In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Kraftwerk album “Autobahn”, Swedish minimal electro-pop ensemble Elektroklänge has released its latest EP, “Auf der schönen grauen Autobahn” today on Bandcamp and all other platforms. This release concludes their trilogy honoring Kraftwerk’s pioneering influence on electronic music.

Preceded by the “Abfahrt” EP and the full-length album “Motorik”, this three-track EP includes a radio edit of the title track and an expansive 22-minute “umleitung mix”, which offers listeners a dynamic journey through evolving melodies and rhythms, paying homage to Kraftwerk while introducing new elements. Additionally, the minimalist piano demo “Glitzerstrahl” (“wohltemperierte klavier mix”) provides an insight into Elektroklänge’s creative process.

About the Kraftwerk album “Autobahn”

Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn”, released November 1st 1974, marked a pivotal moment in electronic music, introducing a minimalist aesthetic and innovative use of synthesizers. The album’s title track, a 22-minute exploration of the German highway system, became emblematic of the band’s forward-thinking approach and has influenced countless artists in the electronic genre.

Produced by Kraftwerk’s founders, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, alongside engineer Conny Plank, “Autobahn” also marked their shift towards self-production and studio control. The album cover, designed by Emil Schult, who would become a longtime collaborator, featured a stylized highway scene, encapsulating the futuristic, minimalist aesthetic of the album.

The genesis of “Autobahn” began in the early 1970s, with Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider’s vision to capture the experience of driving on Germany’s highways through electronic music. Both musicians were drawn to the minimalist landscapes of repetitive sounds, influenced by early electronic experimentation, including the work of Karlheinz Stockhausen and the minimalist compositions of Terry Riley and Steve Reich. By 1973, they had begun developing the concept of “Autobahn,” not merely as a song but as an auditory journey that would mimic the sensations of motion, rhythm, and space found in a car ride.

Schneider and Hütter started experimenting with various synthesizers and audio devices, including the Minimoog, EMS Synthi AKS, and custom-built vocoders to give the album its signature sound. These innovations allowed them to break away from conventional instrumentation, which they felt limited their creative ambitions. They also collaborated with Conny Plank as mentioned above, a sound engineer known for his pioneering work with electronic and experimental artists. His expertise in audio manipulation helped bring their ideas to life.

The concept was also heavily influenced by the cultural context of 1970s West Germany, where the Autobahn highway system symbolized postwar modernization and mobility. For the band, the autobahn represented the modern German identity, and they saw it as an icon of progress and movement. Rather than creating a traditional song, they wanted the music to evoke the hypnotic, meditative experience of long-distance travel, capturing both the solitude and the exhilaration of the open road.

To round out this sound, they brought in artist Emil Schult to co-write lyrics and develop visuals for the album, solidifying the Autobahn concept as a cohesive audio-visual experience. Schult’s input helped transform the music into a holistic work of art, with lyrics that were sparse and repetitive, much like road signage, and album artwork that emphasized sleek, streamlined aesthetics.

The rest is as we say history.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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After releasing several conceptual digital EPs, Swedish minimalistic electro pop act Elektroklänge finally has released the debut album, “Komposituation”. The release is available on CD and as download.

Conceptually the album is inspired by the German painter, poet and audio-visual artist Emil Schult (also known for his collaboration in the early 70’s with Kraftwerk founders Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider).

On the debut album the Swedish project offers instrumental to more experimental tracks while the vocals on other tracks were programmed into a replica of a Robovox or were AI generated.

The digital version of the album on Bandcamp goes hand in hand with an exclusive digital artbook companion filled with original AI generated art and lyrics.

Here are the previous EPs from the project.

Read the review of ‘Komposituation’.

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As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

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KRAFTman aka UK based artist Gary Hunter will be releasing the album called “Electrique Fabrique” on August 13th. The album will be out as a digital download and as a limited edition CD via Bandcamp and other services. The CD Edition will feature 5 additional bonus tracks. Good to know, it was Passenger S (Metroland & 808 Dot Pop) who kept on pushing Gary to release an album. Readers will surely know the project as the excellent track “Waiting For The Day” was featured on the Face The Beat 6 compilation, released by Side-Line magazine.

The album features 9 original songs, an english language version of the Kraftwerk track “Electric Café”, as well as, a cover of the 808 Dot Pop track “Gamma Rays”. Needless to say that this project has a very Kraftwerkian influence.

We talked with Gary who has this to say about the new album’s approach: “The album isn’t a concept album in the traditional sense, however, it is a kind of concept album, as a lot of the songs are inspired by the subject matter of Kraftwerk releases over the years, for example, songs about telephone communication, robots, cycling, German motorways, nuclear energy etc, the closing song “Florian”, started this whole process off, and is my tribute to Kraftwerk’s Florian Schneider, the track was written and recorded not long after his passing, a true music hero of mine.”

Notice that in respect to this, “Florian” was also released as a 7 track single which you can download right here.

The album “Electrique Fabrique” is available below via Bandcamp or right here on all other services.

It is an album, that will certainly appeal to Kraftwerk, and electronic music fans.

The bonus tracks on the CD (limited to just 20 copies) are:

1. Electric Café (English 7 Inch Version)
2. A Face I Knew (7 Inch Version)
3. Bundesautobahn 52 (Radio Edit)
4. Florian (808 Dot Cut)
5. Florian (Maschine Brennt Remix)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The German city of Düsseldorf has always been seen as the mecca for electronic music since the early 1970s, when Kraftwerk released their first albums and morphed into robotic aliases. Düsseldorf was also the home of other cult-bands like Neu!, La Düsseldorf, DAF and of course Die Krupps. It’s the city where Juergen Engler and Ralf Dörper grew up.

When Bodo Staiger of Rheingold passed away in December 2019, the time had come to pay homage to one of Düsseldorf’s legends with their song “FanFanFanatisch”. Engler decided that this should be released under their electronic-only project Die Robo Sapiens signed to Alfa Matrix. Although Kraftwerk never were a direct influence to Jürgen Engler, the track “Düsseldorf” pays tribute to the city that brought us that unmistakable sound that made the city famous.

The tracks come in their original version next to additional remixes by label mates Kant Kino, Aesthetische, Implant and 808 DOT POP. prove that even newer generations of musicians are still influenced by it today and put all their (he)art and craft into this tribute to the electronic school cradle.

This “Duesseldorf EP” is past, present and future… and its homage to electronic music is even more significant today with the recent additional loss of Florian Schneider (KRAFTWERK) and Gabi Delgado (DAF).in 2020.

The EP is available exclusively via Bandcamp. Check it out below. Read the review of ‘FanFanFanatisch / The Düsseldorf EP’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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UPDATE: Kraftwerk co-founder Ralf Hütter has confirmed the sad news.

(Photo by Daniele Dalledonne, Trento, Italy) According to various reports Florian Schneider, known as one of the founding members of the electronic music group Kraftwerk, is no more. The musician who was part of the band until his departure in November 2008 would have died a few days ago at the age of 73 after losing his battle against cancer. The news was first spread by producer Mark Reeder and DAF-member Robert Görl and according to Ouest France confirmed by Schneider’s family.

A bicycle pump meant the end of his membership of Kraftwerk

Florian Schneider-Esleben founded Kraftwerk with Ralf Hütter in 1970 after meeting in 1968 while studying at the Academy of Arts in Remscheid. They played improvisational music together in the ensemble Organisation. Before meeting Hütter, Schneider had played with Eberhard Kranemann in the group Pissoff from 1967 to 1968. From 1968 to 1969, Schneider played flute, with Ralf Hütter on Hammond organ, Eberhard Kranemann on bass and Paul Lovens on drums.

To know how the band sounded like this, make sure to check this Kraftwerk gig from 1970 which landed on YouTube.

Originally Schneider’s main instrument was the flute, which he would treat using electronic effects, including tape echo, ring modulation, use of pitch-to-voltage converter, fuzz and wah-wah, allowing him to use his flute as a bass instrument. He also played violin (similarly treated), electric guitar (including slide guitar), and made use of synthesizers (both as a melodic instrument and as a sound processor). Later he also created his own electronic flute instrument. After the release of their 1974 album, “Autobahn”, his use of acoustic instruments diminished.

Schneider did not perform on any of the dates of the Kraftwerk 2008 world tour (his last performance with the band was November 2006 in Spain). His position onstage was filled by Stefan Pfaffe, an associate working for the band as a video technician. According to a close associate of the group, Schneider left Kraftwerk on 21 November 2008, due to a dispute… over a bicycle pump.

In 2015 Schneider and Dan Lacksman with help of Uwe Schmidt released an electronic ode, “Stop Plastic Pollution”, for ocean environment conservation as part of a campaign “Parley for the Oceans”.

Some more rare live recordings from the early years of Kraftwerk

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The Electronic Sound magazine is celebrating its 50th issue with a special vinyl package when you sign up to the magazine’s Bundle Subscription: 2 Karl Bartos tracks, “Without A Trace Of Emotion” and “Vox Humana”, packaged in a gatefold sleeve with a free poster, featuring the single’s sleeve artwork together with the entire text of the interview Karl Bartos gave in 2013 when the magazine launched.

The 2 tracks are taken from the Karl Bartos album “Off the Record”, his second solo effort released on 15 March 2013, through Bureau B records. It featured Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner as guest contributors and was Bartos’ first solo album in ten years, though the material on Off the Record predates that on 2003’s “Communication”. Speaking of which, do you own this “Communication” fanbox?

Bartos left Kraftwerk in August 1990, reportedly frustrated at the band’s slow progress in their activities due to the increasingly perfectionist attitude of founding members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider.

More info here.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Here is a rather amusing video shot at the Lemmchen Grundschule in Mainz, Germany. Lars Reimers, the music teacher of ‘der 1. Klasse’ learned his pupils how to play Kraftwerk’s “Die Roboter”, but not only that, for the final presentation the kids were wearing cardboard robot costume they had fabricated themselves. The video got picked up by ex-Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos and from there on landed on our news desk.

“Absolutely awesome!” says Bartos who posted the video on his Facebook page and on YouTube he left the message “Was für fleissige Roboter! Ihr seid grossartige Musikanten! So einen tollen Musikunterricht hätte ich früher auch gerne gehabt. Schöne Grüße aus Hamburg!” which we can loosely translate as “What a hard-working robots these are! You’re excellent musicians! I would like to have had such a funny lessons when I was young. Lovely greetings from Hamburg!”

Between 1975 and 1990, he was, along with Wolfgang Flür, an electronic percussionist in the electronic-music band Kraftwerk. Bartos was also co-writer of the 1978 song together with Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider.

Here’s the version as made by the pupils from the 1st class of the Lemmchen Grundschule in Mainz, Germany.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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