Kraftwerk - Autobahn (Speed Bump Remix)

Kraftwerk - Autobahn (Speed Bump Remix) Since there is (still) mostly no speed limit on the German Autobahn, I decided to put the pedal to the metal and turn Kraftwerk´s classic hymn to grey motorways into a funky disco juggernaut. I set the cruise control to 101 bpm and injected the teutonic motorik groove with the brilliant track Freeze Frame by Yse Saint Laur'ant. The breaks and grooves of both tracks fit together like cogs in a well oiled machine. Hit the road, Flo!

Flori 62

This is not a nostalgic post about a floral exhibition in the sixties, but a reminder that Florian Schneider, the recently retired founding member of Kraftwerk is 62 today.


Apparently, Schneider uses his new leisure time to walk around music-trade-fairs only to make occasional cameo appearances. Here we see him popping into a clip that shows sequencer guru Sebastian Niessen explaining his famous SAM-16. The guy that appears in the frame like Lefty, the Salesman at 1:18 is indeed Mr. Schneider himself.

Click here for the video on Sonic State News.

Of course this has only some very small entertainment value for a very small crowd of people, so don´t bother to watch if you landed on this site by googling for "pre-te3ns".

Directed by StellaVista

I have become a director yesterday! Thanks to this funky Text-To-Movie Program that lets you easily direct a scene with up to two characters. I was amazed at how easy and intuitive the process is. You can chose different settings, characters and languages (which in return allow you to let your characters speak with strong accents). Camera angles, expressions, movements and sounds can be easily selected and you can drag and drop them everywhere into your script.
In a relatively short while I came up with three short "music"-clips.

My first attempt has a Kevin Spacey look-a-like performing an excerpt of The Talking Heads´ "Once in a lifetime".



Next I went to Düsseldorf where tourists ask you the way to the "Kling Klang Studio" instead of the central station. Here I had lots of fun to teach the computer to speak with a German and French accent. "Ja tvoi sluga! Ja tvoi Rabotnik!"



I then managed to sneak into the Pet Shop Boy Mansion, where some fundamental questions were being discussed. "Love, etc?" is my most ambitious project today. But will the audience love me?



If you sign in for a free account you can also "remix" every film as you wish. George Lucas must have had his hands in this.

It´s great fun to play around with. You can call me Alan Smithee now.

Ballard Beat Box

No, this is not the new Pet Shop Boys sleeve!

It´s taken from a funny and technically amazing viral ad-gimmick that turns you into a human beat-box. You can chose between four templates, upload your (or any) portrait and within a minute your avatar will perform some wicked things to your face.

Since we here at StellaVista Towers have no great entertainment value with a pot warmer on our heads, I tried to upload pictures of some iconic friends.
Both, Liberace and Warhol didn´t work that well. Once morphed by the progeam they looked like Thunderbird puppets. It´s amazing how exchangeable they look when their hair/wig is hidden by a hat.


Anyway, it was much more fun to use a J.G. Ballard picture and it worked surprisingly well. Click here to see and hear JG Ballard aka MC Crashbox putting a donk on it!

MC Crashbox

Well, it´s in b/w but the morphing program is very picky and it was impossible to find a usable colour portrait of the man.

Andy MC


Then I had the smashing idea to use a (fake) image of the Damien-Hirst-Diamond-Skull. But again, the program wouldn´t accept the picture. I tried to modify it several times, but it didn´t work. Too bad, it would have been such a great contribution to this great Hirst-bashing project. Thanks to Jocko for bringing this great Jimmy Cauty project to my attention.

Last try was a screenshot of Kraftwerk´s "Musique Non Stop", since I wanted to see how an early, literally beatboxing CGI would look make the transition.
Boing Boom Tshack

Below you can try your own thing. It´s mostly in German but I think that it is possible to navigate the site anyway. Enter your birthday and location and it will play the Kraftwerk-video. If you want to start your own creation, click on the bottom left "werde Beatologist".

Craft Work

It is reported that Kraftwerk-founder Florian Schneider has finally left his band. This leaves Ralf Hütter as the only original member of the influential electronic pop-band.

Schneider, who never liked touring, was already missing on the current tour and was substituted by a long-time "Kling Klang"-Studio technician. Wouldn´t it have been fantastic if they finally went all the way to use the Schneider-Robot as a stand-in?


After all, Kraftwerk always tried to disappear behind their machines and their plans to have their robots perform a whole concert never came to fruition.


Since Kraftwerk have become their own cover band a long time ago I don´t even know if this will have any effect on any possible future releases (as if!). I find the news that the current line-up of the band will soon open for Radiohead on a South-American tour much more shocking!


