Customer Reviews

Esperanto (Dig)

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

 

 

Bartos of Kraftwerk fame created this "band" to explore some of the same electronic ideas mined by Kraftwerk in the 1970's. Joining him on two songs are Andy McCluskey, a big Kraftwerk fan, and co-founder of '80's great Orchestral Manœuvres in the Dark. "Esperanto," named after an artificial language, sounds a lot like Kraftwerk doing modern day electronica. In fact, this almost a concept album in the subject matter of its songs: reality, communication, fame and technology. The title track features vocoder-like voices, modulated and singing in Esperanto! "Information," and "Crosstalk" and "Overdrive" are in the same vein: hard-hitting, almost industrial, Kraftwerk-sounding danceable instrumentals. The first of two standouts is "Kissing the Machine," which features McCluskey on vocals singing over a sweet, robotic melody. "TV," the best track, is the best reason to buy this cd: synth hooks and samples of broadcasts, the new generation of keyboard-players and know-twiddlers could stand to listen to this track a few hundred times and learn from their elders.

This is a fine, unsung, unknown album. Karl Bartos was a member of Kraftwerk and he left that band to do this on his own. It is a fine album in its own right - sort of Kraftwerk lite!! But he went one better - he recruited Andy McCluskey - a founder of Orchestral Maneouvres in the Dark (OMD) and probably Kraftwerk's number one fan - to do some singing. The result is magic! If you are a fan of Kraftwerk or OMD you MUST buy this one!!

This is a fantastic album, and aside from the fact that some of the synth sounds (especially drums) are annoying (IE the toms in overdrive) are incredibley annoying, the placid harmonic vocals, and simple yet layered rythmes are fantastic.

To anyone that loves Kraftwerks more modern Tone, but also things reminiscent of the PetShop Boys, feel free to purchase away!

I read somewhere that J.C. Bach sounded somewhat like Mozart on an off day.Well, former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos split the pioneering German techno band to form his own, Elektric Music. Esperanto sounds like the next Kraftwerk album, romanticizing television watching, and singing the joys of the internet ("Information wants to be free"). There are no bad tracks, but the album is missing something. Still, Kraftwerk on an off day is a compliment, so if you like techno, then you will like this.

If you are a fan of the German Electronic music scene, you will love this cd. Every song on this album is likable, meaning you can listen to each of them many times over. If you are a fan of Electro-Tecnho music, I recommend this title very much!!

If you like regular Kraftwerk then you will like this release. These guys are different and originally sounding to me, I would like anything that they do.

This is an absolutely amazing album!! Fantastc vocals and an absolutely amazing set of electronic sounds not to be missed. I'm currently listening to the import version, available here, but it's my SECOND COPY of this CD!!