic atmospheres.
Mistakenly announced as a new single on ‘The Tube’, ‘Tonight Is Forever’ is one of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe’s best early compositions. From its blipping intro with an odd starting snare drum to the magnificently euphoric chorus, it captured the excitement of a fleeting romance on a night out in clubland. With its sombre synth brass riff and a wonderful middle eight, it was later covered by Liza Minelli in an orchestral arrangement for her PET SHOP BOYS produced album ‘Results’.
Available on the PET SHOP BOYS album ‘Please’ via EMI Records
‘Your Silent Face’ may be one of NEW ORDER’s best songs, but it was unlikely to have got radio play as a single with its “why don’t you p*ss off?” quip! Meanwhile, ‘Mr Disco’ was the club friendly Mancunians in their Italo prime, complete with holiday romance lyrics and tongue-in-cheek syndrums. Some fans were dismayed by its resemblance to PET SHOP BOYS, but Bernard Sumner went and founded ELECTRONIC, aided and abetted by Messrs Tennant and Lowe!
Available on the NEW ORDER album ‘Technique’ via WEA Records
One of DEPECHE MODE’s greatest moments, Alan Wilder said: “From memory, the drums were sampled from LED ZEPPELIN’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’ (but secondhand from a rap record)… For the end choruses, there are some string samples which I think were derived from Elgar. One of my techniques is to find sections of classical strings and transpose / stretch these, then add my own samples, in order to formulate new and unusual arrangements”.
Available on the DEPECHE MODE album ‘Violator’ via Mute Records
Undoubtedly, ‘Kissing The Machine’ is Andy McCluskey’s finest song without Paul Humphreys as an OMD band mate. It also featured one of Karl Bartos’ greatest melodies. Recorded for his first project after leaving KRAFTWERK, Karl Bartos said “He suggested we do something together and I was up for it… We picked some cassettes and finally I found the opening notes of ‘Kissing The Machine’. A month later he sent me a demo…He wrote the whole song and the lyric and the robo voice”
Available on the ELEKTRIC MUSIC album ‘Esperanto’ via SPV Records
The closing track on the ‘I Say I Say I Say’ album produced by HEAVEN 17 and BEF’s Martyn Ware, ‘Because You’re So Sweet’ was a pretty ballad representative of the maturer approach taken by Andy Bell and Vince Clarke for their seventh long player. Featuring ERASURE’s trademark sequences, there was also the self-imposed restriction of no drum machines being used, so that all the album’s percussive templates were created using synths and driven by sequencers.
There were eight singles from 1999’s ‘Play’ but for 1995’s ‘Everything Is Wrong’, Mute Records were more restrained with just five! Surprisingly, this vivid instrumental missed out on singular distribution. One of the highlights from the genre hopping MOBY long player, the looping bass sample of ‘First Cool Hive’ was like an update of ‘Empires & Dance’ era SIMPLE MINDS while female voice samples and beautiful synth strings gave it a mysterious ENIGMA-tic touch.
‘Mu-tron’ may have opened the LADYTRON debut album ‘604’ but the pulsating salvo at the start of ‘Discotraxx’ signalled the album’s intent… the return of the synthesizer as an instrument of value and integrity, not as a novelty to mock the past. From the moment Mira Aroyo deadpans in Bulgarian and Helen Marnie’s sweet but resigned voice kicks in about “the boy I know”, a new dawn is heralding for electronic pop.
Available on the LADYTRON album ‘604’ via Nettwerk Records
The surreal concept was Kate Bush does THE HUMAN LEAGUE on this buzzy percussive extravaganza, one of the more under rated songs in Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory’s canon. The sub-TOM TOM CLUB meets PRINCE electrofunk is aided by Charlie Jones’ treated bass runs over the zooming synth hooks and chunky riffs. Interestingly despite its immediacy or maybe because of it, ‘Lovely 2 C U’ has rarely made it into the GOLDFRAPP live set.
Available on the GOLDFRAPP album ‘Supernature’ via Mute Records
Karl Bartos kicked off his 2014 ‘Off The Record’ tour with an impressive audio / visual presentation in Cologne’s Live Music Hall.
Although Düsseldorf is where KRAFTWERK and their iconic Kling Klang studio were and are still based, the more vibrant city of Cologne 30km down the road was where the classic line-up of Bartos, Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider and Wolfgang Flür used to hang out when they aspired to more relaxed surroundings.
