Vodkang Flür

The Shadow Bureau - Bon Harris & Wolfgang Flür

The Shadow Buerau. I completely missed it when it was made public two months ago. It's the new project from Bon Harris (Nitzer Ebb), and features vocals of former Kraftwerker Wolfgang Flür.

Backing vocals come courtesy of Isabelle Erkendahl of child duo Peaches, later Pet Shop Boys cover band West End Girls, the daughter of Hans Erkendahl of The Mobile Homes.


Axis Of Envy - The Shadow Bureau - 2011 found on Electronic

The song is taken from an upcoming various artists album, with original songs inspired by Indomina Media’s theatrical film releases and this video is taken from the film True Legend. Can't say I'm overly impressed with it, but never mind.



Wolfgang Flür, by the way, is said to have translated the above Peaches song from Swedish to German in 2002. But I can't find the German version, don't know if it was ever released.

Kraftwerk – Elektronische Klangbilder in 3D

Starting October 15th, the Kunstbau at the Lenbachhaus gallery in Munich will display an exhibition of Kraftwerk music videos and promotion clips, all now in glorious 3D. The exhibition will - according to this - later travel to Tate Modern in London and to MoMa in New York.

Art book publishers Shirmer/Mosel will publish the catalogue for the exhibition, also in glorious 3D. This is what they have to say:

Over the last 4 decades electro pioneers Kraftwerk have written music history followed by their worldwide success. They are considered innovators and inventors of many different musical styles such as techno, electro, hip-hop and synthie pop. Since their concert at the 2005 Venice Biennale the contemporary artworld has perceived Kraftwerk’s multimedia shows as a unique form of performance art. From their beginnings in the early seventies Kraftwerk have always been connected with the developments of modern technologies.

For the exhibition “Kraftwerk –3 D Sound Pictures”, to be shown at the Kunstbau der Städtischen Galerie im Lenbachhaus München in October/November 2011, the catalogue will also be published in 3 D by Schirmer/Mosel, with an essay by project curator Matthias Mühling.

Schirmer/Mosel. With 3-D glasses. With a text by Matthias Mühling. 96 pages, 60 colour plates. Size: 28 x 28 cm, hardcover. English/German edition.

The title of the book and exhibition differs, depending on where on the Internet you read it. It could be "Kraftwerk – Elektronische Klangbilder", "Kraftwerk 3D" or "Kraftwerk - 3 D Sound Pictures". Or something completely different.

Ralf & Florian - together again?

Swedish tabloid Expressen reported just a little while ago that Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider had been spotted earlier in the day, walking together in Düsseldorf.

But it turns out they are mistaken. The well groomed man is in fact not Ralf Hütter but Uwe Schmidt (aka Atom™, Atom Heart, Lassigue Bendthaus, Senor Coconut). And this is possibly even more exciting. What are these two up to?

Craftwife

Do yourself a favor and check out Craftwife, a project fronted by Takeko Akamatsu, the wife of Masayuki Akamatsu who developed Karl Bartos' iPhone app that we've previously mentioned here.

Craftwife - apparently a group of housewifes - perform using iPhone apps of their own making (developed by housewifes, for housewifes), all dressed up in the most typical of Kraftwerk attire - red shirt, black tie.

More info: craftwife.com, an interview at side-line.com and another one at gaite-lyrique.net.

Mini-Composer - another Kraftwerk related app

Hot on the heels of Kling Klang Maschine No1 comes MINI-COMPOSER, another Kraftwerk related app for the iPhone and iPad. This one was developed by former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos and software developer Masayuki Akamatsu.



The app, desctibed as a "simple music app for fun [that] implements the basic waves of a synthesizer with a 16 step sequencer", is available for free - with an urge to donate money to the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan - from the app store.

Kling Klang Machine No1

I'm sure everyone has read about the new Kraftwerk app for iPhone and iPad - Kling Klang Machine No1. If not, check out this video to see what it's about. Maybe this should be regarded as the new Kraftwerk album?



Get the app from iTunes here.

The Wire Salon - Performing Kraftwerk: Synthesizing The Man-Machine

Held at London's Cafe Oto March 15th, the latest installment of The Wire Salon was entitled "Performing Kraftwerk: Synthesizing The Man-Machine".

A recording of the event is now available online. Listen to the discussion with Sean Albiez and David Pattie, co-editors of Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop, by clicking here.

Fernando Abrantes live video

Former Kraftwerk member Fernando Abrantes goes native-american-Art-of-Noise-new-age-midi-guitar berzerk, with a female half-metal dancer and an applause added in post production.

Look at it. It's confusing.

Robot Emotions

Looks like Fernando Abrantes' album, Robot Emotions, has been released. Haven't seen it anywhere but on Amazon as of yet. It's a cd-r, manufactured on demand, and the record label is Parisiana Entertainment.

After hearing the samples on YouTube earlier, 'm convinsed that I don't like it. But what the hell... I'm ordering a copy anyway.

There's also a new URL, robot-fernando.com, that does nothing but redirect you to the Fernando Abrantes group on Facebook.