Keithabigail

musichistory:

yvynyl:

Kraftwerk - Tanzmusik (1973)

wellrespected:

Ralf und Florian is such a fascinating transitional album to listen to, in that it so distinctly serves as a bridge between the heterodox experiments of Kraftwerk’s first two self-titled albums and the grand mechanical vision of Autobahn they would unveil a year later. It still has aggressively weird songs like the jittery “Elektrisches Roulette” or the flanged flute meditation “Tongebirge,” but it also lays the groundwork for future synth-propulsive constructions with “Tanzmusik.” The track takes obvious inspiration from Kraftwerk’s cultural contemporary Steve Reich, building an increasingly interwoven composition of swirling and repetitive musical phrases over a simplistic preset drum machine rhythm. It’s interesting to hear what instruments Hutter and Schneider were still using back in 1973: bells, chimes, real human hand claps, and even some of their first recorded use studio processed (and still terribly off-key) backing vocals. Electronic music has made huge strides since then, but something about listening to these early explorations of the boundary between acoustic and electronic in pop music still sounds fresh and revelatory today.

postpunk:

Nicely put. Also, don’t miss this live performance of “Tanzmusik” from 1973. Edit: …or this lullaby version of the song.

I love this =)