Kraftwerk fans must be a patient bunch. The techno legends have spawned numerous musical offspring due to their pioneering (and prophetic) digital explorations, but the scores of electronic groups influenced by Kraftwerk are almost all fans of the German group have to digest, as the band hasn't released a full album of new material since Electric CafT in 1986.

Thus, the Kraftwerk faithful must have gagged on their Spaetzle when they heard that Sonic Books was releasing A Short Introduction to Kraftwerk: an eighty-four-page mini-book with a forty-five-minute album featuring seven unearthed Kraftwerk rarities. Had fans finally gotten something of a Kraftwerk Holy Grail? Unfortunately, es ist Quatsch.

According to Phil Walton, president of England's Music Non Stop, Ltd., one of the outlets selling the album, after receiving the albums on Monday, he realized that the "new" tracks might be material that had been available on a bootleg years ago. Walton even says some Kraftwerk enthusiasts believe the band on the disc isn't even Kraftwerk. The CD features audible scratches most likely pinpointing its parent source as a vinyl bootleg that has been in circulation for several years.

"You can imagine how annoyed we were about it," Walton says. "We didn't want to mislead anyone. All the information we originally received on this release was taken from a reputable source."

That source is Sonic Books, an imprint of the Italian publishing group Stampa Alternativa. Walton has yet to hear from Sonic Books, and isn't sure whether the Italian company was also duped (our efforts to reach Sonic Books were unsuccessful). A Short Introduction to Kraftwerk is listed as #23 in the Sonic Book series. The Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Nick Drake, Sonic Youth and XTC are among previous Sonic Book subjects. Walton claims the stock is still a legitimate sale, due to the book, but he refuses to position it as a new Kraftwerk album. He has also been working with EMI, the group's U.K. label in trying to find the source of the music on the album.

"We don't want to tread on anyone's toes, particularly Kraftwerk," he says. "Because we do so much of their stuff on the collectible side, they're the last band in the world we want to piss off."

As for Kraftwerk fans, it looks like they'll have to continue to spin last year's uneven dual EPs Tour de France and Expo 2000 until the elusive band decides to offer up something more substantial.

ANDREW DANSBY
(May 20, 2000)