While we´re at the subject of cover versions: This is one of my favourite Kraftwerk covers, which I already posted here.
Kernkraftwerk: Autobahn by Kernkraftwerk (nuclear power station).


Years ago I was talking with a British friend of mine and I was surprised that he (and apparently many others) always thought that Kraftwerk was German for craft work! It shows the true genius of the band and their concept: Even the phonetic misunderstanding of their name has its merits and some truth.

Kindertrauma

I came across this strange video of a Japanese artist/entertainer Maywa Denki who builds all these primitive, mechanical, noise making gadgets.
Well, the first part of this video is quite bizarre - even for a kiddie program. I immediately thought about what effect some of this would have had on me if I had watched it as a child. I would have been traumatized! There is something really eerie about those twitching "Geisha"-girls and let´s not even talk about the singing.



Thinking about this, I remembered some things that frightened me as a child. Things that nobody else would find memorable scared the shit out of me.
I remember listening to the radio while being home alone one evening. I was a single child and even up to the age of 10 I didn´t like being alone in the dark. It must have been around 1977 and the DJ enthusiastically announced a track from Kraftwerk´s new album. I heard "Autobahn" before, so I was looking forward to it. The track was "Schaufensterpuppen" (Showroom Dummies) and I remember to this day that I found it horribly disturbing.

The clanging beat, the spooky "choir" and the lifeless but threatening words worked up fear in my mind. The idea of creepy Showroom Dummies coming to life, breaking the glass and crawling the streets was really frightening me. Back then the irony of "going to the club and starting to dance" was totally lost on me. Instead I looked down the street through my window because I knew that only three houses down, there were real showroom dummies waiting...

I actually wanted to post the German version because its lyrics and sounds are much more intimidating than the English and French translations, but when I found this video-clip of "Showroom Dummies" I just had to post it. If you watch it to the end you will see Kraftwerk dancing! This will scare you too, no matter how old you are!



Thinking about this I remembered a website called Kindertrauma ("Your happy childhood ends here) which recollects and re-visits scenes and moments of cheesy horror flicks which scared you as a toddler.

Kindertrauma is of course dealing with the horrors American TV was inflicting on kids. It is full of retro-stuff you might not know if you haven´t watched US channels in the seventies or eighties.
Interestingly there are also contributions by younger readers who share their traumatizing Tv-moments. A Pepsi-Ad from 1995 was seen by some as nightmare inducing as a Busta Rhymes Video.

Ahh, that Busta Rhymes clip for "Gimme some mo`"! While I was 30 when this was on the air, I can totally understand the effect this could have on kids. The Bernhard Herrman -sample from Psycho alone makes the song creepy and there is something about the whole look of this thing that is very unsettling. This was directed by Hype Williams who did some of the most memorable videos during the last half of the nineties (and one of the best ever with "She´s a Bitch"). I wonder why he never moved into feature films.

Down and Out in Düsseldorf

"Techno" is often funny, but it´s hardly a genre which could be mistaken for having a sense of humor. One would certainly not start looking for it in German Techno!
Yet, the "in-house"-compilation "Cityspace" from infamous, Düsseldorf-based label Ata Tak managed to mix house with tongue-in-cheekiness without being blunt.

From the late 70s, Ata Atk was either cutting edge (or between the chairs) of art-punk, jazz, synth-pop, Schlager and Exotica. Run by members of Der Plan, the spirit of Ata Tak was actually exploring themes that would become hip half a generation later.

In the early 1980s the label was a hothouse for young and fresh talent. Der Plan, Andreas Dorau, Pyrolator, Holger Hiller were mixing punk with the Residents, Martin Denny and Charles Wilp and dared to sing in German!

The naive retro-futuristic paintings of Moritz Rrr made up the sleeve design and provided Ata Tak with a corporate identity that other labels would later emulate.

The equally young label Mute Records would hire Moritz Rrr to do a sleeve for Depeche Mode ("See You") which resulted in a mutual, lasting relationship with some of the artists.

Andreas Dorau would become a sort of figurehead for the "Neue Deutsche Welle", a movement that young Germans could identify with for a short time. It was modern, clever, witty , futuristic, aloof and would only last for a short time before the old lecherous group of Schlager producers jumped on the bandwagon.


When Ata Tak decided to do a house-music compilation according to their standards, they soon found out that there was not much to compile. So they made up a bunch of hilarious names, and recorded a bunch of tracks that were closer to the british sound of William Orbit´s Guerilla-label and Warp Records, than to the dire Westbam and Sven Väth.

