Customer Reviews

El Baile Aleman

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

[...]i'm from chile and since a couple of month i had never heard about Uwe Schmidt (Senor Coconut). I started listening to him and then someone told me that he lived in Santiago, Chile. I bought the record inmediatly (i'm a big Kraftwerk fan). The cd is awesome. Here in chile we do not listen to salsa or rumba or cha cha cha.. that's in the center of america. Here people listen other stuff. This guy is a german person, he married a chilean woman and came to live here. this is a pretty famous guy, but nobody knows him here. it's funny. he started to make this kraftwerk covers, and made an imaginary band "Senor Coconut y su Conjunto". This "conjunto" do not exist. this is only Uwe Schmidt making music here in chile.... well i hope now you know a little bit more about Senor Coconut... [...]!

So who is this guy? Senor Coconut is the German guy who also listens to the name Atom Heart. He playes the keyboard, but if you listen to this masterpiece of reversed remixing, you won't be able to hear it. The band Flanger is one of the projects Atom Heart played with and is one of the pioneers in trying to bridge the gap between acoustic jazz and electronica. So he does with this Kraftwerk-hommage. The whole cd sounds as if it is done by a acoustic combo from Chili... If you know someone that still states that it is impossible to make passionate, hot music with electronica, let him listen to this cd. He will be fooled and completely baffled. But what really makes this album stand out is it's sense of humor: 'the next logical step and the future of electronic music!' Cha-cha-cha!

Fantastic homage to Kraftwerk by Senor Coconut Y Su Conjunto. Wonderful blend of Latin rythym and electronic music that puts me in a trance. It can be played loud or soft and still work. My favorite picks are "Showroom Dummies" and "Neon Lights". I just love it and will keep an eye on this talented group. Highly recommended. Very highly.

Hello All, Just wanted to add my two cents worth onthe new tribute CD from Senor Coconut. The way the tunes of Hutter, Schneider, Bartos,Schult and Schmidt were approach were with the same humorous undercurrent as the originals, I have have heardother "tributes" but they all were rather strident, pale and unconvincing. This CD however takes a genre and makes it it's own, with the shadowy espionage of Carmen Miranda films, in full Technicolor! The flavors run the gamut! These tunes bring to mind how Yellow Magic Orchestra converted Martin Denny's "Firecracker", splendid, simply splendid! So much so that the heavy handed tributes of the past lay DEAD in it's wake!

Senor Coconut is Uwe Schmidt, who runs the Rather Interesting label and has hundreds of releases out under different aliases, the most popular one being Atom Heart. This cd is really wonderful; Uwe manages to express the original campy-but-electronic sound of the originals with a bubbly and entertaning (and good!) latin sound.

This album is just so cool. I heard this for the first time in my favourite bar where my favourite girl-dj used to play some soft, lounge and just cool music two years ago. She was so sweet and whatever she played it sounded like honey.. erm however..
Tonight I took up this cd and played it again.
To make a long review short. I that know telling you this is an awesome album won't help you at all to get the idea about what this album is like.
However if you read this you're propably a listener with good taste whether it's kraftwerk or salsamusic you like.

Simply put, Senor Coconut's makes some awesome covers of the most famous Kraftwerks titles in a salsa/rumba/samba/whateveritscalledmusic/style.
Kraftwerk is a pioneer group that never goes out of style whatever happens to the musical "trend" and Senor Coconut'just makes something new with a material that's timeless.
The result is both intresting and a pleasure to listen too.
Though it's strongly recommended to be a Kraftwerk fan to appreciate this cd.

I was born in 1968, and I am a fan of Kraftwerk since a boy. I don't like much this kind of music, rhumba, cha cha cha, what so ever, until now! when I hear this!! I LOVE IT!! HEHEHE, This is amazing! After a day of hard work, I listen this musics after go to bed to relax. I give a rate of 5 star to this work!! The Balanescu Qurtet did a similar thing, playing Kraftwerk musics with classical instruments, but I think Señor Coconut y su Conjunto sounds better!

The first thing one notices is the obvious, the cover would make one think , "this is a joke , right?" The chessy, circa 1950's outfits and and not so latino looking conjunto would make even Wierd Al snicker. What is this, a Neo-Devo band or sons of Neo-Nazi's coming out of hiding in Latin America, returning to their German roots? Surpsingly this a fresh interpretation of the Godfathers of techno, Kraftwerk. The reworking of such classic songs as "Autobahn",""TransEurope Express"and "The Robots" is genius, it sounds familiar but totally different. At first I was skeptical. Cumbias and Cha Cha dance rhythms replacing the original icy-tech beats and sounds seemed inpossible. It is very cool though, the use of vibes, percussion and latin rhythms is a perfect fit, a smorgasborg of sounds that are layered and textured to perfection. It is an unbelieveably solid effort, no easy task yet accomplished with style. Included is Falco's international dance hit"Tour de France", complete with the feel of the race with a latin beat. This is a fun album that your friends will ask "who was that." Whether you were a fan of Kraftwerk or not this new CD is unique and stays close enough to the original Kraftwerk songs but pushes the envelope a little further into the realm of dance world music redefined.

These songs are versions of Kraftwerk tunes re-created through the prism of a pastiche of latin music styles. It is a successful hybrid of electronic pop, loving homage, campy parody, and latin music. The tunes stand up on their own even if one is not familiar with the Kraftwerk originals, but familiarity gives the listener a greater appreciation of the time, effort, and thought that went into this disc. Above all it is extremely entertaining and fun.

At first I thought that this was just a funny jape, and as such I assumed I'd get tired of it really fast. Listen to it for a week, put some songs on the next mixed tape I'm making, never play it again. But then I really started getting into it in an entirely non-ironic way. Listening to some tracks several times a day even. And then I discovered that the damn thing is made up entirely of samples and digital manipulations of old Perez Prado recordings and what-not. I never would have thunk it. Anyway, it's a pretty amazing thing, this record.