Kraftwerk - Kakteen, Wüste, Sonne (1971)

Old, unseen, and with a title that translates to "Cacti, Desert, Sun", "Kakteen, Wüste, Sonne" was originally recorded for the german tv show Beat Club in 1971, but as it appears it didn't make it on the air until April 19th 2009. I.e. yesterday.

Trouble Funk Express

I received an e-mail from Per, tipping me off about a song Henry Rollins had played on his LA radio show yesterday.

The song was "Trouble Funk Express" as performed by Trouble Funk - one of the bigger acts in the funk subgenre go-go (with Rare Essence, The Junk Yard Band) and it is basically a funk cover of Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express".

While "researching" this, I read somewhere that Rare Essence (the wickedest band alive) also used to play a version of the song, "RE Express", but I haven't been able to find it online or on any records. Any leads?

Africa Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" - the making of

Click to read the story behind the creation of Africa Bambaataa's classic "Planet Rock", as told by Richard Buskin @ Sound on Sound.

It's an interesting story, and it sheds some new light (for me, at least) on the parts borrowed from Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" and "Numbers" - still often mistaken for samples but in reality recreations executed by some pay-by-the-hour drum machine owner named Joe.

Florian turns 62 today

Congratulations again, Florian!

See Florian visiting the recent Musikmesse in Frankfurt, here and here.

Illustration above courtesy of Erik Blad

Related:
Florian, 61!
Congratulations, Florian

Yamo on MySpace

Wolfgang Flür has taken his Yamo project to MySpace. Nothing exciting, except the term Musik Soldat (music soldier) and a caricature. And there are tons of interesting, historic photos in the "My Pics" section.

Visit Yamo here: http://www.myspace.com/yamomusic

Computer Liebe in Jazz

Swedish jazz pianist Jan Lundgren and his trio will release the album "European Standards" in April. On the album, a companion to the previously released "Swedish Standards", the trio covers a list of European songs, from The Beatles "Here, There And Everywhere" to Krystof Komeda's "Rosemary's Baby". And Kraftwerk's "Computer Liebe". I heard the entire piece on Swedish radio yesterday, and it's not bad at all.

Short sample here, from the label site.



This reminded me of another Kraftwerk jazz version - "Trans Europe Express" as recorded by Christian Prommer and released last year by Sonar Kollektiv. Preview here. It's track 6.

Brand NEU!

Horrible news! Oasis and Kasabian will be featured on a soon to be released NEU! tribute record. Ciccone Youth will also be on it, so there is some consolation to be found. But the album seems to be made up mostly from previously recorded songs, which is also boring as hell.

Funny thing - information on this release is all over the internet now. But nobody mentions which label will release the album. That might be because everyone uses the same source, The Quietus.

The full list:

Ciccone Youth - Two Cool Rock Chicks Listening To Neu!
Primal Scream - Shoot Speed / Kill Light
Pets With Pets - We Only Found This Place
Oasis - I Can See It Now
Foals - Titan Arum
Cornelius - Wataridori
Holy Fuck - Super Inuit
LCD Soundsystem - Watch The Tapes
Kasabian - Stuntman
School Of Seven Bells - Device fuer M
Fujiya & Miyagi - Electro Karaoke
Hook & The Twin - They'll Get Your Head
La Dusseldorf - Sketch 1_08
Michael Rother - Neutronics 98