Machine Machine Machine

I saw Kraftwerk live for the second time yesterday and for me it remains the ultimate electronic experience. All those sounds are just so basic, so pure. You can hear that everyone who is making electronic dance music now (not only now but from 1974 on) is, if they want or not, influenced by these guys. Kraftwerk is pure genius, in development as in execution. And, as strange as that may seem from a group whose lyrical content is that minimal, they are still saying a whole lot more than any one of today's acts I can think of. Daft Punk are probably the only ones who try to walk the same road, and then still only when it comes to the dichotomy man-machine. Still, you won't see them tackling nuclear energy, economy or any other world problem. Kraftwerk do that and a lot more. Damn', these guys are almost sixty years old!

I noticed that a lot of young people walked out of the room to shake their body to other more contemporary acts and/or dj's. First I was tempted to ascribe this to intergenerational preferences. But then I asked myself: Where the hell is your goddamn' respect? And at the same time realised how far techno and electronic music in general have strayed from what should have been their direction. Electronic music could have been a utopian music, the ultimate Cosmic Sound. Instead it has become, for the most part of it, a case of a guy/girl putting one record on after another - or even worse: using Ableton or what do I know to do exactly that for him/her - and getting a huge applause for it. Shame. And they can call me an old tosser for that, I do not care one bit.

Another thing: It was my first visit to I Love Techno and with such an amount of money pumped into a rave of this scope you'd expect at least a decent sound quality. No way gov'! The sound was horrible, all the magic of electronic dance music (the bass, the pump, the sheer physicality of it) carefully filtered away. Vade retro Satanas! And Satan in this case equals - what a suprise! - Clear Channel.