Minneapolis Hates Kraftwerk
The Minneapolis Star Tribune has a review of the influential German group Kraftwerk’s 100-minute show at the Myth nightclub. The performance was a warm-up for a headlining gig at Coachella next week.
It’s not clear if the show was terrible or if the review doesn’t like their music - but it seems that they hate Kraftwerk:
With all the flair of a power-point presentation at a mortgage-foreclosure seminar, the identically clad-in-black musicmakers stage demeanor was as emotionless and unanimated as the music itself. Co-founder Ralf Hutter occasionally sang — well, more like clinically chanted in English, German or French — simplistic lyrics that were really recitations of buzzwords. Of course, that is part of the social commentary of Kraftwerk, using few words and mechanical sounds nothing sounds as if its created by an actual musical instrument to lambaste radioactivity, espionage and societys dependence on machines
Kraftwerks music has influenced a wide range of stars, from David Bowie and Devo to Duran Duran and Daft Punk. On its last album, Coldplay sampled Kraftwerk. The German groups sounds presaged various musical movements, including synth-rock, new-wave, ambient and techno. Best known for the 1974 hit “Autobahn,” Kraftwerk has been less than prolific of late; the group has released only one studio album, 2003s “Tour de France Soundtracks,” in the past 25 years but has performed with greater regularity.
On Saturday, the tunes from “Tour de France” had more depth and musicality than the repetitious minimalism of the earlier material. “Elektro Kardiogramm” sounded like hyper-techno on quaaludes, and “Aero Dynamik” was modern sounding, with hip-hop scratching noises, a funky Prince-evoking bass line and a dance beat that even prompted a couple of the musicians to shake a leg.
The high point was “Radioactivity,” an ominous, active number with intense rhythms gurgling behind ping-ponging sounds. It was the only piece that built in intensity like a good rock song does. “Robots” was fun, delivered by four robots that, frankly, were more animated than the musicians they depicted. The nights lone disappointment was the classic “Autobahn”; the computerized dirge droned on in second gear for too many miles. Maybe thats why Kraftwerk needs a tune-up before roaring into the Coachella festival.
If you’ve seen Kraftwerk live recently, let me know what your thoughts are. Are they as boring as a Powerpoint demo, or does the Minneapolis reviewer just not “get” Kraftwerk’s aesthetic.
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Tags: Kraftwerk
Well I’ve seen videos of them in their latest shows on You Tube, the four of them up on stage like that for 100 mins. does have to be very boring! Some good industrial acts like VNV Nation have 2 to 4 people on stage but the main singer moves around a lot to keep things interesting. Kraftwerk just stands there basicly. I can see that not going over with a wider audience tbh.
The show was actually exactly what you would expect in a show by Kraftwerk. Looking at YouTube you’ll find that they really never do move during their performances. It was pretty obvious to me that the crowd that was there that night were into the show. They seemed to come to it with prior knowledge unlike the reviewer who should do a bit more research rather than go to a show never having heard the band only because s/he’s heard the band is important and then giving Wikipedia a cursory glance to fill in the gaping holes left in the written review.
I have to agree with DavefromMN. You should at least become familiar with the group/music before you write a negative review about one of the most amazing, creative and intelligent groups alive! The show @ MYTH was incredible! The minimalism of the stage show is part of what makes Kraftwerk who they are;it works for them! The music speaks for itself and the stage show does not need to be extravagant. Did you pay attention to what was going on on the screen behind them? they mixed old video’s with new and the imagery was well thought out and creative. I was mesmerized by how minimal and cool the stage was and how incredible the music sounded. Kraftwerk delievered and I am so happy what I was there.
One of my pet peeves of electronic music performance is performers that fail to communicate the relationship between what they are doing onstage and what you are hearing.
That said, I’ve seen Kraftwerk’s DVD of their show and it’s pretty impressive.
I still want to know, though, if they are really checking their email!
synthhead makes a good point. When artists fail to communicate what they’re doing to create the music, it can make for a boring show. I saw Daft Punk last time they were in New York, and I couldn’t stand it. The music was great, but they could have put in a mix tape for all anyone knew. They just stood there barely bobbing along to the music, and you couldn’t even see if their hands were moving. If they put one camera pointed at their equipment, it would have been much more exciting, but who knows, maybe they weren’t doing anything. It may not have even been them inside those suits. When I go to a show, I like to think I’ll be able to connect with the artist a bit more than if I were just sitting at home listening to their CD. Daft Punk failed miserably in that aspect, and it sounds like Kraftwerk may have been in the same boat.
The thing alot of people seem to forget is that that is Kraftwerk’s schtick.
