Anyone who knows the Quietus will know that we’re rather big fans of Kraftwerk, so we were all ears when we were sent this cover of ‘Trans-Europe Express’ by post-punk Chicagoans Disappears. It’s being released as a one-off tribute single, backed with a version of ‘Radioaktivität’ by Kranky label mates Cloudland Canyon, on November 25 via the ever-excellent Sonic Cathedral.
We’ve now got the pleasure of giving the track a first spin, so have a listen below and head over to the label’s website to pre-order the record, which is a limited edition and comes on 7" yellow vinyl along with a ‘KRAFTWERK? JA BITTE!’ pin badge:
Rather than Ralf Hütter and co’s mechanistically clean drum beats, Disappears opt for a heavily echoed pattern, frayed with distortion around the edges with the haunting, mutated call of a train’s whistle blaring in the distance, all drawn together superbly by Sonic Boom, who’s mastered both of the tracks. There are some more overt Kraftwerk nods – frontman Brian Case’s baritone getting tempered with some robotic effects – and the band tap into the undeniable sense of forward propulsion that lies in the track, before leaving their own imprint in the final two minutes, a glorious collision of synth strings giving way to a frenetic, super-humanly tight, and, fittingly for Kraftwerk, eminently sample-friendly, drum and bass loop to close.
Says Sonic Cathedral boss Nat Cramp: "Two exclusive covers of Kraftwerk songs by a couple of my favourite American bands. Disappears take on ‘Trans Europa Express’ (note geeky original German spellings; one of the run-out grooves reads ‘Vorsprung Durch Techno-Pop’, the other ‘Kraft Cheese’!) and simultaneously humanise it and make it even colder than the original. No mean feat. Cloudland Canyon, meanwhile, get their Geiger counters all over ‘Radioaktivität’."
The 7" is out the day before Disappears play a Sonic Cathedral show at The Lexington in London, with support from Vision Fortune – have a look at their UK dates below:
NOVEMBER
Sun 24 – Green Door Store, Brighton
Mon 25 – Deaf Institute, Manchester
Tue 26 – The Lexington, London