Indeed, it has been rumoured that their jaunts to local clubs inspired songs such as ‘The Model’ and the amusingly ironic ‘Sex Object’. And although now resident in Hamburg, for Herr Bartos, this was a spiritual homecoming of sorts with many long time friends in the audience including former band mate Wolfgang Flür.
Since leaving the band in 1990, Bartos has remained a beacon of hope for KRAFTWERK enthusiasts frustrated by the drought of fresh, new material following 1986’s ‘Electric Cafe’.
Exorcising his Kling Klang ghost, he utilised musical ideas gathered during his period with KRAFTWERK for ‘Off The Record’, his first album since 2003’s ‘Communication’. Despite its links to his past, ‘Off The Record’ is a fully realised, modern electronic album.
And for those who missed out on seeing KRAFTWERK’s art space retrospectives, KARL BARTOS’ show was the perfect alternative. “Forget about technical nostalgia in 3D” said the press release, “instead tune into LiveCinema: 90 minutes of music and film – rhythmical, modern, intelligent”.
By coincidence, this opening night coincided with KRAFTWERK being given a Lifetime Achievement Award at The Grammys. As the first German act to be bestowed such an honour, German TV station WDR were very much in evidence at the venue to celebrate this monumental occasion on home soil.
Opening with an anglicised take on ‘Numbers’, Bartos’ live presentation was a well executed affair based around three personnel on stage including himself, regular studio partner Mathias Black and visuals director Robert Baumanns. As well as their own roles, each took turns at vocodered vocals and voice triggered effects to provide some powerful triple robot action that reverberated around the venue.
Robots in harmony? You’d better believe it! ‘Numbers’ segued naturally into ‘Computer World’ to enormous cheers. ‘The Camera’ followed and herein lies Bartos’ trump card compared with his former colleagues at Kling Klang.
His solo material retains those classic elements but still pushes through a vibrant, futuristic feel. KRAFTWERK’s last offering ‘Tour De France Soundtracks’ was rhythmically weak, as the combo’s previous percussive driving force, Herr Bartos ably demonstrated where all that intuitive nous went!
‘Das Modell’ came surprisingly early in the set and was accompanied not just by a projective backdrop of beautiful women but some endearing archive footage of Bartos and Flür doing their musikarbeiter thing.
Despite not being part of his former band’s recent 3D concert retrospectives, Bartos has often commented that he is spiritually still on stage with them every night as he co-wrote all those classic tracks post-‘Trans Europe Express’.
So as Bartos was Hütter’s main collaborator between 1978 to 1986, his own set was punctuated by a selection of KRAFTWERK tracks, updated and made powerfully crisp over the big speakers.
Karl Bartos told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in February 2013: “Well, since I have co-written many of the hits, I always had too many of them for just one concert. The real problem was to sort out the redundant tracks”. This allowed the show to retain all those songs’ original melodic appeal without negating the show’s fresh outlook.
Known for his strong aversion towards the death by 4/4 pounding of modern electronic dance music, Bartos also avoided the poor techno restylings like those presented on ‘The Mix’. But it wasn’t just about the past as highlights from ‘Communication’ were also represented, alongside most of the ‘Computer World’ album plus ‘The Robots’, ‘Trans Europe Express’, ‘Tour De France’ and a bilingual version of ‘Neon Lights’.
The renditions of the Kling Klang era material were kept to a handy single edit size and free of noodling, thus emphasising Bartos’ more pop based sensibilities. Those ideals were on display in the accompanying visuals for ‘Interview’ where Bartos’ diverse musical interests such as THE BEATLES, THE WHO and BB KING were there for all to see.
Although NEW ORDER were not pictured, they certainly came over musically on the autobiographical ‘Life’ where Bartos countered tradition by moving to the right hand side of the stage over to a lone mic stand. Away from the safety net of his keyboards, he took on a pose not dissimilar to Bernard Sumner.
The ‘Off The Record’ showcase did not actually begin until about two thirds into the show and it began with the blasting ‘Atomium’ to start the five song suite.
Using the giant model of an iron crystal erected for the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels as symbolism for the rise and fall of atomic power in Europe, the stabbing synth tones rattled over a stomping 7/4 time signature as the themes first touched on with 1975’s ‘Radio-Activity’ concept were re-explored.
The serene ‘Nachtfahrt’captured atmosphere of the rainy night in Cologne perfectly while the spectre of Kling Klang loomed heavy over ‘Without A Trace Of Emotion’. Already a superb electropop piece on its own instrumental terms, Bartos’ lyrics reflected his professional dilemma… not matter what, he will forever be associated with KRAFTWERK in the same way as Alan Wilder will be with DEPECHE MODE!
