In an interview with the New York Times, Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hütter has revealed, in a rather cryptic fashion, that the band are working on a new album. When asked when it was due for release, he replied simply, "Soon". The new album, when it arrives, will be the band’s first since 2003’s Tour De France Soundtracks, and their first since founder member Florian Schneider departed the band in 2008.
"We didn’t fall asleep," Hütter said of the band’s work ethic. "The 168-hour week is still going on since the beginning, since 1970."
The interview followed on from Kraftwerk’s eight-night residency at New York’s Museum of Modern Art last week, where the band performed each album in full on consecutive nights, as well as a wide selection of other material.
During the interview, which is well worth a read, Hütter offered some interesting insights into Kraftwerk’s history and his ongoing attitude towards their legacy. He explained that he sees the band’s music as a very fluid entity, something to be constantly updated and revised with the aid of new technology.
“Kraftwerk is a living organism,” he said. “Music is never finished. It starts again tomorrow. The record is just a record, but for us it’s nearly boring. We like better the programs that we can operate with. So we are operating, we are upgrading, we are updating continuously. There’s continuous reprogramming going on, and composition and new concepts are also coming . . . We learn from noise, and we learn from going to clubs.”
He also spoke about his attitude towards the band’s weighty legacy – they’re largely credited, by artists and critics alike, with being the inspiration for the earliest forms of techno, electro and hip hop – stating that, rather than resting on their laurels and basking in their legacy, they’re more interested in continuing to put energy back into the system. “We’re not so interested in possession. We are more interested in participating. We’re sending out. Certain of these ideas are radio waves. We’re the antenna catching information, the transmitter giving information, back and forth. It’s like feedback energy. Otherwise I would just play my music at home and go to sleep.”
