Some of the most beautiful, era-defining music has been co-composed by Karl Bartos. 'The Robots', 'Computer Love', 'Neon Lights', 'Tour De France' and Kraftwerk's 1982 number one single 'The Model' all contain his deft musical touch. For the first time, in The Sound of the Machine, Bartos speaks candidly and with wit and humour about his life in Kraftwerk, a band widely acknowledged as being one of the most important in modern music.

In The Sound of the Machine, Karl vividly recalls what it was like to be in the Kling Klang studios during recording, describing the process and perfectly capturing the joy and passion of three people composing and recording. Now, with a successful solo career of 30 years, Karl Bartos recalls his post-war childhood, the amazement he felt on first hearing The Beatles, his first bands, his parallel career as a musician and teacher, his years with Kraftwerk, and his hopes and fears for today's musical culture. 'Full and frank disclosure of life in the world's most influential electronic band...

The album is an updated version of the 2020 Digital compilation of the same name, featuring mixes that were originally released between 1991 and 2021.

Alongside Kraftwerk’s own remixes, the album includes some of the world’s biggest DJs and Producers, including François Kervorkian, Orbital, Underground Resistance, DJ Rolando, Alex Gopher + Étienne de Crécy, William Orbit and Hot Chip.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Kraftwerk, remixes.. what else do you need to know? Well, possibly you don't need to know that much but let me tell you that every piece here shines with exactly the sort of calibre you'd expect from some of the biggest names in the electronic music field, and remixing arguably THE most influential catalogue in existence. Sounds pretty good right? Yeah, it is.

TRACK LISTING

CD TRACK-LISTING*
CD1
1. Non Stop - 8:32
2. Robotnik (Kling Klang Mix) - 7:43
3. Robotronik (Kling Klang Mix) - 4:54
4. Radioactivity (William Orbit Hardcore Remix - Kling Klang Edit) - 5:35
5. Radioactivity (François Kervorkian 12” Remix) - 7:27
6. Expo Remix (Kling Klang Mix 2002) - 5:40
7. Expo Remix (Kling Klang Mix 2001) - 6:49
8. Expo Remix (Orbital Mix) - 4:57
9. Expo Remix (François K + Rob Rives Mix) - 7:21
10. Home Computer (2021 Single Edit) - 4:45
CD2
1. Expo Remix (DJ Rolando Mix) - 7:29
2. Expo Remix (Underground Resistance Mix) - 3:58
3. Expo Remix (UR Thought 3 Mix) - 2:43
4. Aéro Dynamik (Kling Klang Dynamix) - 7:01
5. Aéro Dynamik (Alex Gopher / Étienne De Crécy Dynamik Mix) - 7:42
6. Aéro Dynamik (François K. Aero Mix) - 7:52
7. Aéro Dynamik (Intelligent Design Mix By Hot Chip) - 8:34
8. La Forme (King Of The Mountains Mix By Hot Chip) - 11:31
9. Tour De France (Etape 2) - 4:57
*Vinyl Track Sequence Is Slightly Different And Features A 6:33 Version Of La Forme (King Of The Mountains Mix By Hot Chip)

With its iconic Emil Schult sleeve, Kraftwerk release their international breakthrough album. The symphonic title track, an epic ode to the joys of motorway travel, wraps a mesmerising motorik rhythm around a sampled collage of car horns, engine noise, whirring tyres and radio crackle. In edited form, it becomes a revolutionary hit single around the world. Elsewhere, in wordless industrial folk music, the band reveal both their light and dark sides – "Mitternacht" is all creeping midnight shadows, while "Morgenspaziergang" is fresh with morning dew and birdsong. Two versions of "Kometenmelodie", one a starkly gothic prowl, the other a sunny electro boogie, provide further instrumental sound paintings. Pure and strong and bold, Kraftwerk compose cinema for the ears. The pop world falls in love with them. 

