This month it is 44 years ago since Kraftwerk released Trans Europe Express (March 1977), their sixth studio album. The album was recorded during the summer of 1976 in their Kling Klang Studios and released on their own label Kling Klang Records. Two singles were taken from this album, Trans-Europe Express and Showroom Dummies. It was the first Kraftwerk album that was recorded in two different versions. One in English, one in German. The song Showroom Dummies was also released in France and Belgium as Les Mannequins, with the lyrics sung in French. The original German title was Schaufensterpuppen.

Musically Kraftwerk again moved further away from their improvised instrumental Krautrock style, fine tuning their tracks into more melodic electronic compositions.

The introduction of the analogue and customized 32-step Synthanorma Sequenzer with 16 channels was an important game-changer on this record. Kraftwerk also went to railway bridges to listen and analyze the sound of trains passing by which they altered slight to make it more danceable.

The lyrics on Trans Europe Express refer to David Bowie’s album Station To Station and to the actual event of Rafl Hütter and Florian Schneider meeting Bowie in Germany. At that time Bowie was living and recording in Berlin with Iggy Pop (The Stooges). Ralf Hütter refered several times to Iggy Pop And The Stooges as his most favourite band.

Joy Division singer Ian Curtis introduced Kraftwerk to his bandmates and insisted Trans Europe Express was played every time before the band went on stage.

Siouxsie And The Banshees covered the song The Hall Of Mirrors on their cover album Through The Looking Glass (1987). A cover version that todays only remaining original Kraftwerk member today, Ralf Hütter, hailed in glowing terms as extraordinary version.

Many still see this album as one of the most important pop albums of the last decades.

Trans Europe Express (Lyrics)

Trans Europa Express
Trans Europa Express
Trans Europa Express
Trans Europa Express

Rendez-vous auf den Champs Elysees
Verlass Paris am Morgen mit dem TEE
In Wien sitzen wir I'm Nachtcafe
Direkt Verbindung TEE
Wir laufen 'rein in Düsseldorf City
Und treffen Iggy Pop und David Bowie
Trans Europa Express

Songwriters: Emil Schult / Ralf Huetter

DISCOGS

Chicago-based one-woman industrial army, I YA TOYAH has unleashed her highly-anticipated new single & video, "Out Of Order." The song comes from the upcoming EP of the same name due out in March.

"Out Of Order" - The Video:

The video is a surreal story of a gradual mental breakdown, caused by an isolation and misinformation fed by media. It was inspired by the film art of David Lynch and the pandemic.

Video Production & Scenography: Joel Lopez of Lumbra Productions.

Music: Composed and performed by I Ya Toyah.

Produced by I Ya Toyah and Nick Palazzo.

Mixed and Mastered by Nick Palazzo at Evolution Recording.

"Out Of Order" - The Song:

A pandemic song, "Out Of Order" is expressing the quarantine moods of isolation, uncertainty, chaos and inner distortion.

"I wrote it feeling these emotions and being unable to share them as we all used to- through the togetherness, a hug, and live music experience. In the future the pandemic will be over, but the need for this connection will remain- I hope this song will be a reminder of how we survived this dark time, and how fragile yet strong we all are- even when we are out of order." - Ania (I Ya Toyah)

www.facebook.com/IYaToyah

Twenty-Three years after the release of ‘Firestarter’, we find ourselves mourning the loss of the demonic figure of chaos which haunted that black and white video. Keith Flint was more than just a performer, he was capable of invading our minds both through the music of The Prodigy and the attitude of destruction that Flint could project. Not since the days of Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious had a figure risen on the British music scene that stirred the same fear and controversy as Keith Flint. Music in the nineties has become split into two categories, the boy/girl band offering or the Brit-Pop sound, The Prodigy were what music was crying out for, what an audience-danger, an edge, all projected in front of infectious beats and venom soaked lyrics with the fiendish grin of Flint to spearhead it.

The Prodigy however, an outfit formed in Essex at the dawn of the nineties struck gold with all that followed ‘Firestarter’. A second lashing of apocalyptic intensity followed in ‘Breathe’, paving the way for one of the most essential albums of the twentieth century.
The eagerly anticipated-The Fat of the Land, the long-awaited follow-up to Music for the Jilted Generation was hailed as a musical savior rising from the grime of the streets. While the two singles-'Firestarter' and 'Breathe' had hit the number one spot in the United Kingdom, this was electronica, cultivated with the long established techno sound that would break the genre out of Britain and finally plant it on the world stage.

The Fat of the Land falls short of masterpiece status, but what it lacks in with context it makes up for in appeal. It delivered exactly what was expected of it, intense hip-hop-derived rhythms, meaningless spewed fragmented lyrics by Flint and Maxim and the added ingredient of clever reconstructed samples. In part the majority of the album does sound quite similar to 'Firestarter,' though Liam Howlett is an inventive producer, and he can make empty songs like 'Smack My Bitch Up' and 'Serial Thrilla' work and become addictive and infectious and even wholly original. The funky hip-hop of 'Diesel Power” and 'Funky Shit,' as well as the mind-bending psychedelic splurge of 'Narayan' stand out. With guests including Crispian Mills (Kula Shakur) and Saffron of Republica who does an intense, toe-curling version of L7's 'Fuel My Fire,' all these passengers on Fat Of The Land give the album a wider scope and a variation between tracks.

The Fat of the Land does not qualify apparently as a flat-out masterpiece, it doesn’t really need to, the context and the image it set out transcends at times the music, what it did do was introduce us to one of the most enigmatic figures of the last thirty years, Rest In Peace Keith Charles Flint (17 September 1969 – 4 March 2019).

I'm the trouble starter, punkin' instigator
I'm the fear addicted, a danger illustrated
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter
You're a firestarter, twisted firestarter
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter
I'm the bitch you hated, filth infatuated, yeah
I'm the pain you tasted, fell intoxicated
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter
You're the firestarter, twisted firestarter
I'm the self inflicted, mind detonator, yeah
I'm the one infected, twisted animator
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter
You're the firestarter, twisted firestarter
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter starter

[Kevin Burke 4/03/2019]

Belgium-based artist Mathlovsky announced the release of his newest single “The Heat” and following LP “Yassssin” later this year. Following the words of Mathlovsky, The Heat demonstrates the transition he passed from being a DJ to musician and composer, recording “The Heat” with live-drums and additional vocals performed by the members of Jason & Rhonda-duo.

Titled "Sweep It Into Space" the newest full-length album will be released on April 23rd 2021. The first record since "Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not" will be released on Indiana-based Jagjaguwar-label.

Following this announcement, Dinosaur Jr. premiered their first single - "I Ran Away"!