The Music on Cityspace was mostly done by Der Plan, Andreas Dorau and Tommy Eckhart, who would much later become incredibly successful with "2Raumwohnung (2 room apartment), a duo which he formed with his partner, the legendary Inga Humpe.

The mostly made-up bands had names such as "Kitschfinger", "Boogie Mobile", "Ready Made" and "Schreibmaschin" (sic!). The latter (or the whole project?)must have been a nod to Mike Myers and his "Dieter"-character. I remember one of the few sketches I was able to see, where Dieter was presenting a fake "hitparade" with "Schreibmaschin" as a new entry. (Where are those skits on Youtube, btw?)

Musically, most of the tracks are pretty dated now. Stand outs are of course "Der Plan with an abstract robo-dada poem: "Uin Uin Moon Kona Bob Uin", and Andreas Dorau with ragga-rip-off "Das ist das wirkliche Leben".

My favourites however are two tracks which are so off base that they were actually foreshadowing two entire sub-genres by a decade: Kraftwerk cover-songs and Hiphop Mash-ups.

Tiny Sexy People: Rhymes to Kill
"Rhymes to Kill" by Tiny Sexy People uses a fantastic rap by the one and only Sparky D. (who was always a bit overshadowed by Roxanne Shante) and packs it ontop a groovy beat. A cheesy soundtrack sample (I have still not figured it out) makes this a smile inducing, timeless piece of forgotten pop.

Kernkraftwerk: Autobahn
The lol-track on Cityspace is probably the best Kraftwerk cover ever: "Autobahn" by Kernkraftwerk (!!!). I still have to giggle about the brilliant silliness of it all.
Keep in mind that this came out around the time the real Kraftwerk were destroying their legacy with the sad "Mix"-album. Now listen to "Kernkraftwerk" and compare it with the Senor Coconut versions from 2000! It´s not that far off, is it?

Sadly, I don´t have a proper scan of the brilliant sleeve (there´s an ocean inbetween). It shows the public-transport plan of Hamburg, but the stops are exchanged with global cities, placing them in their equivalent position on the globe. And yes, since 2004 I do actually live in Brasilia (green and purple line)! Next stop Buenos Aires!

...it plays a little melody.

Love at first sigh: The Korg Kaossilator is one of those gadgets a music geek like me just needs!
Conceived as a quick-to-use-dj-tool, it is actually a hand-held, battery-powered, pocket synthesizer which sticks its glitchy middle finger to the i-pod.

The dominant yellow colour is not the only thing that is reminiscent of Kraftwerks "Computerworld"-sleeve. The sound this little "pocket calculator" produces was clearly designed after the record that predicted machines like these 27 years ago.


The Kaossilator (how will ex-eastgermans like that name?) is the latest in a series of small powerful Korg DJ-tools which more or less make up a full set-up for aspiring electro musicians who are more into sound and fx than into complex melodies.

Put the Kaossilator next to the fantastic KP3, the mini KP and the Electribe and you have a mini-studio that looks totally science fiction! Miles away from the keyboard racks of yesterday and it´s more sexy than all those hunchbacked geeks cowering behind their Macs.

After its release last november, the Kaossilator was alledgedly sold out in Japan within minutes. At a price for only € 150,-- you can forgive its small contras, such as limited rhythm-lengths and no proper saving device.

Some presets tend to be a little bit too trance-y for my taste, but it IS a DJ-tool after all.

What this little thing is capable of can be checked on a free downloadble album, The Yellow Album which was recorded straight out of the Kaossilator, and a ton of Youtube clips.

0´10cc0: Sun Electric

Legend has it that the original version of "O locco" by Berlin duo Sun Electric was recorded during the night the wall came down. Tom Thiel and Max Loderbauer soon met Alex Paterson who was just getting started with Jimmy Cauty and Youth as The Orb. Heralding this floating track as the birth of ambient house, The Orb offered to release "O´locco" on their label WAU Mr Modo and did an epic session of eight remixes for the b-side (and a later promo-release).

After an abortive signing to legendary ZTT records, Sun Electric went to hot but patchy Belgian techno-label R&S records, who were at the forefront of the thriving techno-scene in the early nineties.

The first release was a 1993 re-issue of "O´locco", which - thanks to the wonderful sleeve by the Designers Republic - became "0´10cc0".

However the spelling, "O´Locco" in its original versions is a timeless, floating piece of beauty. The genre names "ambient house" and "balearic" nail it.

Sun Electric: O´Locco (Kama Sutra)

The basic groove is a slowed down Kraftwerk-sample ("It´s more fun to compute") which floats and bounces underneath a stream of swooshing and glistening synth-pads. A simple bassline is constantly changing its sound while cut-up and rhythmic female voices provide some erotic stimulus. Some pearly piano loops add another cool breeze to this stereophonic simulation of stoned afternoons on a tropical beach.