The clip of Bartos’ showroom dummy Herr Karl looking lost wearing a cycling helmet amusingly said it all. But this lifetime sodality must be seen as a complement as similarly since Wilder left DEPECHE MODE, KRAFTWERK have lacked that something since Bartos departed.
Ultimately, it is for this reason that Messrs Bartos and Wilder deserve greater recognition for their continuing adventures in their solo work.
Meanwhile, a now highly relaxed Bartos grinned sheepishly from behind his synth complex during ‘Rhythmus’ as its mixed parentage of ‘Numbers’ and ‘Computer World’ Kling Klang-ed forth. The buzz fest of ‘Musica Ex Machina’ though was a pivotal point of the evening, its passage accompanied by a video of assorted headphoned listeners of various demographics. Featuring a short cameo from Herr Bartos himself, the film eventually focussed on a pretty young lady lost in those electro rhythms.
Perhaps not by coincidence, a pretty young lady from Brazil was at the front of the stage, vibing off the sounds and happily dancing her heart out. She even took time for a few selfies with Herr Bartos in the background, such was her enjoyment of proceedings. And this ultimately summed up the cross generational and cross gender appeal of Das Klassik Düsseldorfer Quartett.
As Wolfgang Flür alluded to in his autobography ‘I Was A Robot’, KRAFTWERK didn’t just appeal to geeky men but to women as well. Certainly, one unexpected observation was the number of females of a younger disposition in attendance at Live Music Hall with several waiting enthusiastically to meet Die Herren Bartos und Flür after the show.
As the show drew to its close, ‘Pocket Calculator’ not only featured a reset rhythmical template but also footage of Herr Bartos showing off his impressive synthesizer inventory. The eagle eyed would have spotted with a Stylophone, Korg MS20, Minimoog rack mount, Farfisa Professional piano, ARP Odyssey and that iconic elektronisches schlagzeug unit. It certainly had the gear nerds in attendance foaming at the mouth.
For the encore, there was the pleasant surprise of ‘TV’ from Bartos’ first post-KRAFTWERK project ELEKTRIC MUSIC. Again, he took to the right of the stage away from his synths on this cult classic from the same ‘Esperanto’ sessions that produced ‘Kissing The Machine’ recently reworked by OMD for ‘English Electric’. It was a wonderful way to finish as a sampled “Auf Wiedersehen…” echoed to a fade.
The show was a perfect multi-media history of electronic pop that celebrated the innovation of the past while moving forward musically. Yes, the sounds are meatier, the technology more versatile and the tools much simpler to operate.
But what remains are the melodies, the traditions and the soul… yes, the soul! It may be an unusual way to describe things related to KRAFTWERK but tonight, this couldn’t have been truer.
‘English Electric’ is genuinely a stunning return to form.
Utilising their KRAFTWERK, NEU! and ENO influenced avant pop template, the original creative nucleus of Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey have married their classic sound to glitch techniques, modern computer voice generators and sympathetic contemporary production for a wonderfully cohesive work.
The long standing influence of Düsseldorf’s Fab Four – Ralf, Florian, Wolfgang and Karl – is more apparent on ‘English Electric’ than on any other previous OMD album. From first single ‘Metroland’ to ‘Kissing The Machine’, a sonic collaboration with Herr Bartos which also features PROPAGANDA’s Claudia Brücken, OMD’s Germanic circle is now complete.
Interestingly, some OMD fans weaned on ‘If You Leave’ and ‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’ appear to have been confused about OMD recording an electronic album with references to KRAFTWERK. But right from the off with ‘Electricity’ (which was effectively the song ‘Radio-Activity’ speeded up), Kling Klang has been the seed of OMD’s genesis. McCluskey recently included ‘Radio-Activity’ AND ‘Trans Europe Express’ among his baker’s dozen of favourite albums for The Quietus so this should not have come as any great surprise!
‘English Electric’ could well be the best OMD album since 1983’s ‘Dazzle Ships’. The sparkling but bittersweet synthpop of ‘Helen Of Troy’, the Edward Hopper referencing realism of ‘Night Café and the lovely Paul Humphreys vocalled ‘Stay With Me’ are all prime jewels in the OMD crown.
