Kraftwerk of the Mountains

Sasha, international DJ gigolo known for previous collaborations with John Digweed, kicked off his set the other day with the eagerly awaited Hot Chip 11:32 "King of the Mountains" remix of Kraftwerk's "La Forme". And, naturally, it was recorded and is now available right here, on the Internet.

So, for all you curious people: listen to it through the... machine below. It's on right from the start, and goes on for 11 (short) minutes or so.



"King of the Mountains", by the way, is a title given to the best climber in cycling competitions, typically stage races such as Tour de France. More here.

Bye.

Edit: A couple of minutes of both tracks are now available through Kraftwerks MySpace page. (Yes, they have one!).

Kraftwerk 1971, Live on Radio Bremen

The line-up on this newly released bootleg is said to consist of Florian Schneider, Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger, which tells us that this was probably recorded in that short period of time in 1971, estimated to 6 months, when Ralf Hütter had left the band. Supposedly, the recording was made at the Gondel Kino in Bremen, Germany on June 25, 1971. And it's an interesting recording.

The track listing includes something called "Heavy Metal Kids", followed by "Stratovarius", "Ruckzuck", "Vom Himmel Hoch" and "Rueckstoss Gondoliere" (misspelled on the back cover, correct on the CD and in the booklet). It's the "Heavy Metal Kids" track that does it. The title, for starters, is most likely too weird to be the original one. And listening to the song makes you think the music has been created by someone else as well. It 's a bit in style with the first two Kraftwerk records, but still... this is hard rock. We've got metal guitar riffs and guitar solos throughout this sucker... But there's a steady, almost punishing motorik beat keeping pace, to convince you that you've ended up in the right country and in the right area.

The band just keeps on rocking, not only on that "Heavy Metal Kids" track but throughout most of the recorded concert. Stratovarius -rock. Ruckzuck - not rock, but 20 minutes long. Vom Himmel Hoch - rock. Rueckstoss Gondoliere - rock.

"Live on Radio Bremen" gives us an interesting lesson in the wobbliest, rockingest part of early Kraftwerk history.

You could also get the tracks right here, in mp3 format.
01, 02, 03, 04, 05.

(Courtesy of Big0 Worldwide)

Kraftwerk's future live setup

There has been some indications lately that Kraftwerk is moving towards a more futuristic setup than before, at least interface-wise. I'm sure there's more information out there, but let me tell you what I know.

New interface #1, the Tenori-On.



The Tenori-On is an instrument/controller/interface, created by sound artist Toshio Iwai (backed by Yamaha). Mr Iwai is also responsible for the brilliant Electroplankton program for the Nintendo DS. Tenori-On has existed for, if I remember correctly, a few years already, but only as a prototype version. Now, Yamaha seems to be ready for a commercial release of the rather amazing looking product.

We were recently reached by the news that a number of interesting artists, including Mouse On Mars and Atom™, had visited Japan to test drive the machine. And recently, Kraftwerk was added to the list of test pilots.

Here's a video that will tell you everyting you need to know about the Tenori-On.



New interface #2, the JazzMutant Lemur

The Lemur, produced by the french JazzMutant company, is an interesting input device, designed to control real-time computer applications. The multi-point touch screen is said to be completely customisable, allowing users design their own personal control surface. And it looks good, too.

Amongst the "lemurized" artists listed on the JazzMutant web pages, we find our german friends Kraftwerk.



Added together, these two items might lay the foundation for an interesting future of updated Kraftwerk concerts. Maybe, the Tenori-On is the tool they've been looking for to get back to the front of the stage for an old skool performance of "Pocket Calculator"?

Hot Chip to remix Kraftwerk

Electronic party band Hot Chip has remixed the two Kraftwerk tracks "Aerodynamik" and "La Forme" for release in September, according to several official EMI websites.

The four Hot Chip members have divided the heavy work load between themselves. "Aerodynamik (Intelligent Design Mix)" was created by Alex Taylor and Joe Goddard, while Al Doyle and Felix Martin did the King of the Mountains Mix version of "La Forme". The remixes will be available as 12", cd and as digital download.

But what do we think about this, then? Well, cant say that I've heard it yet but I am not completely sold on the idea... I mean, it's been almost three years since "Aerodynamik" and "La Forme" were first released, on the "Tour De France Soundtracks" album. So, really, why now?

On the up side, however, we have this:



Early this spring, DFA Records presented a 12" by Booji Boy High. Obviously some kind of DEVO tribute band, BBH actually consisted of Alex Taylor and Joe Goddard from Hot Chip, disguised as Georgios Panayiotou and Mother Markzbow. Now, that was an interesting idea. And most likely nu rave. Listen here.

Robots ♥ Summer

Pretty nice work, this short video ad for last years Summer of Love festival in the Czech Republic. Kraftwerk in a bumblebee vehicle, flying in over their followers. Jeff. Mills, Tiga, CJ Bolland and Elektrabel being ... pollinated, I assume.

Autobahn vas ein Monster

The cover of this Kraftwerk compilation from 1975 is just pure pleasure. Read that sticker. Read it again. I believe that the wonderful thing was found exclusively on a British edition of the record?

Bootwerk - A Bastard Pop Tribute To Kraftwerk

Wow, this is rather uninteresting.



Mashup Industries proudly presents "BOOTWERK - A Bastard Pop Tribute To Kraftwerk".

Nineteen artists have created Kraftwerk mashups for this mp3 only compilation. Kraftwerk meets Dolly Parton, The Beastie Boys, Genesis, Depeche Mode, Fergie and Robbie Williams.

It's new, it's well conceived and it's free to download, but you don't need it.





Oh, and another small and almost completely unrelated tidbit of information: Swedish techno producer Cari Lekebusch has released three records on the Heroes International label under the alias The Mantis. The second of the three records, "Kool & Deadly", was released in 2005 and features a bootleg Kraftwerk remix/track also called "Bootwerk". Listen here.