Sun Electric did some expeptional records later on, but I never found something that was so simple, perfect and endlessly re-listenable as "0´10cc0"

Ende/NEU! In Memoriam Klaus Dinger

German electronic-music pioneer Klaus Dinger has died of heart failure a few days before his 62nd birthday on March 21.

Klaus Dinger was an original member of Kraftwerk together with Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider and Michael Rother. He played drums on their first LP in 1971 but soon left to form Neu! with Michael Rother.

In Germany Neu! were always standing in the shadow of Kraftwerk, who perfected their polished robotic music with a clean, futuristic pop glimmer and a distinct teutonic image.

Neu! and their angular, metronomic rhythmic excursions which were often full of dub-like sound experiments were mostly regarded as drug music by the mainstream German media.

At the time, long-haired artists who came up with radical new sounds and ideas, breaking away from any convention were scaring the shit out of the post-war generation who eventually saw them as the same radicals that would soon terrorize the country by throwing bombs and killing industrialists.

A curious international audience marvelled at the sudden emergence of these children of the war survivors. What were they up to now? Was this the new sound of German efficiency? Or was it the bored protest of bohemian kids who were still born in ruined cities but who were now cutting the cord to the past, while profiteering from the Wirtschaftswunder-years? And why was their music so groovy and detached?

Understandably the musicians were not too happy with the Krautrock-label that was bestowed on them. They preferred to call their music "Kosmische Musik", or they were simply filed under Jazz and Rock.

After three albums Neu! split in 1975. Michael Rother decided to start a solo career in which he explored a more ambient sound.

Klaus Dinger went on to form La Düsseldorf, who were active until 1981. With "Rheinita" they even scored a varitable hit.

The euphoric, driving rhythm of Dingers drums and the electronic touches fit in quite well with Disco and New Wave. During this time the huge influence Neu! must have had on the new british music scene became obvious: John Foxx, Ultravox, OMD (who named a song "4 Neu!" as a hommage), Human League, they all cited Neu! as an inspiration.

Some of them would go on and hire Neu! producer Conny Planck to record in his legendary Conny Planck Studios.
The studio, which I was happy to have seen from the inside several times, was located in a transformed pigsty and cinema in a small village outside of Cologne, is one of those legends of the 70s and early 80s. If you were a big name band during this time you would record there or at Compass Point on the Bahamas. Go figure!

In 1985 Dinger and Rother reunited for a fourth Neu! album, which was released a decade later in 1995. Until today there is a quarrel about copy- and publishing rights which made re-issues a complicated affair.

"Isi" from their "Neu! 75" album is one of my favourites. It´s almost computerized rhythm, underlined with the simple piano motive and the subtle, celestial voices creates a wonderful, euphoric mood.
Avoiding the kitsch-trap by this much, it is a soundtrack for something that accelerates endlessly, going further and further and higher and higher...

Isolee: Beau mot plage...and before

There is a moment in Kraftwerks "It´s more fun to compute", when the sequencers and delays are playing in such perfect precission and harmony with each other that the whole sound seems to leave the basic song and takes on a life of its own.
Sadly this exstatic moment kicks in 20 seconds before the song -and with it the mammoth "Computerwelt" album- ends.
I always wanted this moment to go on for at least a few more minutes. Where is the 12" mix when you need one?

When I heard "Beau mot plage" by Frankfurt based musician Rajko Müller, aka Isolee, I suddenly thought that somebody had the same idea and extended this one moment into a whole song.

In fact, "Beau mot plage", does not sound as sequenced and controlled as "...more fun to compute". It has a disctinct "live" sound as if the sequencer, the drum machine and the backwards guitar are not quite in sync. After the track plays out long enough the effect is similar to that moment in the Kraftwerk song.
The whole song dissolves into sound and rhythm, simply reverberating around ist basic structure.

The video is definately not a masterpiece, but I like the goofiness and the lazy, stoned escalator groove of the whole thing.


"Beau mot plage" reminds me of another lost classic of german minimalism: Rheingolds "Dreiklangsdimensionen" (Triad dimensions). It became a big european hit around 81/82. Like Kraftwerk, Rheingold came from Düsseldorf and they were trying to create a new, modern sound.
Listen to the minimal rhythm and the wonderful machine-like guitar. It has a very airy and flowing sound. After years of Kraut-noodling, Germany finally found a way to produce proper popmusic, which dared to explore german lyrics without stepping into the "Schlager"-trap. It wouldn´t last too long.