Kraftwerk release their first new single this decade (‘Tour De France’, released earlier this year, was a new mix of an old song) in December, though according to a spokesman it will not be released in the UK.
‘Expo 2000’ will be released by Kling Klang/EMI in Germany; it was written as the official theme to next year’s Expo 2000 in Hanover from June until October and the initial release has three Kraftwerk mixes (Kling Klang Mix 2000, Kling Klang Mix 2001, Kling Klang Mix 2002) and a radio edit. It will be packaged in a 3D sleeve and selected import shops and online services are already taking advance orders for the single.
Whether this heralds a new burst of activity for Kraftwerk whose last appearance in the UK was at Tribal Gathering in 1997, remains to be seen. They haven’t made an album since 1986’s ‘Electric Cafe’ despite their enormous influence on all electronic music – from Chicago House and Detroit Techno to contemporary trance – that has come since.