THE innovators of the electronic sound, Kraftwerk, formed in Dusseldorf Germany in 1971, consisted of Ralf Hutter, Florian Schneider, Klaus Roeder And Wolfgang Flur. The Kraftwerk sound combines a driving rhythm section with catchy, synthesized melodies and harmony; mainly following a classical style of arrangement accompanied by simple lyrics which are sometimes sung through a vocoder or generated by computer speech software. The Moog Synthesizer is heavily present in the majority of the group's works, adding to their signature sound creations. In the mid to late 70's & early 80's, the Kraftwerk sound was revolutionary for its time, and it has had a lasting impact across nearly all genres of modern pop music.
In 1991 the band released The Mix which featured newly arranged, re-recorded versions of a selection of songs which had originally appeared on the albums Autobahn through Electric Cafe. Hütter stated in interviews that he regarded this album as a kind of "live album", as it captured the results of the band's continual digital improvisations in their Kling Klang studio. The track sequence mostly followed the same order as they were performed in concerts.
The album met with a rather mixed reception on its release. Many were disappointed at the lack of new compositions and, moreover, the production values of the re-recorded tracks did not strike many listeners as particularly cutting edge, something which Kraftwerk had previously been renowned for. The Mix was created entirely digitally, albeit during a period when the technology had yet to reach its maturity, and thus featured a sound which many listeners tend to find somewhat "sterile" compared to the analogue electronics employed on most of Kraftwerk's previous recordings of these songs.
The album sleeve was somewhat obtuse in the information it offered. However, the reality was that longstanding members Wolfgang Flur & Karl Bartos had now left the band (although Bartos claimed in later interviews that much of his programming work was still featured on The Mix, uncredited).
Purchase the original 12" single here
Kraftwerk - Robotnik (Kling Klang Extended Mix) 7:40
Kraftwerk - Robotronik (Kling Klang Mix) 4:52
Kraftwerk - Robots (Single Edit) 3:43
Song charted on Augus 17, 1991. Spent 4 weeks on the chart and reached #42
Check out the video for the remix....
1 comment:
I like robots.
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