Non - Narrative Illustration - Choice 3: Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express

Kraftwerk

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Trans Europe Express 

Background on Artist 
Kraftwerk are an electronic band from Germany, formed in 1970. The bands music is created with catchy tunes and they were one of the first musical groups to make electronic music popular. Their music had a lasting effect on many modern genres of music. The Observer said that no band since the Beatles has given so much to pop culture. Musical journalist Neil McCormick once stated that Kraftwerk might be the most influential group in pop history. Kraftwerk have highly influenced most electronic bands and even the likes of David Bowie. Kraftwerks fashion style and music style can be seen in music successes such as Ultravox, John Foxx, Human League, Visage and Soft Cell. They also influenced a range of music genres such as hip hop, house, and drum and bass.

Trans Europe Express
This album was recorded in 1976 in Germany and was released in March of 1977. The themes of the album was influenced by friends of the group who said that they should write songs about the Trans Europe Express to show the electronic style of music that Kraftwerk created. This album focuses on mechanized rhythms, minimalism and the occasional manipulated vocal sounds. 

Lyrics

Most of Kraftwerks songs on this album have very little or no lyrics so what I will do it talk about the ones with lyrics and then the ones without. 

Hall of Mirrors-
I listened to all of the songs and read the lyrics and this is the only song with actual lyrics. The rest are either instrumentals or have repetitive lyrics. The lyrics in this song address the way stars look at themselves in a looking glass. The group describe the song as ''auto-biographical'' which means it was written about the writers life. I think the key aspect of the songs on this album is the electronic music rather than the lyrics. When I hear the music I think of mechanical things like robots and trains and electronics.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/hall-of-mirrors-lyrics-kraftwerk.html

I will talk about the rest of the songs as a group as they are mostly instrumental. The music that Kraftwerk produce is very futuristic and electronic. The music makes me think of space, machinery, big metal vehicles, robots and other electronic things and the colour blue for some reason, I am not entirely sure why but when I listen to the album I just see metallic blues and silvers which is good imagery for if I decide to choose this band. 

The rest of the albums songs are called Europe Endless, Showroom Dummies, Trans Europe Express, Metal on Metal, Franz Schubert, and Endless Endless. All of these songs either has no lyrics or repetitive lyrics that I found irrelevant. Their lyrics can be found on sites such as A-Z Lyrics and Lyrics Freak. 

I am not sure about this album, I like the visuals that I receive from it but I am not sure on what I could create with it. I think I will put this album in my final few choices and I then make a decision. I really like the existing album art for this, it is very abstract and symbolic.