Kraftwerk embrace the atomic age with mixed emotions. Surfing on sine waves, scanning the stratosphere for stray radio signals, they plug themselves into a buzzing grid of energy and communication. From the stately eco-angst anthem "Radioactivity" to the synthetic Gregorian chants of "Radio Stars" and the melancholy machine processional of "Ohm Sweet Ohm", a sombre but engrossing monumentalism dominates. With heavily processed vocals in both German and English, Kraftwerk go global with depth and majesty. If factories and power stations are the new cathedrals, they write liturgies for a new industrial epoch. 

Kraftwerk beam themselves into the future by writing about home computers, online dating and globalised electronic surveillance years before these phenomena truly come into being. A journey into the bright hopes and dark fears of the booming microchip revolution, "Computer World" is a serenely beautiful and almost seamless collage of sensual melodies and liquid beatscapes. Tracks like "Numbers" and "Pocket Calculator", with their weightless bleeps and elastic beats, predict the silky rhythms of Chicago house and inspire a generation of Detroit techno artists. Kraftwerk's fanfare for the silicon age still sounds ageless, timeless and throbbing with invention. 

Kraftwerk's first fully digital album confirmed their clubland credentials and reworked 11 of their best-loved tunes for a new generation. Painstakingly reconstructed and sequenced in the band's Kling Klang studio, new versions of tracks like "The Robots", "Trans Europe Express" and "Home Computer" now feature more funky rhythms and cleaned-up, liquid-crystal sounds. A stark warning about pollution at Sellafield is added to the glistening overhaul of "Radioactivity", sparking a war of words with British Nuclear Fuels. But most of all, "The Mix" is a career-spanning collection of legendary electro anthems and a classy acknowledgment of the two-way traffic between Kraftwerk and club culture. 

The year 2003 marked the centenary of the Tour de France, the conceptual starting line for Kraftwerk's first album for over a decade. Although it features an immaculate new version of a 20-year-old former single, the exquisitely graceful "Tour de France", pop nostalgia is not on the menu. From the chunky cyber-funk of "Vitamin" to the restless metallic shimmers of "Aéro Dynamik", this is emphatically the sound of 21st century techno visionaries. 

Kraftwerk celebrate Europe's romantic past and shimmering future with a glistening panorama of elegance and decadence, travel and technology. The infinite vistas of "Europe Endless" and "Endless Endless" bookend the album, which includes the unsettling Kafka-esque fable "The Hall Of Mirrors" and the hilarious "Showroom Dummies" - Kraftwerk's elegantly ironic reply to critiques of their deadpan manner. But it is the streamlined rhythmic locomotive of "Trans Europe Express" which dominates with its doppler-effect melodic swerves and hypnotic, pneumatic, piston-pumping rhythm. Along with its sister track, "Metal On Metal" which New York DJ Afrika Bambaataa would re-construct five years later for his own seminal "Planet Rock", this milestone in avant-pop modernism later becomes a crucial influence on the early pioneers of hip-hop & sampling, electro and industrial music. Poetry in motion. 

A bold new look, sound and concept for Kraftwerk. Over supple processed rhythms which predate the rise of European techno and trance, they address automation and alienation, space travel and engineering, the seductive allure of urban landscapes and the vacant glamour of celebrity. Clipped and funky, "The Robots" adds another dimension to Kraftwerk's ultra-dry sense of humour. Behind its intoxicating melodic pulse, "The Model" is a highly prophetic satire on the beauty industry, so ahead of its time that it only becomes a UK chart-topper by accident three years later. And "Neon Lights" is Kraftwerk's most achingly romantic song to date, a sci-fi lullaby for cities at twilight. Pure magic. 

Kraftwerk return from five years of silence to reclaim their throne as leaders of a machine-pop revolution that they themselves began over a decade before. Their "Techno Pop" album, first released under the name "Electric Café" but now restored to its originally intended title, provides a 360-degree overview of a multi-lingual, multi-channel, musically diverse global village. From the block-rocking beats of "Boing Boom Tschack" to the electronic funk and computer animation of "Musique Non Stop", Kraftwerk soar into the digital age. Their first excursion into digital recording finds both beauty and unease in a polyglot world of permanent media overload. Once again, Dusseldorf's test pilots of the musical future effortlessly break new ground. 

