kraftwerk

You Tube is great - you can watch all sorts of stuff that would otherwise be consigned to the deepest depths of your memory. I re-watched Kraftwerk appearing at the MTV Awards in 2004, which was actually their first ever live TV performance.

They were introduced by a chirpy Kylie, which seemed slightly odd for some reason. And then there they were, stern and unblinking behind four identical podiums upon which rested their portable Kling Klang Studio - simply four powerful laptops. There were few close-ups of the band, not surprising I guess as there wasn't actually much movement. Clad in green ‘Tron’ suits, glowing in the pulsing lights, motionless apart from occasional foot tapping from Fritz and Henning. Kraftwerk founders Ralf and Florian barely moved at all. Green linear graphics pulsed all over the stage, and all over the giant screens dotted around the venue, which seemed to imbue the whole place with a slightly sickly luminous green glow.

The song itself lived up to its title - “Aerodynamik” pulsed and throbbed and bubbled and bounced in it's ultra precise manner. It was quite simply fantastic - totally out of place at the MTV awards, but fantastic all the same. Inexplicably Kraftwerk are somehow terrifically thrilling to watch. They shouldn't be (lack of movement etc etc) but, unaccountably, they just are.

Rather wonderfully Kraftwerk has not really changed their sound over the past 40 years. More complex and powerful technology means simply that they are able to pursue their singular vision with more clarity and precision than ever before.