This is early Kraftwerk but technically it came out as Ralf & Florian and the version I have is a bootleg of the record. Kraftwerk are extremely heritage and their Point Zero always seems to be Autobahn, but I liked the music they did before that which is in a way slightly more hippy and some of it is more punk – it’s rougher and sounds less sculpted. The Ralf & Florian record has got really beautiful inventiveness to it and there is a lot of fluid electronics on it. To a certain extent, that has influenced some of Tom Crossley’s – who plays with us – flute playing. He has been such an important part of our sound and has suggested many things to us.
I like Kraftwerk’s later music too – some of it is fantastic – but in a way it can feel more distant. Kraftwerk isn’t a group that encourages direct engagement. It’s an image thing, like you are looking at a work of art. With the Ralf & Florian record it very much has that sense of artists at work and making something beautiful. It has a few rough edges which disappear from later Kraftwerk stuff – which is so perfect – but I really like this record a lot.
