There's a good interview with Ralf Hütter in the October 2003 issue of
the
English fashionista mag Dazed & Confused (Vol. 2 #6), done by David
Toop.
In it I was surprised to see this 313-related bit:
" [...] A common criticism of Kraftwerk, evident in responses to
``Tour De France Soundtracks'', is that the future has caught up with
their 70s science fiction of numbers and money flowing through
cyberspace,
home computers and automation. The catch-up has produced some positive
benefits. Up until the late 90s, performing in a country like Brazil
would mean packing the whole Kling Klang studio into crates and sending
it
by boat via Rotterdam and across the Atlantic. This slow process took
months out of their work. ``Now with the latest laptop digital
equipment,
technology has developed in our direction, so that we can even...''
[Ralf]
mimes the action of breezing through passport control carrying a small
item of hand luggage.
You might describe this conundrum as the William Gibson Effect.
Gibson famously wrote ``Neuromancer'' on a typewriter, talking up his
personal vision of a non-existent entity called Cyberspace. As one
critic
claimed recently, Gibson may now be writing better books from a literary
point of view, but life has overtaken his stories. When Kraftwerk
recorded ``Computer World'' in a three year period between 1979 and
1981,
they had no computers in the studio. ``It was more like fantasising,''
says Ralf. ``Only two or three years later were PCs coming onto the
market.''
I ask if they discuss this issue and the possible reaction of critics
who demand a constant level of innovation? ``We don't submit to the
dictatorship of the new,'' he says. ``It means nothing.'' ``Tour De
France Soundtracks'' is an exquisitely crafted album that seems to be
influenced by all the music that Kraftwerk has catalyzed into being.
During a discussion on Kraftwerk's minimalism, I ask Ralf if he listens
to music by digital minimalists like Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai.
He thinks for a moment. ``More, mainly Detroit,"' he says. ``Maybe
Richie Hawtin is more to my mind...'' The sentence fades away."
(I looked for this interview on-line, but couldn't find it. The mag has
a Web site at http://www.Confused.CO.UK/ but no archives ... )
- Greg
