KRAFTWERK - The Man-Machine

KRAFTWERK – The Man-Machine – Album Review

Day 16 of 50 and things are starting to get serious now. The big guns are coming out!

I have tried to steer away from making this a countdown of favourites in their order of preference as it would be just too difficult to put them into exact numerical sequence. This particular masterpiece would however be right up there with the finest in this 50, and I’m pretty certain a lot of my friends and extended music family might agree with me.

Kraftwerk is a German electronic band formed in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. This particular album of which i speak The Man-Machine was released in 1978 and is quite rightly considered by many high level producers and DJs as the most pioneering work in the history of the electronic music genre.

The album features tracks such as “The Robots” and “The Model”, both of which have had a staggering influence on the development of so many electronic productions and even popular music itself.

With a sound that was light years ahead of its time and cover art which has become iconic, The Man-Machine remains a timeless and influential work in the world of music.

I know you all have your faves and I too have many favourites scattered across their entire catalogue, but ‘The Man-Machine’ holds a very special place in my heart, for the music within and also what it represents to a lifetime of electronic music.

If ever an act defined a generation of music that I hold so dear to my heart, it is Kraftwerk. I’m not going to get deep into explaining their use of synthesisers, drum machines and how their music has been sampled by other artists thousands of times down the years as I would bore the balls off everyone, let’s just say that i believe we would be in a much different place in the world of music if these guys had never existed. I believe that anyone who has ever enjoyed any kind of electronic music owes these guys a lot of thanks.

At just 36 minutes long it is 36 minutes of sweet beautiful bleeps, beats and layering that has never been truly rivalled to this day. This is electronic music at its wholesome root core and the fact that this album was released 45 years ago and still sounds so fresh is testament to what pioneers of any musical genre should represent.

I say this pretty much every day, but please grab your next available 36 minutes with some big speakers or headphones and marvel at the stunning genius of this album, for the first time, or for old times sake.

This is without question, in my humble opinion, the finest electronic music album ever written.

RIP Florian