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It’s time for some more up-beat, melodic-spiced music, for which I turn to the synth-pop of “Esperanto”. This debut album by former Kraftwerkian Karl Bartos (with some help of Lothar Manteuffel and Emil Schult) was in initially released as a limited edition digipack through SPV. As such, it didn’t garn much attention, but fortunately it was re-released on other labels soon after. “Esperanto” contains eight Kraftwerk-sounding danceable tunes containing the same hard-hitting rhythms, samples and simple catchy melodies, while a fair bit of techno-influences also kick in. Even Andy McCluskey of OMD shows up, adding his pleasant vocals to “Kissing the Machine”, bringing back good memories of “Computer Love”. Although overall applying the signature sound of Kraftwerk’s “The Mix”, the rhythms on “Esperanto” shift quite a tad higher compared to Kraftwerk: these are not always that easy to adjust to and become quite exhausting on tracks such as the blasting “Overdrive” or (too lengthy) “Information”. Besides the already mentioned “Kissing the Machine”, the opening track “TV” is a real fun piece saying thanks to Kraftwerk’s early ’90’s music. |
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