Kraftwerk fans rejoice! The electronica trailblazers have a new album “under way” for an arrival “soon,” according to founder Ralf Hütter.
Speaking with The New York Times, Hütter said the German group’s first studio set since 2003’s “Tour de France” is a work-in-progress, as is all of Kraftwerk’s operations.
“We didn”t fall asleep,” he said. “The 168-hour week is still going on since the beginning, since 1970.”
Kraftwerk has been performing over the last couple of years for residencies like at New York’s MoMA, London’s Tate Modern and, most recently, wrapping at Akasaka Blitz in Tokyo, performing full albums in chronological order. They have a slate of more general tour dates starting this month through November, posted below.
“Kraftwerk is a living organism,” Mr. Hütter added. “Music is never finished. It starts again tomorrow. The record is just a record, but for us it”s nearly boring. We like better the programs that we can operate with. So we are operating, we are upgrading, we are updating continuously. There”s continuous reprogramming going on, and composition and new concepts are also coming.”
Let’s hope they don’t get too bored on the next album.
Kraftwerk dropped a live album, “Minimum-Maximum,” in 2005.
Here are Kraftwerk’s tour dates:
6/14: Barcelona, ES, Sonar Festival
6/28: Pozan, PL, Malta Festival
7/04-07: Roskilde, DK, Roskilde Festival
7/12: Kinross, UK, T in the Park
7/17: Montreux, CH, Montreux Jazz Festival
7/18-21: Suffolk, UK, Latitude Festival
7/19-21: Dublin, IE, Longitude Festival
8/06-10: Oslo, NO, Oya Festival
8/07-11: Helsinki, FI, Flow Festival
11/03: Reykjavík, IC, Iceland Airwaves
11/04: Reykjavík, IC, Harpa