A few thoughts about ‘Computerwelt’ by Kraftwerk that I sent in to the marvelous GonkCast, the Autechre podcast…

Kraftwerk have always been there and my relationship has changed with them over the years. My first memory of them is in primary school when for the Christmas show, we had to go onto stage, one child at a time, in song-related fancy dress, while ‘our’ song played. 

One of the cool kids was dressed as a Man Machine-era robot and stole the show. My parents had dressed me in an adult’s Judo suit and I shuffled on to ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ by Karl Douglas!

It was completely terrifying and something that I’m sure scarred me. But the music stuck!

Fast forward a decade and as I explored music in those formative years that we all see as ‘the best years of music ever!’, i.e. when we’re in our late-teens and there’s nothing more important, Kraftwerk’s influence was everywhere, especially on my favourites of the time like New Order, Propaganda and the Art of Noise.

I knew Kraftwerk’s records, but it wasn’t for another couple of decades that I finally had the scope to investigate properly. A friend and I would take long car journeys across Europe (including one that visited Kling Klang Studios along the way) and naturally, Trans-Europa Express was a major part of the soundtrack and remains my favourite Kraftwerk album.

TEE for me is the sweet spot – a development from their early experiments, then Autobahn and Radio-Activity. Man-Machine started the ‘decline’ that continued into Computer World and gathered speed afterwards, resulting in Techno-Pop and The awful Mix!

When I listened to Computer World, it was Kraftwerk having fun, with their catchiest little melodies and (even) more inane lyrics. I wasn’t ready for it after the seriousness and, well, German-ness of the preceding records.

Listening now, I can see that I was the typical dogmatic young music fan, quick to discount work that didn’t fit MY view of how things should sound. 

Computer Welt is a great album. Every track is a familiar classic and the standard consistently (sky) high. The tracks are short but perfectly efficient – no slow builds, drops or extended outros, just lean melodic perfection. So many radical and groundbreaking ideas crammed in to 33 minutes. 

It sounds great too – so clean, clear and of course, like it was made by computers. Stereo placement is amazing and it’s almost obvious which member of the band is making each sound.

Looking back, it’s clear that the sounds here provide a palette for the next couple of decades of music, and not just electronic music. It’s hard to believe just how influential this record ended up being all over the world with direct, hard-wired connections to hip hop, funk, the New Romantics, techno and beyond.

The lyrical themes now sound a little dated but in quite a quaint way. While I don’t speak German, I do prefer to listen to the German language versions of Kraftwerk records. I rarely listen to any music with vocals these days and when I do, I let the vocals become almost an additional instrument. This is even easier when it’s a foreign language. 

Apologies to any German speakers out there, but to me, the deadpan, robotic delivery of the vocals suits German a little better too. Pocket Calculator/Taschenrechner is the best example of the difference that the language makes.

Incidentally, there are more lines of vocal in a couple of the German versions.

The various remasters over the years have spared the Computer World album any major edits or reworking, which is a relief. Listening to the Mix, where these familiar tracks have been given a thumping beat and additional, contemporary tweaking is as jarring as someone taking a ballpoint and drawing a beard and devil horns on your favourite photograph of your firstborn! 

Computerwelt is not my favourite Kraftwerk album, but that is only due to my (relative lack of) personal connection with it rather than its quality. As Dan often says about rating Autechre records on the podcast, ‘these are all tens*. Just some are more ten than others’!

Anyway, thanks for getting me listening to it again, and I’ll resurface once I’m through the discography…