VERY LIMITED GERMAN EDITION OF THE ALBUM.

The multi-media project Kraftwerk was started in Düsseldorf, Germany 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. They set up their electronic Kling Klang Studio where they conceived and produced all Kraftwerk albums. 

Kraftwerk created the soundtrack for the digital age of the 21st century. AUTOBAHN 1974, RADIO-ACTIVITY 1975, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS 1977, THE MAN-MACHINE 1978, COMPUTER WORLD 1981, TECHNO POP 1986, THE MIX 1991, TOUR DE FRANCE 2003. Their compositions, using innovative techniques, electronic sounds and synthetic voices combined with computerised rhythms, had a major musical influence on Electro, Hip Hop, Techno and Synth-Pop.

VERY LIMITED GERMAN EDITION OF THE ALBUM.

The multi-media project Kraftwerk was started in Düsseldorf, Germany 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. They set up their electronic Kling Klang Studio where they conceived and produced all Kraftwerk albums. 

Kraftwerk created the soundtrack for the digital age of the 21st century. AUTOBAHN 1974, RADIO-ACTIVITY 1975, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS 1977, THE MAN-MACHINE 1978, COMPUTER WORLD 1981, TECHNO POP 1986, THE MIX 1991, TOUR DE FRANCE 2003. Their compositions, using innovative techniques, electronic sounds and synthetic voices combined with computerised rhythms, had a major musical influence on Electro, Hip Hop, Techno and Synth-Pop.

VERY LIMITED GERMAN EDITION OF THE ALBUM.

The multi-media project Kraftwerk was started in Düsseldorf, Germany 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. They set up their electronic Kling Klang Studio where they conceived and produced all Kraftwerk albums. 

Kraftwerk created the soundtrack for the digital age of the 21st century. AUTOBAHN 1974, RADIO-ACTIVITY 1975, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS 1977, THE MAN-MACHINE 1978, COMPUTER WORLD 1981, TECHNO POP 1986, THE MIX 1991, TOUR DE FRANCE 2003. Their compositions, using innovative techniques, electronic sounds and synthetic voices combined with computerised rhythms, had a major musical influence on Electro, Hip Hop, Techno and Synth-Pop.

VERY LIMITED GERMAN EDITION OF THE ALBUM.

The multi-media project Kraftwerk was started in Düsseldorf, Germany 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. They set up their electronic Kling Klang Studio where they conceived and produced all Kraftwerk albums. 

Kraftwerk created the soundtrack for the digital age of the 21st century. AUTOBAHN 1974, RADIO-ACTIVITY 1975, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS 1977, THE MAN-MACHINE 1978, COMPUTER WORLD 1981, TECHNO POP 1986, THE MIX 1991, TOUR DE FRANCE 2003. Their compositions, using innovative techniques, electronic sounds and synthetic voices combined with computerised rhythms, had a major musical influence on Electro, Hip Hop, Techno and Synth-Pop.

Kraftwerk beam themselves into the future by writing about home computers, online dating and globalised electronic surveillance years before these phenomena truly come into being. A journey into the bright hopes and dark fears of the booming microchip revolution, "Computer World" is a serenely beautiful and almost seamless collage of sensual melodies and liquid beatscapes. Tracks like "Numbers" and "Pocket Calculator", with their weightless bleeps and elastic beats, predict the silky rhythms of Chicago house and inspire a generation of Detroit techno artists. Kraftwerk's fanfare for the silicon age still sounds ageless, timeless and throbbing with invention.

