Among electronic artists (as well as virtually the entire record industry), only Kraftwerk could construct a viable album by making only minimal adjustments to a sound they made definitive more than 30 years earlier. Tour de France Soundtracks, the group's first record in more than 15 years, is quintessentially Kraftwerk but still fits in well with contemporary dance trends like the experimental microhouse scene (highly influenced by the group's ultra-minimalism). The story of Tour de France Soundtracks actually begins 20 years earlier, in 1983, when Kraftwerk released the "Tour de France" single. Recorded in tribute to one of the sporting world's most grueling events, the track was a hi-res piece of dance-pop that made lyrical reference to various biking landmarks (like the infamous mountaintop finish at Tourmalet) and an assortment of sonic references as well (including a bike chain in free spin and the belabored breathing of a bicyclist -- in rhythm, of course). Techno-Pop, the album Kraftwerk scheduled to accompany "Tour de France," was postponed and later canceled (ironically, after a serious biking accident by Ralf Hütter, one of the group's resident biking maniacs). The track resurfaced two decades later, just in time for the centenary anniversary of the race, though Kraftwerk still missed the deadline -- only the rejuvenated single was available during the race. It has little in common with the original, but the new "Tour de France" is impressive nonetheless, boasting the kinetic power of a 100-strong peloton, a guttural Teutonic vocoder of the type beloved by fans, and a recurring tag so sublime Jan Ullrich could hum it through each of the Tour's 20 stages without fear of annoyance. Except for a closing reprise of the original "Tour de France," the rest of the album isn't as focused on biking; Hütter and Schneider construct sublime beatpieces with conceptual lines close to biking topics ("Aéro Dynamik," "Titanium," "Chrono," "Vitamin"), but never confront the listener with yet another track dropping bike terms like peloton or a l'enfer du nord. "Chrono" is the track closest to the Kraftwerk ideal, with its future-shock synth and percussion precision, while "Vitamin" is the farthest away (a downbeat track that still could only have escaped from the Kling Klang studio). Tour de France Soundtracks is a successful record on anyone's terms; it's one that fans won't need to cringe from, and one that newcomers will be able to enjoy for what it is.
...I've been checking a little Kraftwerk this morning while doing my thing and came across a cut that really gets the typing juices flowing: "Tour de France"...I'd mentioned in a Championship Mog entitled "*Hip Hop’s Brothers from Another Mother*":http://mog.com/CrashPryor/blog_post/36263 that "*the Duo from Düsseldorf*":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraftwerk had inspired Greg Broussard's Hip
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...I've been listening to a lot of Kraftwerk lately while working at home and I'm loving every minute of it...formed in the late 60s, Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter got together while attending music classes in Dusseldorf and formed their band which means "power station" in German...these cats started dropping electronic bombs way back in the 70s and had a tangential hand at forming the earl..
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...I've been listening to a lot of Kraftwerk lately while working at home and I'm loving every minute of it...formed in the late 60s, Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter got together while attending music classes in Dusseldorf and formed their band which means "power station" in German...these cats started dropping electronic bombs way back in the 70s and had a tangential hand at forming the earl..
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Those of you who have written about your love for the bio-chemistry experiment known as the Tour De France might be interested to see a photo tour of the "Trek bike factory.":http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/08/my-visit-to-tre.htmlIt's a fascinating tour of how high-tech bikes get made, with a lot of photos of Lance Armstrong's Tour bikes, plus that of Greg Le Monde. If this photo turns you on,...
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...I've been checking a little Kraftwerk this morning while doing my thing and came across a cut that really gets the typing juices flowing: "Tour de France"...I'd mentioned in a Championship Mog entitled "*Hip Hop’s Brothers from Another Mother*":http://mog.com/CrashPryor/blog_post/36263 that "*the Duo from Düsseldorf*":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraftwerk had inspired Greg Broussard's Hip
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It's that time of year again, when the back pages of your average newspaper are swamped with stories of top athletes abusing steroids and shaming their sport in front of the watching world in the process.Yep, it's time for the Tour de France.Electronica-pioneers Kraftwerk - who created an entire album of music based on Le Tour - played at the Manchester Velodrome on the eve of the first stage, ...
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I don't think I've told anyone I like writing fan fiction. Let alone I haven't really written enough!!This time, it's a Kraftwerk fan fiction, aptly titled 'Trans-Europe Express'. Inspirations include the song with 'Metal on Metal', the band itself, wartime Eastern Europe, and the band's music. The main good guys, 8 in all, are a fairly eclectic lot but, I think they'll be alright..."Trans-E...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Prologue |
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| 2 Tour de France Étape 1 |
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| 3 Tour de France Étape 2 (Continued) |
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| 4 Tour de France Étape 3 (Continued) |
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| 5 Chrono |
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| 6 Vitamin |
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| 7 Aéro Dynamik |
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| 8 Titanium |
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| 9 Elektro Kardiogramm |
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| 10 La Forme |
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| 11 Régéneration |
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| 12 Tour de France |
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Click to purchase…
© 2006-2009 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved
 "Tour de France Soundtracks")
