Bleep

Radio-Activity
Surfing on 1975 sine waves, Kraftwerk plug into possibly one of their finest moments, their fifth studio album, ‘Radioactivity’. The album was their first bilingual release featuring lyrics in both German and English and the notably it featured the first use of the Vako Orchestron keyboard, distinctive for its harsh caustic sound, most apparent on ‘Antenna’. Elsewhere, there is the majestic and exploratory title-track ‘Radioactivity’, the dizzying Gregorian chants of ‘Radio Stars’ and the strangely-sweet lonesome machine pop of ‘Ohm Sweet Ohm’. An incredible milestone in Kraftwerk’s evolution from experimental adventurers to global success stories.

Trans-Europe Express
German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk helped shape modern music with their 1970s output, and few records have had as much influence as Trans-Europe Express. Just ask Afrika Bambaata, whose ‘Planet Rock’, and therefore hip-hop in general, is heavily indebted to this album’s title track. Mechanised, robotic sounds represent the literal and imagined conundrums of life in a technological age, the slow but steady shift beginning from human personae to the rigid Robots we know so well. Melodies meander through the regimented electronic rhythms, charmingly imperfect vocals adding a very real heart to crisply accurate synthesised material. To call this essential would be a gross understatement.

Computer World
Kraftwerk demonstrate yet again their supremely modernist outward view with their eight studio album, ‘Computer World’, a lingering glance into the trepidation and burgeoning curiosity of a world at the feet of computer dominance. Originally released in 1981, the group had some way to come to discover the true extensity of the supreme control the digital world was to achieve, yet tracks such as ‘Computer Love’ and ‘Computer World’ convey the rising consternation with moments of gliding serenity and suspicion. Elsewhere, tracks such as ‘Numbers’ and its liquid rhythms go down in unparalleled music history as they help give birth to Detroit electro and its own extraordinary legacy.