TRACK LISTING

1. Computer World (2009 Digital Remaster)
2. Pocket Calculator (2009 Digital Remaster)
3. Numbers (2009 Digital Remaster)
4. Computer World 2 (2009 Digital Remaster)
5. Computer Love (2009 Digital Remaster)
6. Home Computer (2009 Digital Remaster)
7. It's More Fun To Compute (2009 Digital Remaster)

Kraftwerk return from five years of silence to reclaim their throne as leaders of a machine-pop revolution that they themselves began over a decade before. Their "Techno Pop" album, first released under the name "Electric Café" but now restored to its originally intended title, provides a 360-degree overview of a multi-lingual, multi-channel, musically diverse global village. From the block-rocking beats of "Boing Boom Tschack" to the electronic funk and computer animation of "Musique Non Stop", Kraftwerk soar into the digital age. Their first excursion into digital recording finds both beauty and unease in a polyglot world of permanent media overload. Once again, Dusseldorf's test pilots of the musical future effortlessly break new ground.

TRACK LISTING

1. Boing Boom Tschak (2009 Digital Remaster)
2. Techno Pop (2009 Digital Remaster)
3. Musique Non Stop (2009 Digital Remaster)
4. The Telephone Call (2009 Digital Remaster)
5. House Phone (2009 Digital Remaster)
6. Sex Object (2009 Digital Remaster)
7. Electric Café (2009 Digital Remaster)

The year 2003 marked the centenary of the Tour de France, the conceptual starting line for Kraftwerk's first album for over a decade. Although it features an immaculate new version of a 20-year-old former single, the exquisitely graceful "Tour de France", pop nostalgia is not on the menu. From the chunky cyber-funk of "Vitamin" to the restless metallic shimmers of "Aéro Dynamik", this is emphatically the sound of 21st century techno visionaries.

TRACK LISTING

1. Prologue (2009 Digital Remaster)
2. Tour De France Étape 1 (2009 Digital Remaster)
3. Tour De France Étape 2 (2009 Digital Remaster)
4. Tour De France Étape 3 (2009 Digital Remaster)
5. Chrono (2009 Digital Remaster)
6. Vitamin (2009 Digital Remaster)
7. Aéro Dynamik (2009 Digital Remaster)
8. Titanium (2009 Digital Remaster)
9. Elektro Kardiogramm (2009 Digital Remaster)
10. La Forme (2009 Digital Remaster)
11. Régéneration (2009 Digital Remaster)
12. Tour De France (2009 Digital Remaster)

Kraftwerk's first fully digital album confirmed their clubland credentials and reworked 11 of their best-loved tunes for a new generation. Painstakingly reconstructed and sequenced in the band's Kling Klang studio, new versions of tracks like "The Robots", "Trans Europe Express" and "Home Computer" now feature more funky rhythms and cleaned-up, liquid-crystal sounds. A stark warning about pollution at Sellafield is added to the glistening overhaul of "Radioactivity", sparking a war of words with British Nuclear Fuels. But most of all, "The Mix" is a career-spanning collection of legendary electro anthems and a classy acknowledgment of the two-way traffic between Kraftwerk and club culture.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Robots (2009 Digital Remaster)
2. Computer Love (2009 Digital Remaster)
3. Pocket Calculator (2009 Digital Remaster)
4. Dentaku (2009 Digital Remaster)
5. Autobahn (2009 Digital Remaster)
6. Radioactivity (2009 Digital Remaster)
7. Trans Europe Express (2009 Digital Remaster)
8. Abzug (2009 Digital Remaster)
9. Metal On Metal (2009 Digital Remaster)
10. Home Computer (2009 Digital Remaster)
11. Music Non Stop (2009 Digital Remaster)

With its iconic Emil Schult sleeve, Kraftwerk release their international breakthrough album. The symphonic title track, an epic ode to the joys of motorway travel, wraps a mesmerising motorik rhythm around a sampled collage of car horns, engine noise, whirring tyres and radio crackle. In edited form, it becomes a revolutionary hit single around the world. Elsewhere, in wordless industrial folk music, the band reveal both their light and dark sides – "Mitternacht" is all creeping midnight shadows, while "Morgenspaziergang" is fresh with morning dew and birdsong. Two versions of "Kometenmelodie", one a starkly gothic prowl, the other a sunny electro boogie, provide further instrumental sound paintings. Pure and strong and bold, Kraftwerk compose cinema for the ears. The pop world falls in love with them.

