Since Serotonin reviewed “Kraftwerk 2” and Seth Man did “Ralf & Florian”, I thought I’d reveiew their first so that we could hit the trifecta. Also, in light of the impending release of the first new Kraftwerk album in a dog’s age, it may be instructive to check out their early material. Kraftwerk in 2003 faces a unique problem: if they release something in line with their last few albums, they are going to sound dated…old school…behind the times. Other electronic musicians, including hip-hoppers and those labelled “electronica”, were already closing the gap when the Werk released their last full album “Electronic Cafe”. In the ensuing years, electronic music has made great strides, but Kraftwerk has remained frighteningly mum, with the exception of some remixes and the “Expo 2000” single. The question raised by their as-of-yet unreleased new album is… what can they do to up the ante on the Airs, Squarepushers and Aphex Twins of the modern music world? How can they stay modern-sounding and ahead of the pack, as they were throughout most of their career? I think the answer lies in the experimentation and flat-out sonic assault of their first few recordings. They should somehow combine the clean electronic lines of their most recent output with the sputtering, arcing electro-shreiks of the early Philips albums.

Ralf and Florian split off from the experimental jazz-rock outfit Organisation and founded Kraftwerk in 1970. This first album features Klaus Dinger (later of NEU!) on drums, and was produced by the legendary Conrad Plank. This was a much harsher sound than both Organisation and the more familiar later Kraftwerk. The disc kicks off with “Ruckzuck” featuring Florian’s hyperventillating flute playing a repetitive riff that is joined by electronic keyboards and propulsive drums. Occasional Terry Riley-like loops of flute appear and fade throughout the track. It is very peppy and less menacing than most of this album. “Ruckzuck” goes on like a mad telegraph machine dit-ditting away for several minutes. Then the instruments state what sounds like a closing theme and there is a moment of silence afterwards. But those zany guys… suddenly the track starts up again, Florian still fluting away on that riff until the final motif shows up again and the song quits. Will they crank it up a third time? Nope, now it’s time for “Stratovarius” with creaking violin, less flute and Dinger’s drums masterfully locking in to a variety of tempos (his “motorik” days seemingly still down the road by a couple of years). The album’s second side begins with “Megahertz” which commences with the clacking and clicking of a big machine and the hum of electricity. Then there are a bunch of loud noises which sound like tone generators through a wah pedal. It works itself up to quite a fevered tempo, then breaks, leaving a gentle melody that wouldn’t sound out of place on “Ralf & Florian” or “Autobahn”. The other half of the side is taken up by “Vom Himmel Hoch” which swoops and dives like Throbbing Gristle flying an out-of-control WW2 bomber. Electronic explosions and industrial shrieks make this one sound closest to the Kraftwerk live bootlegs of the period. A stunning ending to a fine debut.

After this album, Kraftwerk was joined by guitarist Micheal Rother (Dinger’s future partner in NEU!) and a bassist. Soon the bassist left, and amazingly, so did Florian, leaving Rother, Dinger and Ralf Hutter to play a now- legendary (and much-bootlegged) series of live gigs as a trio. Soon, Dinger and Rother left to form NEU! and Florian rejoined in time for “Kraftwerk 2”, which was more experimental and less propulsive than the debut.

I’m not sure how Ralf & Florian feel about these early albums… perhaps they consider them primative and quaint. But they should really consider an atavistic renewal of their older sound-making techniques. In 2003, the most depressing possibility is Kraftwerk being dismissed by modern listeners as an obsolete precursor to the likes of Autechre. 

(The first three Kraftwerk albums remain unissued as CDs, except for some bootlegs from the sketchy Germanophon label. The first two were also reissued as a double-album set called “XLR8”. All of them are very hard to get now, but there are some MP3s of early Kraftwerk at this site–
http://​www​.geocities​.com/​k​r​a​f​t​w​e​r​k​.​g​e​o​/​i​n​d​e​x​.html)