Communication is the debut solo album by ex-Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos. Originally released in 2003 – 13 years after leaving the legendary electronic group – it has now been entirely and pristinely re-mastered for re-release, complete with the bonus track Camera Obscura – a song that eschews the term ‘bonus’ and in the context of the re-release becomes ‘essential’. The album is a concept record that deals with communication at the incredibly pivotal time in electronic media and digital culture, shortly after the turn of the millennium. “Communication’ is about the way images shape our view of the world and how electronic media is going to change the contents of our culture.” (Karl Bartos, 2003) Communication isn’t simply just a re-release. It is the reloading of an overlooked electro-pop classic that is arguably more topically relevant today than when it was first released. The album comes without any loss of musical power, and Bartos’ sense of joy in making the music is still palpable. Fittingly, the audience reactions at his recent shows have mirrored this, having been met with intense enthusiasm. A further reason why Communication is more than just a re-release is because the album documents and proves that Bartos has created his own musical language ahead of the cultural zeitgeist or anything resembling a fleeting fashion. Even though it was released 10 years ago, Communication also connects seamlessly to Bartos’ latest and critically acclaimed album, ‘Off the Record (2013). Simply put: Communication is the reintroduction of timeless statement. The Lost Album Fate or just bad luck? The fact is, Bartos' former Kraftwerk colleagues also released an album in 2003, their first after a ten-year break and since Bartos left the band. The media predictably focused their attention on Kraftwerk’s Tour de France Soundtracks… an album inspired by the track ‘Tour de France’, for which Bartos was a coauthor. This is hardly surprising giving that Bartos was also co-author of such genre-changing electronic hits as The Model, The Robots, Numbers and Pocket Calculator - and Bartos was also the melody-maker of significant Kraftwerk albums such as The Man-Machine (1978) and Computerworld (1981). Prior to releasing Communication Bartos was a busy man. Under the moniker Electric Music, he released the albums Esperanto (1993) and Electric Music (1998) and with Bernard Sumner (New Order) and Johnny Marr (The Smiths), he composed the second album by Electronic (1996) and he also wrote songs for, and with, Andy McCluskey (OMD)… “It is not the business of music to be fashionable. The meaning of music is to bring people together.” (Karl Bartos, 2016)
http://www.karlbartos.de