TRACK LISTING

1. Autobahn (2009 Digital Remaster)
2. Kometenmelodie 1 (2009 Digital Remaster)
3. Kometenmelodie 2 (2009 Digital Remaster)
4. Mitternacht (2009 Digital Remaster)
5. Morgenspaziergang (2009 Digital Remaster)

Kraftwerk embrace the atomic age with mixed emotions. Surfing on sine waves, scanning the stratosphere for stray radio signals, they plug themselves into a buzzing grid of energy and communication. From the stately eco-angst anthem "Radioactivity" to the synthetic Gregorian chants of "Radio Stars" and the melancholy machine processional of "Ohm Sweet Ohm", a sombre but engrossing monumentalism dominates. With heavily processed vocals in both German and English, Kraftwerk go global with depth and majesty. If factories and power stations are the new cathedrals, they write liturgies for a new industrial epoch.

TRACK LISTING

1. Geiger Counter (2009 Digital Remaster)
2. Radioactivity (2009 Digital Remaster)
3. Radioland (2009 Digital Remaster)
4. Airwaves (2009 Digital Remaster)
5. Intermission (2009 Digital Remaster)
6. News (2009 Digital Remaster)
7. The Voice Of Energy (2009 Digital Remaster)
8. Antenna (2009 Digital Remaster)
9. Radio Stars (2009 Digital Remaster)
10. Uranium (2009 Digital Remaster)
11. Transistor (2009 Digital Remaster)
12. Ohm Sweet Ohm (2009 Digital Remaster)

A bold new look, sound and concept for Kraftwerk. Over supple processed rhythms which predate the rise of European techno and trance, they address automation and alienation, space travel and engineering, the seductive allure of urban landscapes and the vacant glamour of celebrity. Clipped and funky, "The Robots" adds another dimension to Kraftwerk's ultra-dry sense of humour. Behind its intoxicating melodic pulse, "The Model" is a highly prophetic satire on the beauty industry, so ahead of its time that it only becomes a UK chart-topper by accident three years later. And "Neon Lights" is Kraftwerk's most achingly romantic song to date, a sci-fi lullaby for cities at twilight. Pure magic.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Robots (2009 Digital Remaster)
2. Spacelab (2009 Digital Remaster)
3. Metropolis (2009 Digital Remaster)
4. The Model (2009 Digital Remaster)
5. Neon Lights (2009 Digital Remaster)
6. The Man Machine (2009 Digital Remaster)

Kraftwerk celebrate Europe's romantic past and shimmering future with a glistening panorama of elegance and decadence, travel and technology. The infinite vistas of "Europe Endless" and "Endless Endless" bookend the album, which includes the unsettling Kafka-esque fable "The Hall Of Mirrors" and the hilarious "Showroom Dummies" - Kraftwerk's elegantly ironic reply to critiques of their deadpan manner. But it is the streamlined rhythmic locomotive of "Trans Europe Express" which dominates with its doppler-effect melodic swerves and hypnotic, pneumatic, piston-pumping rhythm. Along with its sister track, "Metal On Metal" which New York DJ Afrika Bambaataa would re-construct five years later for his own seminal "Planet Rock", this milestone in avant-pop modernism later becomes a crucial influence on the early pioneers of hip-hop & sampling, electro and industrial music. Poetry in motion.

TRACK LISTING

1. Europe Endless (2009 Digital Remaster)
2. The Hall Of Mirrors (2009 Digital Remaster)
3. Showroom Dummies (2009 Digital Remaster)
4. Trans Europe Express (2009 Digital Remaster)
5. Metal On Metal (2009 Digital Remaster)
6. Abzug (2009 Digital Remaster)
7. Franz Schubert (2009 Digital Remaster)
8. Endless Endless (2009 Digital Remaster)