4Ever Songs: Kraftwerk “The Model”

“She’s a model and she’s looking good.” In February 1982, the sophisticated deadpan of Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hütter hovered like a drone over a UK top 10 that included Bucks Fizz and Shakin’ Stevens. “The Model” was originally released on the band’s classic 1978 album The Man Machine, but EMI revived the song as a B-side to “Computer Love.” DJs preferred “The Model”, so the label reissued it as the double A-side and created the first UK number one for an all-German group.

“Das Model” (in its original German version) evolved from a poem the band’s artistic collaborator Emil Schult wrote about the high-fashion models he observed in a Cologne nightclub. Some feminists claim the song objectifies its subject: a woman who only exists for the male gaze, smiling for money. Others defend it as a critique of the consumer society which reduces women to nameless automatons.

Hit of the week: Working Men’s Club ‘Teeth’

Whilst previous single ‘Bad Blood’ aims for Talking Heads, ‘Teeth’ makes you look silly by destroying all previous conceptions of what you thought Working Men’s Club  would be musically; but they help you dance away the smirks regardless.

A lazy review would associate ‘Teeth’ with LCD Soundsystem, however instead there’s more of a Post-punk Kraftwerk at play – coupled with a very prominent Mark E Smith esque vocal – that doesn’t so much invite you to the dancefloor as much as putting a stopper in your dancing shoes.

In short this is perfect evolution for WMC with its obnoxious synths that build throughout before detonating into an indie fuelled samba jam that gets more and more incessant as the track draws on.

Favourite Gig: Kraftwerk

Following their successful worldwide 3D concert tours, the pioneers of electronic music Kraftwerk present their show at the Festival Jardins Pedralbes. Their compositions, which employ innovative techniques, synthetic voices and computerized beats, have made a huge international impact on so many music genres. During their live concerts, Kraftwerk (made up of Ralf Hütter, Henning Schmitz, Fritz Hilpert and Falk Grieffenhagen) illustrate their belief in the respective contributions of human and machine.

Divus Julius presents…International Teachers of Pop

When times are hard for Britain, Sheffield produces brilliant electronic pop groups. The Human League in the 80s, Moloko in the early 90s… and now International Teachers of Pop, arriving ready for Brexit with a dazzling debut album and tour.

They first appeared last summer with minor-key synthpop epic Age of the Train, which they described as “Northern Rail-baiting nerd disco”. A sample of an automated station announcement (about a delay to the 13.21 to Manchester airport) graced the middle-eight, and other songs tackle modern life’s absurdities through similarly witty means. On Repeat is about the monotony of going to work in May’s Britain set to a Giorgio Moroder-style soundtrack. A Kraftwerk-like cover of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wallis, fittingly, called The Re-moaner Mix.

ITOP are Adrian Flanagan and Dean Honer (of Moonlandingz and theEccentronic Research Council), plus singer Leonore Wheatley, whose vocals give the music an iciness redolent of Ladytron. The album was written on analogue synthesisers and dusty drum machines, but the band have a shiny, contemporary vision.

Favourite Gig: O.M.D.

Andy McCluskey (vocals and bass) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards) were only after one thing when they started Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark in 1978: to change the world. Punk was exploding in London, but on the outskirts of Liverpool, far from safety pins and tartan, the duo found their own way of rebelling, by swapping out guitars for sythensizers, travelling the motorway paved by Kraftwerk.

They didn’t trust success, but found it without looking with hits like ‘Enola Gay’ off their second album, ‘Organisation’ (1980) and ‘Souvenir’ and ‘Joan of Arc (Maid of Oreleans)’ from their third effort, ‘Architecture & Morality’ (1981). The experimental ‘Dazzle Ships’ (1983) was a commercial harakiri, and industry pressure pushed them to mass-produced pop. A half a dozen duds went out until the mid-90s when they disbanded. Back together in the mid-2000s, OMD now present their third LP from the band’s second era, ‘The Punishment of Luxury’ (2017).

Pardals: Die Katapult

De la conjunció de l´Anna Fredriksson, veu, vocoder i teclats (també a Los Ganglios), i de l´Elena Comas, veu i baix (també a Neleonard), neix un univers propi i original on la seva música reverbera des de l’espai fins al mateix moll de l´os. Els seus ritmes hipnòtics arriben a l’èxtasi en cada tornada i les seves lletres, en alemany, reflexionen sobre la quotidianitat al llarg de la història. Els seus fans també escolten Stereo Total o Das Kabinettk, passant per Die Doraous & Die Marines o Kraftwerk. Algú va dir d’elles que recorden al “grup més alemany al sud dels Pirineus”, Hidrogeness… Déu n’hi do! S’ha intentat descriure la seva música amb un batibull d’adjectius de eclèctica definició: electro-punk, reminiscències kraut, ressons de synthpop amb estructures minimal… i un que, per unir diversos d’aquests, les defineix amb encert: krautpop mediterrani. La clau per estimar-les la trobareu en els seus demolidors directes on les seves cançons reuneixen la força per ser catapultades cap al cel. Die Katapult són els “pardals” d’aquesta setmana.

Kraftwerk en 3D

L’espectacle de Kraftwerk en 3D torna a Barcelona, després de poder-se veure al Sónar 2014, al Gran Teatre del Liceu i el marc del nou Suite Festival. El directe del quartet alemany sincronitza l’espectacle audiovisual, el so digital més pur i les projeccions 3D. És una ‘rave’ d’art electrònic en tecnologia 3D a partir de la poderosa iconografia que ha estat sempre relacionada amb la seva carrera.

 

Fundats el 1970 a l’escena experimental de Düsseldorf per Ralf Hütter -únic supervivent de l’encarnació ‘clàssica’ de la banda a la formació actual- i Florian Schneider, Kraftwerk són considerats els pioners de la música electrònica. Des dels inicis de la seva carrera van considerar els seus concerts com cites audiovisuals. La seva influència en el camp de l’art visual contemporani justifica les retrospectives que els van dedicar el MoMa de Nova York en 2012 o la Tate Modern de Londres.

 

El grup ha demanat que les entrades –un màxim de 3 per compra– portin imprès el número de DNI del comprador. Les entrades nominatives no permetran l’accés al Liceu si els que les porten no estan acompanyats del titular del DNI associat a la compra. El dimecres 22 d’abril al Gran Teatre del Liceu.