this must be the place....goin strong , yeah baby!!!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Favorite Song Wednesday




Okay, for the last two weeks I haven't really had a favorite song. I've been man-crushing all over Arthur Russell since I downloaded the new compilation and I've had little time for thinking about much else.



Kraftwerk - Computer Love



But tonight I remembered that "Computer Love" by Kraftwerk is probably my favorite song. I had a nice little drive from Colorado to Austin earlier this summer in which I listened to the entire Kraftwerk discography in one sitting (minus the album they did for the Tour de France a few years ago). Ralf and Florian is their most beautiful tonal work, and Radioactivity might have been the most forward thinking, but Computer World is my favorite just because it is so damn nerdy.

Tonight I played it at Clementine and a customer asked me if the sounds were music we were playing or if some equipment was malfunctioning. Sandwiched between Home Computer (who sampled this? it isn't Missy, that was Cybotron) and Computer World 2's stuttering drums, Computer Love is Kraftwerk's attempt at robotic romantic ennui.

Boy do they succeed. The melody trades between a watery synth and high pitched bell sound, while the cheapest sounding drum machine 1981 could buy rattles out a driving hi-hat pattern and clipped snare shots. What really gets me though is the vocals. Lyrically it's incredibly sad and it vaguely alludes to prostitution, but I'd like to think that the Kraftwerk boys just stayed in with their computers instead of scheduling a downtown date with a mistress of the night.


BONUS:

Italo-disco revivalists Glass Candy sex it up a notch with this cover.

Glass Candy - Computer Love

2 comments:

  1. I played the Glass Candy version at the final Yacht!

    Re: my post
    If you want to find good techno you should pay attention to Philip Sherburne, Resident Advisor, and Little White Earbuds (LWE jives better with my taste than the other two) and then chase-up recommendations on Myspace. You also should make a watch list of labels and artists who, in your opinion, always make records you want to hear. That way you have a game plan for sorting out new releases and deciding what you want to spend time listening to. And trust your gut because techno is diverse and you may like something that other people have dismissed.

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  2. I can imagine Dan in a car, driving through middle America with this playing out the windows, while people yell 'City fag!' at him as he drives on by...

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