Minimum-Maximum

After 35 years, several landmark albums in the evolution of electronic music, and incomparable influence across the genre, the Dusseldorf-originated band Kraftwerk (founded by Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter and now including Fritz Hilpert and Henning Schmitz) has more than left its mark. Which makes the arrival of the band’s first official live release such a special and welcome event. Recorded during the group's 2004 journey through Europe, Japan, and the U.S., Minimum-Maximum is a representation of their revitalized live show. Visuals are such a crucial aspect of their performances that the album will naturally fall short of making you feel as if you are there – whether it's Moscow, Warsaw, Budapest, or San Francisco – while in your car or living room. It all sounds good – sharp, vibrant, alive. The original arrangements are often altered slightly, the tracks are tactfully sequenced, and the crowd noise is kept to a minimum, so the release is sort of a glorified greatest-hits collection. All the hits are here, but nicely buffed to a high chrome finish.

The first part of the album leans toward more recent material, with Planet Of Visions offering a groovier reconfiguration of Expo 2000. Despite not stacking up to the older works, there’s nonetheless great flow between the smooth revolutions of Chrono, which effortlessly gives way to the pumping energy of Tour De France - Etape 2. Familiar tracks are radically overhauled. Numbers and The Robots ripple with digital muscle – both thoroughly modern dancefloor monsters. Radio-Activity, once spindly, is now monumental. Tracks like Aero Dynamik and the beautiful Elektro Kardiogramm, from 2003’s Tour De France Soundtracks may not have the revolutionary credentials of Trans-Europe Express, but certainly have the precision and dynamism to match Kraftwerk’s heirs, from Plastikman to Cylob. Another highlight is a shorter, warmer version of Neon Lights.

Nearly everything on Minimum-Maximum sounds astoundingly fresh. Just as Kraftwerk was an innovator for electronic music in the seventies and early eighties, this release makes it feel like no ground has been lost, like Kraftwerk can still battle the electro-giants of today and emerge victorious. Minimum-Maximum reinforces just how forward thinking Schneider and Hutter were more than three decades ago, when the notion of “robot pop” must have sounded far out even during the indulgent, heavily experimental prog-rock era. The Beatles and Kraftwerk may not have the ring of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, but, nonetheless, these are the two most important bands in music history. Without Kraftwerk’s pioneering “robot pop” there would have been no New Order, acid house, Prodigy, electroclash or Daft Punk. With only two studio albums in the last 20 years, you have to give them credit for some of the most relentlessly glistening electronic music ever crafted, and a sound that remains surprisingly pure. Since Autobahn, Kraftwerk have created music in which melody and rhythm become one, and roughly two-thirds of the tracks on Minimum-Maximum are perfect examples of this precise, economical aesthetic. Cut, copy and paste this definitive record into your world.