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[Star Power]

This is the thread where you express your undying love for Kraftwerk.

I'M SEEING THEM LIVE ON JUNE 1ST AT THE HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM! I HAVE FUCKING PIT TICKETS! TO SEE KRAFTWERK! OMG!

 

[COCKLES]

You heard the new Coldplay album? One of the songs uses the Computer Love rift.

Only it's a bit shite and you realise you yearn to hear the Kraftwerk original instead.

 

[The Interrobanger]

Big Kraftwerk fan here. They were way ahead of their time...truly the fathers of Electronic music.

 

[Mr Mike]

You heard the new Coldplay album?

Wait. It's out already? Huh?

 

[DECK'ARD]

Karl Bartos' solo stuff is worth checking out as well.

Especially his album Communication. Some great sounding stuff on that.

 

[Flynn]

Big Kraftwerk fan here. They were way ahead of their time...truly the fathers of Electronic music.

That is if you've never heard of Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachesk, John Cage or Leon Theremin.

 

[Teknopathetic]

Uno. Dos. Tres. Quattro. Ichi. Ni. San. Shi.

 

[enjoy bell woods]

You heard the new Coldplay album? One of the songs uses the Computer Love rift.

Only it's a bit shite and you realise you yearn to hear the Kraftwerk original instead.

Everything by Coldplay sounds a bit shite, IMO

 

[Kola]

Perhaps one of the coolest statements ever in a song:

Es wird immer weitergehen,
Musik als Träger von Ideen.

 

[NohWun]

Wir fahren auf den Autobahn!

 

[isamu]

HELL FUCKIN YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT's about time somebody started a Kraftwerk thread!!!!!

Do you have ANY idea how many breakdancing contests I've won dancing to Tour De France and Numbers? HUNDREDS!!!!!! They are the fucking pioneers and dont you forget it!!!!!!!!

Tour De France, TEE and Electric Cafe are y favorite Kraftwerk songs of all time!!!!!!

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Expresssssssss

 

[MadFuzzy]

They're bloody great live (saw them last year in London, I just hope I don't have to wait another 15 years to see them again). There's a live album coming out (plus it seems a live DVD and SACD too) on June 6th which should be great.

 

[Temujin]

YES

I saw them live last year, and even though I'm not a big fan (hell, I don't own any of their albums...yet) it was the best gig I've ever seen. And I've seen almost 200 artists live.
I dunno why, but I got all emotional during the gig, even though electronic music is supposed to be 'cold and distant'. Especially Man-Machine gets to me for some reason.


Anyway, I got tickets for a show on 1st July, but it's quite far away and I'm not sure I'll make it in time :/ Stupid work.

I'm definitely buying the DVD and live CD. This will probably be their last tour ever (unless they're going to be replaced by robots entirely, heh) so...



Ja tvoi sluga
ja tvoi Rabotnik
WE ARE ZE ROBOTZ!

Oh yeah, http://kraftwerk.technopop.com.br/ <-- great Kraftwerk fansite. There are some great concert reviews (under Data) too.

 

[Kola]

can you give some impressions of the live gigs? i mean, i really have no idea what they are up to. can you see florian, ralf and the other two walking around on the stage or are they just sitting behind their turntables? do they make remixes of their songs? what's the crowds reaction to the songs etc

 

[8bit]

I saw them in 1989, surprisingly great stage presence considering. Highlights were either Ralf or Florian playing a calculator behind his back ala Hendrix and the revelation of the robots.

 

[talking head]

the 3rd guy on the 2nd picture looks like SNL's Will Forte.

 

[Temujin]

can you give some impressions of the live gigs? i mean, i really have no idea what they are up to. can you see florian, ralf and the other two walking around on the stage or are they just sitting behind their turntables? do they make remixes of their songs? what's the crowds reaction to the songs etc

Basically, it's just 4 old guys behind laptops for over 2 hours :lol
Practically all the old songs are remixed in some form, usually made a bit harder/faster.

There are LOTS of pics here, but don't click unless you have a good connection. And like I said, that site has some great reviews in their data section.


And yeah, the robots thing is amazing :O

 

[Shazapp]

Kraftwerk is and has always been one of my favorites. Been a fan since Computer World came out in 1981. Still have my "Pocket Calculator" 45 on green vinyl. I bought it to get change so I could play some arcade games and didn't realize I was buying a record that would change my appreciation of music forever.

I've never seen them live and I keep hoping that I'll be able to before they call it quits.

I love listening to so many songs and being able to say "Ok, that was sampled from Kraftwerk...and that...and that. Damn, this might as well be a Kraftwerk song with different lyrics."

Are they touring or just playing a few one-off gigs?

 

[Temujin]

They did a huuuuge tour in 2004 (69 gigs, last time they performed that much was in 81). This year, they start touring in May, and 21 gigs are confirmed so far. It's still being considered as the 2004 tour I think.

Shazapp, I really hope you get to see them live, as a long-time fan you'll most likely enjoy it even more than I did.

 

[Flynn]

can you give some impressions of the live gigs? i mean, i really have no idea what they are up to. can you see florian, ralf and the other two walking around on the stage or are they just sitting behind their turntables? do they make remixes of their songs? what's the crowds reaction to the songs etc

Kola, they stand almost motionless behind three workstations.

But this is a good thing. They perform as robots. And during the course of the show, you really do see them as robots. I won't say any more, because it could be construed as spoilerish. Regardless, the their peformance during the show is the perfect embodiement of Kraftwerk. You won't be disappointed.

The music is slightly updated from the original -- a bit of contemporary German techno flavor that doesn't take away from the purity of the original tracks.

The biggest part of the Krafterwerk show I saw at Coachella was the multi-media display. They make creative and expert use of video projections, lighting, etc. There are unique visuals for every Kraftwerk tune, so its kind of like watching a live mixed and performed music video for every song.