THE MAN-MACHINE [AKA: DIE MENSCH-MASCHINE]

If we are talking about artists from the 70s era of German experimental music, while Faust and Can advanced rock music forward, none were more influential in the realm of electronic music as Kraftwerk was. You could argue that mantle goes towards Tangerine Dream, and that is true that they did influence a great deal of artistic electronic music that was certainly very spacey and ambient, but none were influential to many artists in the future that'd inspire a ton of genres from trip-hop to French electronic dance music, to even the broad strokes of synthpop than Kraftwerk. Started as a krautrock and drone band, and after their successful album of Autobahn, they quickly became their own with their unique brand of electronic music that combined the eccentric pop of the time with the broad progressive strokes the underground German scene had at the time. It created a unique and highly influential musical landscape for the band to explore. It was robotic, but not soulless. I will say they are not my favorite band that came out of the German experimental music scene, but I do have the highest respect for them, even more so after I heard this album. Before getting into this album I expected my usual Kraftwerk affairs, similar to the stuff that I'd heard from Autobahn or the album they'd release after this one, Computerwelt. It was none of those, but possibly prototypical versions of genres that hadn't existed yet.

Die Mensch-Maschine is a fairly short album but has a lot to unpack. Die Roboter is the first song on the record, and with it, we get a mix of electronic music with disco strangely enough. If you couldn't already tell by the sounds of this song, then I suggest you listen to Daft Punk for a bit, since this song is pretty much the future of euro step music. Incredibly bouncy synths, robotic voices, electro steps, and a whole wide range of unique additional flairs make this a clear shot example of being ahead of the curve. I have no idea what the German experimental scene was on, but it almost was like they could see into the future with the songs they created. The robotic personas Kraftwerk would utilize are fun and unique for the time, and they had some fun portraying themselves as machines less than flesh. While that may sound quite saddening, it was what made them drive their music forward. This is their national anthem, a robotic, distant, cold, calculated, yet still so rich in energy song that is incredibly fun to listen to.

Kraftwerk was also big into the themes of space, as evident with Spacelab. A lot of celestial keyboard works bounce around through many vibrant melodies and sounds that wrap the listener around in a cool and collected state of mind. The rhythm laid down here sets the mood for the entire song, being this cool and collected piece of music that might have some more up its sleeve. Ethereal, bright, and brimming with excellency. A classic Kraftwerk song.

Metropolis is another example of what a classic Kraftwerk song sounds like. Deep in the synthpop on this one, we get even more vibrant electronic dance music that is uniquely inspirational. In a modern context, I get a lot of vibes from French electronic musicians like Daft Punk and Étienne de Crécy, however more laid back as the music expresses itself with only one word repeated through the song: "Metropolis". This is a metropolis of sound and styles that salivates every aspect of its core and shows off the humanity Kraftwerk has deep within its robotic shells. Kraftwerk for me has always been a band that features an optimistic tint to their glasses with their more industrial style of music, and it's an aspect of the band that I think works for them in spades. Metropolis is an example of such. It's fun, and built from the ground up to be fun, but without it being borderline commercial. It is a form of music that I slowly but surely love with each passing moment.

That isn't even the best part. All those songs are great but none compare to my favorite song off this record, Das Model. What can I say about this song? Well for starters it is incredibly unique for its time. I have an itch that this song is what inspired most of the sounds from the 90s era of video games, specifically with the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. I wouldn't be surprised since they were inspirational to one of the bigger known Japanese synthpop groups, Yellow Magic Orchestra, who also had an equally odd robotic feel to their personas. I also dig how tongue and cheek the lyrics are. It's very much trying to take a stab at how companies commercialize people's talents for profit, slowly burning up the people they're exploiting. Kraftwerk seems like a resilient enough band for them to not overheat since they're still around today, but even then with their popularity it definitely must've been hard to cool down. It is a song filled with vibrancy and uniqueness but tells a story that anyone no matter what field they are in could relate to.

Afterward, we get the longest song off the album, an 8-9 minute tune called Neonlicht. This is the only song off the album I have issues with, and it's the length surprisingly enough. The first half of the song is a beautiful, almost pre- Vaporwave style of music with beautiful singing and a crisp sound to boot. Afterward is where the song started to become an issue for me. They start to repeat this melody over and over again for 5-6 minutes, and it gets rather annoying. Nothing new happens in that repetition of patterns, and what once felt like a beautiful song about the lights in the city, soon became a repetitive hazard. I think they should've ended the song at 3:10. It'd make the album even shorter, and it'd make the song short, but it'd make the album a possible masterpiece for me. The first half is great and stellar, but the second half could've been something more.

The album does end on a high note with the title track, Die Mensch-Maschine. You hear that melody right? That right there is what you'll hear in quite a bit of rap songs nowadays, and can you blame the artists that use this little harmony? It is immaculate and strange, yet so right with the mood of the song. It'd be more bizarre to NOT try and use that for an equally influential genre of music such as hip-hop and trip-hop. This is what I love about the German experimental scene. Acts like Kraftwerk, Faust, Can, and so many others have inspired so many artists and genres that even the most basic melody can inspire millions to try their hands on the wheel, resulting in some of the biggest genres in the world. We gotta thank Kraftwerk for that, that's for certain.

I am surprised that this became one of my favorite Kraftwerk records, but how could you not love it? While imperfect due to Neonlicht, all the rest of the songs here are stellar in conveying moods, themes, and beauty in an otherwise robotic shell. I do not doubt in my mind that Kraftwerk is one of the most influential artists to come out of the 70s German scene. Their music inspired so much for decades upon decades that their influence can still be seen today. What a revolutionary work of art.