We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Die Roboter Rubato: Piano interpretations of Kraftwerk titles

by Terre Thaemlitz

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    IF YOU LIKED THIS: Original CD copies of "Oh No! It's Rubato: Piano interpretations of DEVO titles" are still in stock at comatonse.com/shop
    Purchasable with gift card

      ¥2,000 JPY  or more

     

1.
Die Roboter 04:31
2.
Ätherwellen 04:15
3.
4.
5.
Techno Pop 05:58
6.
Ruckzuck 04:49
7.
Radioland 04:23
8.
9.
10.

about

The first of three albums in the Rubato Series, which featured piano interpretations of Kraftwerk, Gary Numan and DEVO respectively. From the original accompanying essay (included as PDF):

DIE ROBOTER: English translation: "The Robots." Aside from being the title of one of Kraftwerk's more popular works, the recurrent theme of Die Roboter, including the substitution of robots resembling group members during performances, has become symbolic of the group itself.

RUBATO: Music performance that does not adhere to a strict sense of time.

For all of the obviousness of homoerotic thematics in the world of the Mensch Machines (Man Machines), how do such thematics remain undiscussed by popular media? Is the dominant silence around homoerotic themes an act of social suppression or social obliviousness? In the case of the latter, can the discussion of such a metaphor's placement at the heart of hetero-normative ideologies assist in the deconstruction of such ideologies? In the case of the former, can the mechanisms of suppression be identified and sabotaged?

In producing and recording these piano solos I have attempted to construct a style and sound which reflects the complexity of thematics established by Kraftwerk over the past two and a half decades, as well as my own changing and contradictory relationships to those thematics. Consistency of tempo and key, trademarks of Kraftwerk's compositions, are often abandoned. Melodies become obscured, warped and inverted, lost then found, only to be lost again. The piano sound itself is digitally processed, with intrusive noise and flooding resonance taking the place of Kraftwerk's meticulous clarity of technique. Noise which distorts and clouds like interpretive processes. Resonance which mimics the frustrating search for resonant phrases and associations with Kraftwerk's compositions and thematics.

credits

released May 1, 1997

Originally released under license from Comatonse Recordings in 1997 as a CD (Germany: Mille Plateaux, 1998) MP34. Contracts have since expired and all rights reverted. Recorded at Meow, New York. Produced, mixed and arranged by T. Thaemlitz. Publishing by Kraftwerk. Design and image manipulation by Terre.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Comatonse Recordings by Terre Thaemlitz Chiba Prefecture, Japan

This is the only authorized site for digital downloads of materials by Terre Thaemlitz.

These are releases I have sold out of, but there is not enough interest for a physical repress.

Albums not listed here are likely still in stock at comatonse.com/shop.

Help keep this audio functioning queerly. Protect the culturally minor. Do not upload.

From these prices Bandcamp takes 15%, PayPal 3.2%.
... more

contact / help

Contact Comatonse Recordings by Terre Thaemlitz

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Die Roboter Rubato: Piano interpretations of Kraftwerk titles, you may also like: