#vinal

September 4, 2025:

Avocado Secondary, Obelisk, Scales.

Music based Stimbourd for @supernaturallysteampunktrombone

Hope you like it, and sorry if it took abit!

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Kraftwerk: The Man-Machine (1978)

After pushing their minimalist inclinations to the limit on the previous year’s Trans-Europe Express (including personal favorite “The Hall of Mirrors”), Kraftwerk proceeded to flesh out their productions with denser synthesizer layers and poppier dance beats on 1978’s The Man-Machine.

Released in Germany as Die Mensch-Maschine (on red vinyl, no less), its simple geometric layout and rather severe cover portrait (shot by Gunther Frohling) were inspired by the Suprematism movement, led by 20th Century Russian artists like El Lissitzky and Kazimir Malevich.

And, by embracing this uniform, mannequin-like image, Kraftwerk established a lasting visual trademark, musically crystalized on the album’s first single “The Robots,” which, in concert, is still typically “performed” by life-sized replicas of the group, standing in for the actual humans.

Along with the plaintive, yet hopeful, “Spacelab” and rhythmically complex title track, “The Robots” utilized an early speech synthesis software called Votrax to mimic mechanical voices, completing Kraftwerk’s "evolution” from man to machine, as foretold by the album’s title.

“Metropolis” once again celebrated the group’s enduring fascination with technology, but the nine-minute “Neon Lights” and downright infectious “The Model” addressed the glamor (real or perceived) of global urbanization, with help from those aforementioned danceable electro-pop ingredients.

Finally, I’ll posit that Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider’s seventh Kraftwerk LP also felt like their first true “band” effort since they’d recruited Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos, the latter of which was credited as cowriter on every song.

Curiously, although critics of the day generally raved about The Man-Machine and the NME itself proclaimed it was “one of the pinnacles of 70's rock music,” Kraftwerk’s final product of that decade didn’t move all that many copies beyond its initial release.

But, in1982, The Man-Machine suddenly broke into the U.K. Charts’ Top 10, after droves of Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Bronski Beat and Ultravox disciples retroactively discovered their synth-pop heroes’ German forefathers -- better late than never!

After the events of the Phasma novel, Cardinal goes to the Resistance with Vi Moradi. As he tries to forget his past, sometimes unsuccessfully, the spy arouses feelings in him that he hadn’t yet known, challenging him to leave it all behind and finally live a new life. Meanwhile, Phasma rises as the only and uncontested Captain of the First Order, but when a hidden enemy starts threatening her reputation, she is forced to confront her ancient past again, and the big stain that remains her darkest secret.