Meanwhile THE TORNADOS meet LA DÜSSELDORF blitz of ‘Dresden’ will have live audiences up on their feet despite its macabre lyrical context. Although closely related, ‘Dresden’ is however not actually about the bombing in the Second World War in the same way ‘Enola Gay’ was about Hiroshima. Instead, it uses the city as an unsubtle metaphor about relationship breakdown, an emotive topic that connects with the album’s theme of unfulfilled utopian dreams.
Photo by Ed Fielding
There are also unconventional chorus-less songs like the magnificent ‘Our System’ which sees drummer Mal Holmes turn into Phil Collns for the song’s explosive climax.
But the biggest surprise is ‘The Future Will Be Silent’, a squelch laden commentary about audio pollution… despite its dubstep drops, the end result remains somehow distinctly OMD!
OMD also embark on an extensive world tour and the various support acts in each territory showcase the best of established and new talent in a thoroughly reinvigorated electronic music scene.
Special guests in the UK are JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS who need no introduction; the former ULTRAVOX front man’s partnership with vintage synth collector extraordinaire Benge also features on stage, the multi-talented Hannah Peel whose ‘Organ Song’ was sampled for the OMD track ‘Bondage Of Fate’ from the previous OMD album ‘History Of Modern’. She also covered ‘Electricity’ for her debut EP ‘Rebox’.
Meanwhile, the Belgian and Dutch dates will be supported by METROLAND, a duo with Kling Klang burned into their circuitry and whose debut album ‘Mind The Gap’ is an affectionate technological journey inspired by the London Underground network; their electronic restyling of IGGY POP’s ‘The Passenger’ has to be heard to be believed while their appropriate remix of ‘Metroland’ is a big favourite of Rusty Egan.
The striking VILE ELECTRODES will be the opening act for the German tour and ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is particularly proud as they first featured on the site in 2010. They were also chosen by Andy McCluskey as a direct result of him perusing this very site. Andy McCluskey spoke about OMD’s new opus…
What inspired you to make ‘English Electric’ more conceptual?
It was the logical step forward. ‘History Of Modern’ was a collection of songs in various OMD styles. But we got loads of sh*t for just making a good album with ‘History Of Modern’. If U2 or SIMPLE MINDS just make an album that sounds like them, everyone will applaud them for getting back to basics. *laughs*
I don’t think people who crave songs are going to be disappointed. Having said that, ‘Our System’ is probably more akin to things like ‘Stanlow’ and ‘The Romance Of The Telescope’.
You’re making a statement of intent by launching the album with one of the experimental tracks ‘Decimal’ AND releasing ‘Metroland’, the longest track on the album as a single?
‘Metroland’ is a beautiful song with a simple but beautiful lyric, even if I say so myself… we’re very happy with it. So the beginning of this campaign is yes, making a statement of intent and flagging that we believe in what we’ve done on this album. The people who will buy the album will buy it hopefully because they’ve heard ‘History Of Modern’ and hopefully because they are OMD fans; they will buy it in the first two weeks. Then, hopefully, the people who liked ‘Sister Marie Says’ and bought ‘History Of Modern’ because they heard it on Radio2 will then go and buy the album when they hear the next two singles… this is the theory! *laughs*
Photo by Tom Oxley
‘Dazzle Ships’ was made in a period of adversity and insecurity… with ‘English Electric’ we are sort of in that situation with the economic uncertainty and the spectre of terrorism. What similarities can you identify spiritually with the two albums?
That’s an interesting thought isn’t it… does it find itself in similar economic and political landscape? In some respects, yes it does. But I don’t think that bad as the economies are, I don’t think most people in the Western democracies probably feel quite as fearful as they did in the early 80s of atomic destruction.
So the landscape isn’t exactly the same… y’know you’ve asked me a question I don’t know the answer to, well done! There are similarities and there may be similarities in the way it is being conceived because of the environment, but I would have to admit they are unconscious. I do want to stress we have not tried to recreate ‘Dazzle Ships’! It was a little frustrating for people to be talking about ‘Decimal’ being just ‘Time Zones’ for 2013… no it’s not! It’s completely different. It’s like saying because it’s got a speaking voice in it, it sounds like ‘Time Zones’… that’s like saying THE CLASH were like THE BEATLES! It just doesn’t hold water!
What techniques have you used to conceive these shorter, collage pieces?
