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The name of the group is clear: Elektric Music, so don't expect unplugged sounds in this album. And the k remaining in the first half of the name suggests a German origin of this musical project, and so it is. Behind the Elektric Music is Karl Bartos, coming from almost twenty years of participation with Kraftwerk. In 1991, he left his companions Ralf & Florian, and two years later released "Esperanto", a work in which he collaborates with Lothar Manteuffel (formerly of Rheingold) and Emil Schult, an associate of Kraftwerk since the days of "Autobahn".
It is really impossible to separate the memory of the originating group from the eight tracks present in this album which, almost all, heavily resemble the style of the band from Düsseldorf: in the sounds, the percussion, the use of vocoder and chopped voices reassembled within the musical fabric, in the themes inspired by the world of communication and information.
Perhaps some new ideas might have been brought by Andy McCluskey, the leader of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, here co-author of the second track on the list, "Show Business", and the third, "Kissing the Machine", in which he also lends his voice. Two instances of lively and cheerful synth pop, where the melodic component is predominant.
The other tracks of the album, more techno in inspiration, remain at a good general level but do not add much to what was already known about Karl Bartos' way of making music (and former companions, mostly): "Information", for example, seems to be taken directly from "Computer World" of 1981, while other pieces ("TV" or the title-track itself) recall "Electric Cafe" of 1986.
Despite being released in 1993, "Esperanto" seems anchored to the stylistic models of the '80s, and not aware of the significant evolutions (or not interested in them) that electronics were undergoing in the early '90s by new protagonists. An album that is pleasant to listen to: if not exactly unmissable, it can be for Kraftwerk fans a delightful musical look at "how we were".
It is really impossible to separate the memory of the originating group from the eight tracks present in this album which, almost all, heavily resemble the style of the band from Düsseldorf: in the sounds, the percussion, the use of vocoder and chopped voices reassembled within the musical fabric, in the themes inspired by the world of communication and information.
Perhaps some new ideas might have been brought by Andy McCluskey, the leader of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, here co-author of the second track on the list, "Show Business", and the third, "Kissing the Machine", in which he also lends his voice. Two instances of lively and cheerful synth pop, where the melodic component is predominant.
The other tracks of the album, more techno in inspiration, remain at a good general level but do not add much to what was already known about Karl Bartos' way of making music (and former companions, mostly): "Information", for example, seems to be taken directly from "Computer World" of 1981, while other pieces ("TV" or the title-track itself) recall "Electric Cafe" of 1986.
Despite being released in 1993, "Esperanto" seems anchored to the stylistic models of the '80s, and not aware of the significant evolutions (or not interested in them) that electronics were undergoing in the early '90s by new protagonists. An album that is pleasant to listen to: if not exactly unmissable, it can be for Kraftwerk fans a delightful musical look at "how we were".
Tracklist and Videos
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