According to Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider, the masterminds behind German band Kraftwerk, this album does not exist. In fact, they seem to believe that the real history of Kraftwerk does not start until Autobahn<\/i>.<\/p>\n
This, of course, is, to use Kraftwerk\u2019s vernacular, schei\u00dfdreck. (If the Web site I got this from is accurate, that means bullshit.) Not including one album recorded as Organisation, Hutter and Schneider recorded three albums that were developmental in terms of Kraftwerk\u2019s sound. To ignore a release such as their self-titled debut from 1971 does the band an injustice. Long out of print, the mystique of just why the band doesn\u2019t acknowledge its existence any more is enough to send people searching for these Holy Grails.<\/p>\n
Now, I\u2019ll admit that I\u2019m probably the ideal candidate to listen to this, simply because I have zero knowledge of any of Kraftwerk\u2019s more popular material. I literally approached this disc with a clean slate, having no preconceived notions of what it should sound like based on material I already knew.<\/p>\n
Admittedly, Kraftwerk is not a group you\u2019ll embrace upon first listen — or 10th. In regards to this disc, Kraftwerk 1<\/i> is a hodge-podge of trance-like, repetitive melodies combined with ambient noise, creating less music and more of a mental picture that the selections merely provide the framework for. And, for the first half of this disc, they manage to do quite well.<\/p>\n
The opening track, \u201cRuckzuck,\u201d is probably my favorite, creating a computerized techno vibe, nearly two decades before either techno took flight and before computers dominated the musical instrumentation (in all fairness, a lot of the instruments, such as flute and drums, are performed on actual instruments). It\u2019s hard to say just what it is about this track that captivates me as a listener, since it goes from the techno-beat to what sounds like the equivalent of a hard drive crash and restart with the ambient noise. Whatever the case, it\u2019s a very strong first statement.<\/p>\n
The follow-up track, \u201cStratovarius,\u201d dares to shock the listener by opening the track with about three minutes of screeches that sound like the antithesis to the track\u2019s name. Yet somehow, it fits with what Kraftwerk tries to do with this track, and it soon settles in to its own repetitive vibe that, again, captures the listener and dares them to use the 12 minutes of the track to create mental pictures, rather than to use it as background music.<\/p>\n
If only the second half of Kraftwerk 1<\/i> was as strong as its first two tracks. \u201cMegaherz\u201d starts off sounding a little like you\u2019re in the Krups steel factory before dissolving into some Jon Lord-like organ noise (albeit without tune or rhythm), then becomes its own ambient noise track for so long that you may find yourself checking the player to make sure the track didn\u2019t stop. (As many times as I\u2019ve listened to this track, I still<\/i> get caught by this, and always check.) \u201cMegaherz\u201d soon becomes almost like listening to an electronic version of ocean waves — serene enough, but lacking any real emotion or excitement. I will admit, though, this particular track grows on me the more I listen to it.<\/p>\n
This leads the listener into the final track, \u201cVon Himmel Hoch.\u201d Like its predecessor, there is enough silence in the beginning of the track to make you wonder if something has gone wrong with the playback. Soon, the track becomes an almost sinister background piece, with what seem to this listener to be deep electronic growls. At times, it almost feels prehistoric, what with a club-like drum beat and the bass growls (which, according to the article on Wikipedia, is an instrument called a \u201ctubon\u201d).<\/p>\n
In fact, the whole basis of \u201cVon Himmel Hoch\u201d seems to be minimalist instrumentation, even minimalist performance until about eight minutes into the track. The result, not surprisingly, is the most minimally enjoyable piece on the disc — which is a shame, really, because it seemed to have potential.<\/p>\n
Hutter and Schneider can deny this disc\u2019s existence all they want, but I personally think it\u2019s an interesting, if flawed, first chapter to the band\u2019s history. Yes, it\u2019s a difficult listen, and Kraftwerk is very much an acquired taste. But even with this disc\u2019s flaws, it does leave me wanting to explore the fathers of Krautrock more deeply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6395],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-40492","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kraftwerk","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40492"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}