For ‘Atomic Ranch’, Paul turned me on to these Vox Machina plug-ins. It’s quite nice to hear the three voices offset against each other… and one of them which most people seem to think of as the wife, is she going off-message or is she going on-message at the end? I don’t know… she changes. ‘Please Remain Seated’ is a combination, there’s a second half with a programmed voice and my words but the first half is an airport recording in Chinese. When you hear them in the context of the album, the linking pieces actually set up the next piece of music very beautifully.
Is the internet today’s short wave radio?
In practical terms, the internet has influenced ‘English Electric’ because it’s a source of information in the same way that German imports were when we were teenagers and the short wave radio was; when you’re interested and alert, you soak up anything you can get. I discovered the sound of Voyager going through the magnetosphere of Jupiter on YouTube and I downloaded vocal machine programmes and samples from the internet. I used to have ring binder folders to do my homework in because OMD, we are geeks and we research our songs. My laptop became my ring binder with a load of stuff that we downloaded from the internet; information that we didn’t even get round to using like The Doomsday Clock… watch out for that one!!
Photo by Tom Oxley
Your 1993 co-write with Karl Bartos ‘Kissing The Machine’ has been reworked by Paul Humphreys for inclusion on ‘English Electric’ and Claudia Brücken is featuring too?
The original version was wonderful although not as many people have ever heard it as it was merited as I was very proud of it and I think Karl as well. I did want more people to hear ‘Kissing The Machine’ but the sound of it and lyrically concept of it fitted with the kind of dystopian vibe of the whole ‘English Electric’ album.
Paul has completely thrown everything else away and reworked the track from scratch. And yes, it sounds quite like KRAFTWERK! When Paul gets the bit between his teeth and he has a really great direction, he fires some wonderful stuff up! It’s interesting because Paul had the idea of asking Claudia to do the vocal in the middle eight and I said “let’s do that”. So we did it in the middle but I suggested we start it with the “I want you to want me – I need you to need me…” bit through a vocoder and went “y’know, could you ask Claudia to do it in German as well?” Oh! German in the middle, it’s so good on the music, it just sounds fantastic! It’s very exciting to be able to have Claudia Brücken on an OMD tune!
How did the collaboration with MARSHEAUX producers FOTONOVELA, ‘Helen Of Troy’ come about? Most people in the UK and US won’t have heard of them…
George Geranios and Nick Bitzenis of FOTONOVELA were our label bosses in Greece via their Undo Records and they sent me this track… the demo had Nick going “Helen Of Troy – Helen Of Troy” so I took his vocal off as you do [*laughs*], chopped it all up and rearranged it… it’s gorgeous! I have used some of Nick’s backing vocals. It was the third one completed on the album, I love it to bits! And ‘Helen Of Troy’ is much more of a metaphor than either of the ‘Joan Of Arcs’ were.
Several of OMD’s best songs have been inspired by the ethics of conflict and war… ‘Enola Gay’, ‘Bunker Soldiers’, ‘Silent Running’; does ‘Dresden’ fall in that category?
‘Dresden’ is a whopping great, unsubtle metaphor… it was interesting that we found ourselves in Dresden, it was quite incredible but the song had already been written before I went. It’s not about the bombing of Dresden in the same way as ‘Enola Gay’ was about the aeroplane that dropped the atom bomb.
‘Idea 3’ has been turned into ‘Stay With Me’, is there’s an ‘Idea4’?
We’ve always got bits and pieces left over. I think they will get used. ‘Ideas 1-3’ were all melodies written by Paul, it was just a question as to whether they would get turned into songs. ‘Idea 1’ became a B-side. ‘Idea 2’ became ‘History Of Modern (Part II)’ and ‘Idea 3′ has finally became ‘Stay With Me’ and that’s another great melody.
What are the bonuses that come with the various formats of the album?
The B-side of ‘Metroland’ is ‘The Great White Silence’. In the collector’s tin, there is a 7 inch vinyl; one side has got ‘Our System’ which by general consensus is everyone’s favourite song on the album while on the back of it is a song called ‘Frontline’ which is only available on that 7 inch vinyl.’Frontline’ was influenced and inspired by The Arab Spring and the vast majority of the drum track is entirely made out of machine gun, cannon and artillery fire. The song’s working title was ‘Artillery’.
There’s one more track called ‘No Man’s Land’ on iTunes and there’s also a couple of totally instrumental abstract pieces that don’t even have actual titles that may be further B-sides down the line.
