CONCERT REVIEW

KRAFTWERK 3D CONCERT (2014)

by Owen Cooney

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Kraftwerk’s 3D concert asks the audience to think about modern life. The group, which is currently touring and will soon be arriving in Japan, poses a question we don’t often think about: how does one stay human in a world that is largely operated through machines, computers, and robots? Think about how many hours a day you stay chained to one mechanical device or other, (quite possibly with your eyes glazed over). Do you think that’s natural? Sometimes you need someone to point out how strange our lives are, and that is the purpose of art. Kraftwerk make music that (in combination with the striking 3D images in the background) is also art. During their show, the band members wear skin-tight suits that make them look like robots and sing about machines and binary code — what could be seen as a warning that we are in danger of losing our humanity. Yet, because of the subtle humor, grace and emotion in their performance, their show feels more like a reassurance that humans are still human, and always will be.

The organic nature of this technological music makes more sense when you learn that the founders of Kraftwerk, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, started out using traditional instruments. The organ player and flutist (respectively) sought to create unique music with the Krautrock movement that emerged in Germany in the 1960’s. Like many Germans, they wanted to do something different from what the Anglo-American bands were doing, and so they ended up wading into the negative space that rock left behind: electronic music. They set up a studio called Kling Klang in Dusseldorf and experimented with vocoders and Minimoogs. They became pioneers who paved the way for techno and dub step by taming the sounds of the computer so that they would evoke human feelings, when those robotic sounds had every potential to alienate us.

Kraftwerk’s most recent set list stresses their classics, like “The Robots” (1978) and “Tour de France,” (1983) — but these songs that came out decades ago have been reworked to sound incredibly fresh and relevant. In particular, “Radioactivity,” (1976) is particularly poignant because it adds Fukushima to the list of other atomic disaster sites: Chernobyl, Harrisburg, Sellafield. The group also slips in newer tracks like “AeroDynamik” (2004) and “Planet of Visions” (2005) to prove that they can sound as fresh as any other techno act. This is a great show and you will be unlikely to find any other act that carries so much historical clout (over 40 years of music-making) and yet sounds so in-synch with how we see and experience the world today. Kraftwerk will be playing in Japan at Sonicmania (8/15) and Summer Sonic (8/16–17). I recommend anyone who has a heart and isn’t a robot to see this group when they visit next month.

*The author saw Kraftwerk play on July 1 at Paramount Theater in Seattle.