They write amazing music, and that’s that. They dont need to bounce around on stage, they simply do the show they have always done, a multimedia one. I saw them a few years back and it was one of the best shows i have ever seen, of course they didnt move alot, bu i didnt expect them to. Comparing them to a “good”(?) industrial artist like VNV? Um, Ok. You may seem to forget that it was bands like Kraftwerk and Throbbing Gristle that actually gave industrial/Electronic music its voice. Hell, Kraftwerk was a major influence in early hip hop.
That said, if you hate it and get bored, please move to the back of the room next time, so the people who are enjoying it dont have to look at the back of your heads.
Yes the Strib was abysmal. I also note City Pages did not include them on the A list. THEY JUST DON’T GET IT, ARE ABYSMALLY STUPID, AND WILLFULLY IGNORANT. Calling the music emotionless reflects far more on the reviewer than the performers. WHAT AN ASS! Onion had a positive notice. But I haven’t read other reviews.
One of the most important concerts of my life. Other people I met traveled across the midwest to be there.
The reviewer noted the influece on others, duh, noted some current musicians dubbing, seemed to think Kraftwerk took a little something from today to tack on and bring themselves up to snuff.
The music is still groundbreaking, highly influential, and technically superb in concert. No sound problems here. Kraftwerk’s tones are always crisp, dynamic, in your face, loud enough, and brilliant in combining bits to approximate vocals in “Tour de France,” to name one high point. Yes, POWERpoint. Precise, planned, and effective. I could go on and on. And this reviewer has no clue as to the amount of work behind this. Kraftwerk creates about all with synthesis. There is no “sampling” nor acoustic sounds. They do it all.
Of course it may be hard for persons to grasp this when they can’t see them at work with the machines and analog type sources. When Holger Czukay was in town several years ago, he walked around with his stuff, turning knobs etc. Still this doesn’t make for a lot of groovy visuals.
The visuals as noted were excellent and combined with the sounds to a great degree- as far as evoking moods and thoughts.
Standing still, changing constumes, etc. wasn’t just lazily farting around. Probably what was missing for the reviewer was …Tits and Ass! The Brazilian Girls at Fine Line had good synthesis, a mix of styles, modern commercial appeal, and a gorgeous lead singer, with references to sex, etc. Maybe thats what the reviewer was looking for.
At Kraftwerk concert I saw plenty of excitement in the crowd, from a young woman in silver lame and red stiletto boots to others behind me swaying and bobbing, jumping, and screaming like crazy. We all had a great time. And that is part of a concert also.
Yes,it is sad that music reviews in twin cities publications fall into promo of local acts, promo of the big money makers, or fawning over personalities. I haven’t seen any good critical understanding of MUSIC in years. This is no different from any other subjects. Look at the media coverage of the primaries. Sound bites, American Idol, news entertainment. SHIT.
I absolutely agree with Michael. I was at the show and I thought it was amazing. First of all, I have to say that I never, NEVER NEVER NEVER trust any of the music or film reviews done by the Star Tribune or Vitamn magazine put out by the Star Trib because their reviews are usually not well expressed and most of the time, untrustworthy. I studied film critique and writing in college so I’m pretty well versed in that field. Even if they give positive reviews, they’re usually extremely base and of a more popular opinion. The person who reviewed the Kraftwerk show probably never even listened to them and maybe did a couple minutes of research before he or she got his free ticket handed to him. He was probably forced to go see them instead of some shitty local band who thinks they’re the next big hit, so he was probably all bitter from missing out on that.
I’ll admit, I went to the show with the impression that it could be totally awesome or just ok. I was a big fan, but probably not as much as a lot of the other fans there. During the entire duration of the show I was full of this incredible energy, the experience was phenomenal. The visuals, the music and the fans made it an overall unforgettable experience.
I’m so sick of the Twin Cities papers fighting to put out what they think is “hip”. It’s ridiculous, the Vitamn and Star Trib are always late on knowing who the new, “cool” bands are anyway. A new band comes out and a couple months later after everyone is already sick of them, they finally do a write up about them. It’s bullshit. Give up already, the fans already know what’s good without the Star Trib telling them. Let them decide on their own. Shit, indeed.
KW tomorrow night in denver! of course i’m going.
and speaking of guys behind laptops, Pole/Stefan Betke played here sunday night, and it rocked.
The show on saturday was a blast - truly a great performance and anyone (startrib) who says otherwise is out of touch with creativity. It was a dream come true to see Kraftwerk live.
I was there.
The performance ambience image material SOUND were all exquisitely superb….so OF COURSE the local dweeb @ the strib “didn’t “get it”.
It was INDEED a dream come true to see Kraftwerk LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!,
It also was A LOT of FUN!!