06(086)06(087)Rhythmatic Bachelor Mach<strong>in</strong>es: KraftwerkTap <strong>the</strong> Powerspot: It's a Rave New WorldAs with Underground Resistance, Kraftwerk <strong>in</strong>stalled <strong>the</strong>mselves <strong>in</strong>side <strong>the</strong>military complex, <strong>the</strong> nexus of posthumanization which used to be calleddehumanization. They tapped <strong>the</strong> powerspots of <strong>in</strong>dustrialization through'<strong>the</strong> factories that plug <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> network' which 'were mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>syn<strong>the</strong>sisers' fluctuate <strong>in</strong> a factory synth human circuit. The Kl<strong>in</strong>g Klangstudio is a delivery room for mach<strong>in</strong>e lifeforms. By nam<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>mselves'powerplant' Kraftwerk turn onto <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>dustrial process, switch<strong>in</strong>g on <strong>the</strong>assembly l<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>stead of resist<strong>in</strong>g it <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> name of <strong>the</strong> human. For '75 'SRadioactivity <strong>the</strong>y visited a nuclear powerplant, plugg<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>mselves <strong>in</strong>toatomic energy, irradiat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>mselves with nuclear power.Sorrow Songs for <strong>the</strong> Souls of ServomechanismsNorbert Wiener's The Human Use of Human Be<strong>in</strong>gs is W.E.B. DuBois' TheSouls of Black Folk updated for <strong>the</strong> Analog Age . In Kraftwerk, <strong>the</strong> speakand-spellvoices are <strong>more</strong> childlike <strong>than</strong> lullabies, fossils from <strong>the</strong>future's past.Voice-activated systems separate <strong>in</strong>tention from result. While <strong>the</strong>human sensorium goes from speech to touch, <strong>the</strong> mach<strong>in</strong>ic sensoryapparatus starts with touch - buttons and knobs, faders and sliders -before mov<strong>in</strong>g to speech process<strong>in</strong>g. The childhood of mach<strong>in</strong>es beg<strong>in</strong>swith speak-and-spell toys, arcadegames, Learn-to-speak-French records,soft-dr<strong>in</strong>k dispensers, ansa fones, tra<strong>in</strong> doors and cashpo<strong>in</strong>ts. Kraftwerks<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> Soul of Service Mach<strong>in</strong>es, die Seele der Servomekanismus.Mach<strong>in</strong>es take over repetitive jobs. Kraftwerk's politeness and slycivility is poignant because 'automatic mach<strong>in</strong>es are <strong>the</strong> preciseeconomic equivalent of slave labour.'The Sex Organs of <strong>the</strong> syn<strong>the</strong>sizerStandardization, mechanization, automation, enervation, <strong>in</strong>hibition,radiation! Trad rock's drive comes from repell<strong>in</strong>g such vampiricprocesses of capital. But giv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> to <strong>the</strong> mach<strong>in</strong>es, this is what's socompell<strong>in</strong>g here, how Kraftwerk went <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> bionic heart of <strong>the</strong>mach<strong>in</strong>e, what came out <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r side.Instead of deny<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> automatic, Kraftwerk exaggerate it. Theyoperate syn<strong>the</strong>sizers, but really technology is syn<strong>the</strong>siz<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>m. Theydon't resist <strong>the</strong> syn<strong>the</strong>tic, <strong>the</strong>y give <strong>in</strong> to it, enslave <strong>the</strong>mselves, allowtechnology to reprogram <strong>the</strong>m, to resequence <strong>the</strong>m, to extrude <strong>the</strong>m as<strong>the</strong> Servomechanisms of <strong>the</strong> Synth. Showroom dummies,menschmasch<strong>in</strong>es, robots and models: <strong>the</strong>se are <strong>the</strong> new generations ofsex organs <strong>the</strong> syn<strong>the</strong>sizers need <strong>in</strong> order to reproduce <strong>the</strong>mselves: <strong>the</strong>bachelormach<strong>in</strong>es without <strong>the</strong>ir mechanical brides. Neutered andbloodless, <strong>the</strong>y move along planes of sheer chromolum<strong>in</strong>ance.By totally succumb<strong>in</strong>g to technology, Kraftwerk let <strong>the</strong> mach<strong>in</strong>esdelibid<strong>in</strong>ize <strong>the</strong>m, dra<strong>in</strong> all <strong>the</strong> physicality out of <strong>the</strong>m. Warhol clonedhimself <strong>in</strong>to Warholaroids for <strong>in</strong>terviews; Gilbert and George remodelled<strong>the</strong>mselves as auto-mannequ<strong>in</strong>s. In <strong>the</strong> Kraftwerk ecology celibatemach<strong>in</strong>es perform auto-reproduction rituals.Zapped!In Electro, this fleshless rigidity converges with <strong>the</strong> sp<strong>in</strong>eless electroidof Zapp. With Roger Troutman's Zapp, electroniCS + android = <strong>the</strong>electroid zapped! by a blast from an unknown Sonotron. Danc<strong>in</strong>g to Zappis be<strong>in</strong>g hit by electric current that convulses you <strong>in</strong>to spasm. Shrimp <strong>the</strong>dancer expla<strong>in</strong>s that ' More Bounce to <strong>the</strong> Ounce helped give birth to[bodyJpopp<strong>in</strong>'. That's <strong>the</strong> only style of dance you can see that goes withthat k<strong>in</strong>d of music. 'Instead of break<strong>in</strong>g The Song down to a James Brown bridge, MoreBounce redesigned funk's architecture, stretch<strong>in</strong>g The Song <strong>in</strong>tohypnomonotony, a rubber mantra that squeezed your senses out ofshape while seiz<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>m with its sheet-metal clap.This emphasis on count<strong>in</strong>g electricity means that <strong>the</strong> Zapp track getsdirectly on your nerves and muscles. In cross<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> threshold elUCidatedby Merce Cunn<strong>in</strong>gham, Troutman's albums <strong>in</strong>duce an unnerv<strong>in</strong>g bonelesssensation. Your sp<strong>in</strong>e's be<strong>in</strong>g filleted and it feels just great.Control Your ConvulsionsZapp alters <strong>the</strong> reflexes, adapt<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> human <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> electroid, <strong>the</strong>electroniC andrOid who turn electric shock <strong>in</strong>to controlled convulSion,an E-Z roller of Stopmotion Capture.Electric boogaloo is when <strong>the</strong> body receives <strong>the</strong> Zapp and transmits itas a dynamic force. The nerves count <strong>the</strong> current, convulSions becomeclocks, <strong>the</strong> spastic toctics of elaborated personal time systems. TheElectro dancer goes <strong>in</strong>to 'a square rollout where he ticks his whole bodyand goes <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> splits.'The double move of cutwave
06[088]06[089]jo<strong>in</strong>ts <strong>in</strong> a syn<strong>the</strong>tic seizure that's every which way but loose.Zapp turns <strong>the</strong> human <strong>in</strong>to a symbiounit. 'When you pop,' Shrimpelucidates, your bodymap alters and 'you become this th<strong>in</strong>g. You go toano<strong>the</strong>r planet. I got <strong>in</strong>to this th<strong>in</strong>g where I wanted to be an alien. 'Liquefy <strong>the</strong> Menschmasch<strong>in</strong>eZapp's '86 Computer Love opens with a bewitch<strong>in</strong>g choir - identified bySimon Reynolds as android doowop - announc<strong>in</strong>g 'ComputerIlIZE', like agenie grant<strong>in</strong>g a robot's wish. Kraftwerk's vocoder chorale is w<strong>in</strong>somewhile Zapp's vocoder chorale is liquefied. Zapp is <strong>the</strong> menschmasch<strong>in</strong>egone gooey. 