May 11, 2000 15:45

KRAFTWERK'S ELECTRONIC RENAISSANCE

The reclusive German electro-pioneers issue a seven-track compilation which will be available throught the Internet...

Rare and previously unreleased material by Kraftwerk is to feature on a new compilation album.

The package will be a CD and book called 'A Short Introduction To Kraftwerk', and will feature new versions of seven Kraftwerk tracks, 'It's More Fun To Compute', 'Kristallo', 'Autobahn', 'Hall Of Mirrors', 'Radioactivity', 'Uranium' and 'Das Model'. All of the songs were recorded during the original sessions, but have remained unreleased until now.

The CD is an official release, even though it is not coming out through the band's label EMI. All the tracks are now over 20 years old, so the copyright on the tracks have shifted from EMI back to Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider. Instead, the package will be released by Sonic Books, and will be available through mail order over the Internet, from www.music-non-stop.co.uk and www.amazon.co.uk.

In addition to the CD, the package comes with an 88-page CD size booklet, which features a history of the band, excerpts from previous interviews and a full discography.

Last December Kraftwerk released their first new material since 1986, a single titled 'Expo 2000', which coincided with the beginning of the Expo 2000 European Business Conference in Hanover, Germany. A spokesperson for Kraftwerk told nme.com there were no plans for the band to release any more new material in the near future.