You just signed a worldwide deal with BMG…
We’ve signed to BMG for publishing and global rights on this album only. It’s a new model, they’re a rights company, not a record company. They don’t have a great big building with 500 staff that is a massive overhead, they have a small office with a handful of people. Each deal they do is a bespoke deal for each artist in each territory, employing freelance people to work the project for its lifespan; that’s all it costs them. This is one of the new models in the music industry to see if there is a functioning new model! *laughs*
How does ‘English Electric’ compare with ‘History Of Modern’?
‘History Of Modern’ is what it was because of the circumstances it found itself in. There’s a feeling abroad that ‘English Electric’ is quite powerful and well conceived. That’s nice. There will be people who will have a whinge about it, but I don’t think the people who like songs will be in any way disappointed.
‘English Electric’ has been a hard album to make… really hard! Much harder than ‘History Of Modern’, it’s been torn out in several different ways for several different reasons.
By the time it was completed, both of us were emotionally and physically exhausted. We’re starting to get our energy back and we are getting feedback which is incredibly positive. Many people who have heard the album are very excited about it. It’s been an interesting journey these last couple of years writing this album. It’s been very exciting.
Where do you stand on modern vocal processing technology? I find it surprising some people who adore Kraftwerkian vocoders go “UGH! Autotune!”?
People draw lines in sound in weird and arbitrary places don’t they? *laughs*
I would say anything is fine. I’m a little bit bored of pop vocals with Autotune as an effect but modern production is so clean that you can hear all the separation between the instruments and the voices so clearly that unless you are the most incredible singer, actually most people are Autotuned! It’s just a case of how much they’re Autotuned… have you just pulled it into tune or is it patently obvious and sliding? I have no problem with anything being used, all I’m interested in is does it work for me, what do I get out of it? If I get something out of it, then everything is fine!
How are you finding new electronic acts these days?
I enjoy your website and I’ve discovered some very interesting bands actually…
Oh, who have you found recently?
I can’t say… cos one of them is going to support us in Germany!
Is it CHVRCHES?
No! But a young British electronic band is supporting us in Germany. Obviously JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS are supporting us in the UK and how could we say no to John Foxx! *laughs*
How did JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS supporting in the UK come about?
We were just asking around as to who might be available that would be complimentary and somebody said John Foxx and we were like “NO WAY? Would he tour with us?”; he said “yes” and we said “yes please”! *laughs*
Well, you get to see Hannah Peel again!!
EXACTLY!! I emailed her as soon as I found out and said “Hello, are you on the tour?” and she said “Too right!”… so yeah! *laughs*
I’m looking forward to hearing who the young British electronic act is!
Yes, and we have a Belgian two-piece supporting us in Brussels and Utrecht…
Have you checked out ANALOG ANGEL? Their track ‘We Won’t Walk Away’ sounds just like OMD!
I’ll have to check ANALOG ANGEL out, the last few weeks have just been f**king mental!
They’re a trio of weegies, I said your dad played for Celtic and it turned out they were Rangers fans! *laughs*
Ha! Ha! Y’know, it turns out I don’t think my dad played for Celtic! I think he was pulling a Walter Mitty on me! He played football and he was something to do with Celtic because he knew people at the ground when I was a kid and he used to take me up there. I’ve walked on the pitch and been in the trophy room… turns out he never played for the first team as far as I could find out!! Funny old world eh?
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Andy McCluskey
Special thanks to Toby Harris at 100%
‘English Electric’ is released by BMG in CD, deluxe CD+DVD, download, vinyl and tin box set formats
OMD’s 2013 UK tour with special guests JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS includes:
Margate Winter Gardens (28th April), Birmingham Symphony Hall (29th April), Nottingham Royal Centre (1st May), Ipswich Regent Theatre (2nd May), London Roundhouse (3rd May), Bristol Colston Hall (5th May), Oxford New Theatre (6th May), Sheffield City Hall (8th May), Leeds Academy (9th May), Manchester Academy (10th May), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (12th May), Gateshead Sage (13th May), Liverpool Empire (14th May)
The Benelux shows featuring special guests METROLAND include:
Utrecht Tivoli (Friday 17th May) and Brussels Ancienne Belgique (Monday 20th May)
The German tour with special guests VILE ELECTRODES includes:
Hamburg Docks (21st May), Bielefeld Ringlokschuppen (22nd May), Berlin Tempodrom (24th May), Leipzig Haus Auensee (25th May), Köln E-Werk (27th May)
Please visit the official OMD website www.omd.uk.com for further details on all shows on the ‘English Electric’ tour including the rest of Europe and North America
Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
21st April 2013
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