Back catalogue: Experimental/Electronic

Review: The 50th anniversary edition of Kraftwerk's Autobahn finally completes its decennial German interstate journey and lands in our drool-covered laps. With founding Kraftwerk member Ralf Hutter revisiting the record's original 16-track master tapes with engineer Fritz Hilpert, the group not only made a brand new Dolby Atmos mix for the CD edition, but have also reissued the original record in the never-seen-before picture disc form you see here. A cosmic pop overland journey, the vinyl remaster also lends the record an extra-dimensionality we didn't know possible; recumbent across it, and brought out to swelling prominence, are its tweezed, filter-cutoff sine chords, evoking the continual movement of rustic landscapes streaming past our eyes. Though at first received only to mixed acclaim, Kraftwerk's fourth LP was rightly hailed in hindsight for its simple automotive theme and change in sound, away from the Robots' emergent kosmische and into self-reflexive electropop. All this emboldened Kraftwerk as a band that could somehow cruise in the fast lane, accelerating with ease through the shifting stylistic sands of the mid 1970s.

Review: There isn't a more hit-packed Kraftwerk album than The Man Machine. First released in 1978 and here reissued on red vinyl accompanied by a fresh booklet of vintage images, the album boasts some of the German band's best loved songs, including 'The Robots', cheery sing-along 'The Model', the staggeringly good 'Neon Lights', and the bubbly title track. It shows how good the album is that such gems as 'Metropolis' and the picturesque 'Spacelab' - cuts that most other bands would kill to be able to write - tend to be ignored or overlooked. If you love electronic music, you need a copy of The Man Machine in your collection.

Review: This release, which was recorded for Bremen Radio in 1971, features four extended tracks showcasing German pioneers Kraftwerk in a very different light from their later work. The short-lived lineup of Schneider, Rother and Dinger fused electric guitar with their then-signature electronic sounds and it gives rise to unusual, exciting and innovative music. Half of the tracks here, as hardcore fans will recognise, are drawn from their debut album, Kraftwerk 1, and the recording quality is excellent. This release also includes full recording details along with extensive sleeve notes that help offer a fascinating glimpse into Kraftwerk's early, experimental sound before their more iconic and pioneering electronic phase.

Review: Autobhan, the 1974 album that began Kraftwerk's ascent to legendary status, is still capable of making the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. The headline attraction remains the absorbing, mesmerising, 22-minute title track, a musical whizz down an imaginary three-lane highway that's as evocative and atmospheric as they come. That said, the album's lesser-celebrated, more experimental flip-side tracks (and in particular the jaunty 'Kometenmelodie 2'), are also inspired. Here it gets the 2020 reissue treatment via a tasty blue vinyl pressing that comes packaged with a 12-page booklet of historic photos and typically utilitarian imagery.

Review: While not one of Kraftwerk's most celebrated albums, Techno-Pop (known on its original 1986 release as Electric Cafe) has actually stood the test of time rather well - as this re-mastered, re-packaged clear vinyl reissue proves. The A-side suite of 'Boom-Boom-Tchak', 'Techno-Pop' and 'Musique Non-Stop' provides the perfect mix of clanking, metallic electro percussion, addictive melodies and sassy synth-pop sounds. 'House Phone' - an alternative version of 'The Telephone Call' - is also amongst the German band's heaviest, most club-ready cuts, thanks in no small part to Francois Kevorkian's superb mixing. As with the band's other 2020 reissues, this edition also comes packaged with a glossy booklet containing rare and iconic images of the group.

Review: To our ears, 1975's Radioactivity is Kraftwerk's most ghostly and otherworldly album. It was famously their first set made entirely with electronic instruments - some home-made - and now sounds like a bridge between the more krautrock-style hypnotism of the earlier Autobahn and the slicker, more tuneful albums that followed it. In other words, it's as weird, alien and otherworldly as it is ground-breaking and pop-leaning. This 2020 reissue is well worth picking up, not least because it comes pressed on translucent yellow vinyl and comes accompanied by a glossy, 16-page booklet full of iconic Kraftwerk images.

