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KRAFTWERK - "THE MAN MACHINE"
Any note emitted by a synth in 2000 is the echo of the first electronic hiss produced in the 60s. Experimentation was rampant, people lost their minds to give us their mental ambient, with various styles and sensitivities.
When it was thought that the melodic course of a track to be splattered on a vinyl could be emitted not only by the guitar, we were introduced to cold sounds. Like those of the VCS3, at the same time imposing, and the black and white keys of Kraftwerk.
Krautrock improves and shapes English and West Coast psychedelia with "stream of consciousness" filled with electronic frequencies, and a scene not indoctrinated at all. There are too many facets, and certainly some 'aged badly', but still remarkable like the massive Schulze, the solemn Tangerine Dream, and the proto-cyberpunk triad Neu, Can, and Faust.
Kraftwerk validate the effectiveness of the German sound with the first 4 albums, and then consecrate themselves, or maybe hold back, by producing "Radio-Activity". We are far from the 90s of Eiffel 65: here we are just in 1975 and already, as in 'The Model', the continuous bass was spotted, on which to create melodies à la Kalkbrenner & Co.
After the seminal "Autobahn", having a brilliant idea for people like Bowie, we delve into the red-black vinyl.
From Wyatt's 'soft machine' we pass to Ralf and Florian's 'human machine' in just 10 years, and we see that these synths really have something to say. They certainly allow people like Alan Parsons and Brian Eno to rival with the excellent German ideas.
The concept and song form expand, reaching even Battiato and Matia Bazar, and the new wave and kraut announce the synthetic form of sound. This album consists of six songs, released in May 1978, and ends up on the radio with "The Robots", a bible for Daft Punk, "Neon Lights", "The Model", and the title track.
Sounds that will serve ideas on silver platters to Dj Shadow and Moby, allowing for reduced compositional effort as well. The verse and, if there is a chorus, have a static setup that stretches across the particularities of the keyboards and the drum that often plays on reverb, just like some industrial stuff.
Personally, the title track is the piece that maintains the highest development, possibly considering it the best if one is tired of little voices like "Technologic" or "The Robots".
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Robots (06:12)
We're charging our battery
And now we're full of energy
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We're functioning automatic
And we are dancing mechanic
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
Ja tvoi sluga, (I'm your slave)
Ja tvoi Rabotnik (I'm your worker.)
We are programmed just to do
Anything you want us to
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We're functioning automatic
And we are dancing mechanic
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
Ja tvoi sluga, (I'm your slave)
Ja tvoi Rabotnik (I'm your worker.)
Ja tvoi sluga, (I'm your slave)
Ja tvoi Rabotnik (I'm your worker.)
[Repeat to fade]
We are the robots
04 The Model (03:44)
She's a model and she's looking good
I'd like to take her home that's understood
She plays hard to get, she smiles from time to time
It only takes a camera to change her mind
She's going out tonight but drinking just champagne
And she has been checking nearly all the men
She's playing her game and you can hear them say
She is looking good, for beauty we will pay
She's posing for consumer products now and then
For every camera she gives the best she can
I saw her on the cover of a magazine
Now she's a big success, I want to meet her again
05 Neon Lights (08:54)
[repeat]
Neon lights
Shimmering neon lights
And at the fall of night
This city's made of light
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By 123asterisco
The supreme gesture of human art is to perpetuate itself beyond its own narrow boundaries: bringing industrial automation inside man; automating man.
How can the cold pretending-to-be-machines project us into a non-time so alive?
