Modern Kraftwerk

Technology doesn't stop progressing, and--fittingly--it appears as though much of Kraftwerk's recent performances are a reflection of this trend. I happened upon this video of a Kraftwerk show from within the past 2 years, and I was surprised how well the group managed to adapt their familiar tunes to the trends of both music and technology. The songs now seem to align with the anticipatory patterns of modern electronic music, such as in the transitions between "Computer Music" and "Numbers," and many of the original, synthesized sounds have undergone a lot of processing, giving them sounds that are still uniquely Kraftwerk but comparable in sound quality to modern electronic records. Some songs go so far as to only preserve a number of signature elements--synth and vocal lines--while giving the group a framework on which they can experiment--similar in many respects to the compositional style we often relied upon last year in ECM. "Autobahn" was a good example of this, and I don't think I would have recognized many of the song's segments in isolation. The amount of time given to improvisational sections was also surprising, but it makes me appreciate the transparency, vulnerability, and musicianship of the performance.