RALF & FLORIAN

"Ralf & Florian" is the 3rd full-length studio album by German krautrock/electronic music act Kraftwerk. The album was released through Philips in October 1973. This is the album where Kraftwerk begin their transition from krautrock act to electronic music act. "Ralf & Florian" features nodes toward the electronic style that Kraftwerk would play on later releases but there are still krautrock elements on the album too.

The more extensive use of synths and electronic devices provides the music on "Ralf & Florian" with a new dimension compared to the first two albums by Kraftwerk. The structure of the tracks are still rather experimental though and even though tracks like "Kristallo" and "Tanzmusik" have repetitive beats there are still lots of more ambient experiments on the album.

I understand this is a very influential, and back then probably quite futuristic sounding album release, but to my ears large portions of the music sound directionless and experimental for the sake of it. Like odd ambient background music, which creates little emotional impact. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.