Review: This gatefold green vinyl record captures a rare and electrifying live performance from the pioneering electronic music legends. Recorded at their 1997 Tribal Gathering festival headline, it's a showcase of the band's iconic sound that blends groundbreaking synth-driven melodies with hypnotic rhythms and futuristic themes. Performing classics like 'Autobahn,' 'The Robots' and 'Computer World,' Kraftwerk delivered a spellbinding experience that bridged their innovative past and continued influence on modern music all set against the historic backdrop of Luton Hoo Estate. It features plenty of their classics from the time, as well as - shockingly - a new track, titled 'Tribal Gathering' (and also sometimes referred to as 'Luton') that was written especially for the gig, never recorded in the studio and only ever played a handful of times. A great nostalgic trip.

Review: Kraftwerk first toyed with the idea of making a concept album based on the Tour De France in the early 1980s, so it was probably inevitable that the cycling-mad group would eventually deliver on that promised. First released in 2003 and now reissued in re-mastered form on red and blue vinyl, the album is the most techno-centric set in the band's discography. While it still boasts their usual recurring melodic themes, tuneful motifs and robotic vocoder vocals, many of its hypnotic and euphoric tracks (particularly the three-part title track that dominates the first half of the album) are far weightier and more club-focused than their earlier releases. For that reason alone, it's worth a place in your collection.

Review: The seminal musicians who have graced King Biscuit Time on US radio are too many to count, but who's complaining when so much gold material can be dusted down and given a fresh pressing. They surely don't come more momentous than this - German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk captured in 1975 as they were in the midst of progressing from their warm, organic kosmische roots towards the game-changing synthesis they're eternally treasured for. 'Autobahn' is of course the big hit here, stretching out over the A side as it should, but don't overlook the wonderful 'Kometenmelodie' and two-part 'Morgenspaziergang', all demonstrating Schneider, Hutter et al as the extraordinary visionaries they were.

Review: Recorded in 1981, Turning Japanese captures Kraftwerk at the absolute height of their creative dominance, but sometime before their true induction into the household name superstar category of artists. Still representing a very forward thinking, boundary pushing and - as a result - specialist sound, this nine-track live recording feels like yesterday's tomorrow.
Opening with a stunning neo-classical synth overture, we're then taken on a journey through the mind of the man machine, an industrial yet somehow strangely human proto-electro world that is defined by order and structure, while still allowing for enough funk and groove to make sure feet, hips and more move seemingly of their own volition. Perhaps not the most insightful take on the pioneering German band - nothing here that hasn't been said before - nevertheless we hope it goes someway to describing how precise, refined and overwhelmingly infectious they can be on stage.

Review: In August 2003, German synth icons Kraftwerk released Tour de France Soundtracks, their first album of new material since 1986's Electric Cafe. Even before the album's release, the band embarked on the extensive Minimum-Maximum world tour in January 2003 to great acclaim and much fan delight. By February 2004, the pioneering group had taken the tour to Scandinavia to perform in Helsinki, Finland, on the 6th and at Stockholm's Cirkus venue on the 8th and 10th. The Stockholm shows are still considered among the best of the tour and they are, luckily, all recorded for live FM radio broadcast. That exceptional concert is now available in its entirety on this new two-part set on translucent red vinyl.

Review: In August 2003, legendary musical futurists Kraftwerk released Tour de France Soundtracks, their first album of new material since 1986's Electric Cafe. Before the album's release, the band began their extensive Minimum-Maximum world tour in early 2003 and by February 2004 they had reached Scandinavia. They played in Helsinki on the 6th and at Stockholm's Cirkus on the 8th and 10th and these Stockholm shows are now widely celebrated as some of the finest of the tour. They were recorded for FM radio broadcast in Sweden and now come pressed up to a limited edition double gatefold album that features classics like the 'Computer World/It's More Fun To Compute/Home Computer' medley.

Review: Kraftwerk's 1975 performance at Fairfield Hall in Croydon is the stuff of legend. Finally it is available as a high quality audio pressing that allows you to relive all its glorious futurism. The show was broadcast on radio as part of a short tour of the UK that came after the release of the German computer music pioneer's hugely popular Autobahn. It features tracks from that album as well as 'Die Sonne, Der Mond, Die Sterne' and 'Showroom Dummies.' A real piece of electronic music history that will spice up any collection.