The Minimoog

The compact modular synth that revolutionized electronic music.

1970 saw the release of the Minimoog; a small, 3-octave synthesizer with fairly less controls than other synthesizers present at the time. Modular synthesizers, the common synthesizers at the time, were huge machines operated by vast amount of buttons, patch cables and configurations. For the synthesizer to really break through it needed a simplification: this was exactly what the Minimoog had to offer. It had three VCO's (sound generators), a filter and an ADS envelope (known today as the ADSR-envelope) all easily configured by the iconic knobs and buttons placed on the front panel. The machine was placed inside a beautiful wood cabinet, and with the front angled upwards, it became a well known symbol of what a synthesizer is. Besides the less advanced controls and design, the Minimoog overruled the current market of synthesizers with one very important thing: size. It wasn't more difficult to transport a Minimoog than a guitar amp, which made it possible for bands like Kraftwerk to easily tour the world with it.

For Kraftwerk, the Minimoog was one of their old trotters. They made frequent use of it, since the early days of "Ralf und Florian" (can be seen on the back cover) up till touring with "Computerwelt" in the early 80'ies. The deep sounds of the Moog's VCO's and filters became a signature sound for Kraftwerk, as they later used more Moog equipment like the Polymoog or the Micromoog. It helped them produce the warm and fat sounds of their melodious soundscapes, and also placing themselves on the musical world map with a completely new and unheard sound: the Kraftwerk sound.

Ralf und Florian live on German TV in 1973, performing the romantic "Tanzmusik" from "Ralf und Florian". A young Wolfgang Flür can be seen playing drums, allegedly his first performance with Kraftwerk. Ralf can be seen playing the Minimoog, the small keyboard at his left.

Neonlicht

Music by Hütter, Schneider & Bartos
Words by Hütter (Hütter-Schneider-Bartos)
© 1978 Klingklang music

The classic 1978 Kraftwerk album "Die Mensch-Maschine" (English: The Man-Machine) contains six elaborate tracks, and 4 of them are some of Kraftwerk's most well known tunes: "Die Roboter", "Das Model", "Neonlicht", and the title track "Die Mensch-Maschine". The album evolves around synthetic life, robots and hypermodern technology and it's accompanied by the mechanical sound of vocoders, synthesizers and electronic drums. Between the otherwise dark and minor oriented tracks is "Neonlicht" to be found as a melodic and sentimental song, tributing the colorful neon lights that, powered by electricity, dominate the night.

The melody builds upon a simple, but extremely powerful motif: a one note step down (bar 1-2). This is used in every second bar, which only builds upon the strength of this phrase; furthermore underlining the nouns of the text: Neon, Nacht and Stadt. These three single syllables are perfect images of Kraftwerk's ideals; a modern world in the city, driven by technology to achieve maximum results but at the same time preserving the beauty and the enjoyment of life.

The counter-motif holds a triplet, and this is used to form small runs to counter up or down to the next phrase. The first two (bar 2, bar 4) go down, with the major third as the middle note, while the third (bar 6) goes up, leading to the point of the text: the city is illuminated by the beautiful neon lights.The last motif concludes with a hanging note "Licht", an important word from the text.

By looking at the melody as a score it's clear to see the symmetry; blocks of two bars (rhythmically) identical throughout. This is a critical example of Kraftwerk's unique style: minimalism and imitation of a machine world combined with a appealing and very sensitive feeling. Neonlicht is a mellow example of the band's ambiguous universe. Björk has the words to describe them: "They found a way to make music with machines, and actually were proud of it. They weren't trying to hide it. I think Kraftwerk's music is very cold, but it's also very, very warm. I think they reached a very interesting balance that hadn't been reached before, between the two."