| 209 ALBUMs |
| 1100 TRACKs |
| 112 PDFs |
| 1 BIO |
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| ‘Computer World’ or “Computerwelt” is an album by the German band Kraftwerk which was one of the first bands to exclusively use electronic synthesizers. ‘Computer Welt’ was released in 1981 on vinyl and it ventured into the then emerging world of computers. But only thematically, because the album was entirely made with analog synthesizers, played by custom-made analog sequencers that only Kraftwerk had.
The only true digital diversion was the Texas Instruments handheld computer, marketed under the “Speak & Spell” moniker, which was featured prominently on the track ‘Pocket Calculator’, although it played a minor musical role. Taken as a whole, the album pretends to be something it is not. It goes to great lengths to sound and even look digital, but it does it the same way in which actors who play robots or play with them: ‘I am a robot - beep beep’. In 2016 I decided to do a Derrida-like deconstruction or Dekonstruktion of ‘Kraftwerk’s Computer World’, but to reverse the roles played by technology. I took the original record and while listening, re-recorded each instrument one at a time by ear only, including all the vocals. I did not use any modern “error-correction” or quantization methods. Every instrument was played via a vintage digital keyboard in my studio, which housed arguably the largest collection of hardware synthesizers from the mid 80s through the mid 90s in Los Angeles at that time. This compositional methodology is similar to the Resident’s ‘Third Reich n Roll” album. They took 1950s and 1960s songs, played along with them, and then discarded the originals. ‘Craft Work’ is a work of musical craft, the ability to replicate and improvise variations on musical parts extracted by ear from a recording in real-time. I played along with the ‘Computer World’ record, instrument by instrument, and then I discarded the original. I am a believer in first takes, but heavily edited ones. This I put out as ‘Kraftwerk’s Computer World’ with my main distributor Google, on YouTube and Play. To my never ending surprise the album was mostly ignored, except by Google’s automated copyright lawyers. Even though I clearly indicated on the album title and on each song title the Kraftwerk-ian source, only the first song I recorded, ‘Computer World’, was detected, so the album was reduced to one track, a Single, really. To my never ending surprise, the rest of the material was declared original Rothkamm as all lyrics and instrumental parts were supposedly augmented, mutated or varied enough to make up a new species of music. Thus is the wisdom of Google’s robot lawyers. Facebook on my own computer Twitter myself into the future WhatsApp on my own computer Instagram myself into the future Google Maps on my own computer YouTube myself into the future Reddit on my own computer SnapChat myself into the future Chrome on my own computer Safari myself into the future Edge on my own computer Firefox myself into the future Linux on my own computer Android myself into the future Windows on my own computer OSX myself into the future - TCP and XML HMTL and JavaScript CSS and FTP SSL and PHP URL and URI RFC and LOL US-A and Latin-8 WTF and USB DCM and SSH CFM and JSP DBA and SQL XSL and WWW Haskell, Python, R, C++ Ruby, Shell, Go, Objective C - It's more time to rebuke It's more time to rebuke It's more time to rebuke It's more time to rebuke It's more time to rebuke It's more time to rebuke Rebuke It's more time to rebuke It's more fun to rebuke More fun to rebuke It's more fun to rebuke Rebuke - Eins, zwei, drei, fier, fünf Sieben, acht Eins, zwei, drei, fier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht One, two Uno, due, tre, quattro Uno, due, tre, quattro Uno, due, tre, quattro One, two Chi, nyi, sum, shi Tari, tara, tarum Chi, nyi, sum, shi Tari, tara, tarum Chi, nyi, sum, shi Tari, tara, tarum - I'm the operator with my mortage calculator I'm the operator with my mortage calculator I'm the operator with my mortage calculator Preapproved 30-year fixed Ammortization Compound interest Maturity Underwriter Down payment Interest rate Origination fee And closing - 1, 2, 3 5, 6, 7 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 1 8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 2, 3, 4, 5 1, 3, 4, 5 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 5 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - |
| Catalog No: | FLX119 (LN482) |
| Title: | Kraftwerk Computer World |
| Sound Artist: | Frank Rothkamm |
| Visual Artist: | Holger Rothkamm |
| Label: | Flux Records |
| Length: | 29:24 (1764s) |
| Composed: | 2016 |
| Location: | Los Angeles |
| Instruments: | Williams WP1 Qtractor Roland JV-1080 Kurzweil K2500 Korg M3R Studio Projects C1 |
| Release Date: | 04/17/2017 |
| Format: | Digital |
| Tags: | electronic |