'We are beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g to see,' chaos-<strong>the</strong>orist Manuel De Landaargues, 'that <strong>the</strong> really advanced high technology is liquidy and drippyand self organiz<strong>in</strong>g and not at all rigid.' In More Bounce to <strong>the</strong> Ounce,<strong>the</strong> syn<strong>the</strong>tic bass doesn't drop; <strong>in</strong>stead it bounces off <strong>the</strong> bottom.Where <strong>the</strong> Bootsy Coll<strong>in</strong>s bass is a rhythmelodic ectoplasm, glut<strong>in</strong>ousand rubbery, <strong>the</strong> Zapp bass is Spandex stretchy.phonoGlutamateLarry Graham sent <strong>the</strong> bass through fuzz until it yawned and slurred likea baby mammoth. With Zapp, Roger Troutman's voice is all vowel, aneesysquezy squidge of phonoglutamate, voco-concentrate. Thesyn<strong>the</strong>sizer passes through his vocal tract. On I Play <strong>the</strong> Talkbox, <strong>the</strong>Roger voice is tubular treble squeezed from a talkbox.For Parliament, <strong>the</strong> soundeffect immediately implies an audioIifeform, a universe <strong>in</strong> which a processed sound takes on an animatronicnonhuman profile. With Zapp, you're <strong>in</strong>side <strong>the</strong> impact, ba<strong>the</strong>d <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>full effect of <strong>the</strong> S Ray gun, <strong>in</strong> what Techno producer Kev<strong>in</strong> Saundersonlater terms Essr'ays.Mach<strong>in</strong>e Tones for Psychic Therapy: The Jungle Bro<strong>the</strong>rsFor a very long time everybody refuses and <strong>the</strong>nalmost without a pause almost everybody acceptsGertrude ste<strong>in</strong>Mut<strong>in</strong>y on <strong>the</strong> Mo<strong>the</strong>rshipYou reserve your nausea for <strong>the</strong> timeless classic, for <strong>the</strong> an<strong>the</strong>ms thatsum up an epoch. But The jungle Bro<strong>the</strong>rs, George Russell, Tricky: <strong>the</strong>seare producers who don't synchronize you <strong>in</strong>to those docile ranks-andfilesknown as generations. In fact <strong>the</strong>y shatter you <strong>in</strong>to sensoryparticles, travell<strong>in</strong>g at <strong>the</strong> speed of thought, break consensual history<strong>in</strong>to dust. Instead of ris<strong>in</strong>g above <strong>the</strong>ir time, <strong>the</strong> jungle Bro<strong>the</strong>rs - AfrikaBaby Bam bass and vocals, dj Sammy B, Mike G guitar and vocals, Torturedrums and vocals - runs HipHop through a particle accelerator, charg<strong>in</strong>greality with <strong>the</strong> syn<strong>the</strong>tic sensation you crave at all costs.Their 3rd album, '93 'S J Beez Wit <strong>the</strong> Remedy, is to <strong>the</strong> 90S what TheVelvet Underground's White Light/ White Heat was to <strong>the</strong> 60S: <strong>the</strong>decade's great lost album, a colossal epic salvaged from <strong>the</strong> wreckage of<strong>the</strong> unreleased Crazy Wisdom , acknowledged by a few , reviled by TradHipHop fanatics on both sides of <strong>the</strong> Atlantic.Derail <strong>the</strong> RhythmotorIn an era of headnodd<strong>in</strong>' 120bpm grooves, Remedy returns to <strong>the</strong> rigidrhythmatics of rhythmsyn<strong>the</strong>sis. The security of <strong>the</strong> Trad jazzbreak issmashed, left beh<strong>in</strong>d for <strong>the</strong> drastically unmusical pulsations and bleeps,that flagrantly mekanikal rhythmanipulation that HipHop thought itbanished back <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> 80S . Manmade Material abandons <strong>the</strong> lope of 70SBreakbeats altoge<strong>the</strong>r, push<strong>in</strong>g robotic irregularity <strong>in</strong>to mach<strong>in</strong>epsychedelia. 'It wasn't loop<strong>in</strong>g one bar, 4 beats, but loop<strong>in</strong>g 6 beats,' <strong>the</strong>jungle Bro<strong>the</strong>rs declared. 'Arhythmic, asymmetrical, al<strong>in</strong>ea r. So whatwe 've been do<strong>in</strong>g consistently is <strong>in</strong>tentionally derail<strong>in</strong>g your bra<strong>in</strong>.' Theloop function entra<strong>in</strong>s <strong>the</strong> body, programm<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> head until it nods likea dog. HipHop habituates <strong>the</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d until it runs along <strong>the</strong> same groovesbut <strong>the</strong> arhythmic loop underm<strong>in</strong>es <strong>the</strong> stepper, derails <strong>the</strong> rhythmotor,with its unresolved dissonance, not arrangements but derangements,wrong-footed, dysfunktional.