Utopia as Practice

future thinking as a tranquilizer in an accelerating world

“Bist du bereit für eine kleine Utopie?”, Blumfeld in ‘Wir Sind Frei’

“I miss the future”, Jaron Lanier

The 1977 album ‘Trans Europa Express’ by the German band Kraftwerk is a peculiar one. Although the arrangements, the use of synthesizers and layers of noise are very modern the overall feel is nostalgic. On previous albums ‘Autobahn’ (1974) and ‘Radio-Aktivität’ (1975) Kraftwerk were slowly losing their style based on improvisation and jazz for a more poppy sound focussing on rhythm, mood and feel. On ‘Trans Europa Express’ the mixture of avant-pop, krautrock and synthesizer driven music became their trademark. A sound that would ultimately lead to the proto-electro of ‘Computerwelt’ (1981) and become an important inspiration for new music genres like electro, house and techno. But ‘Trans Europa Express’ is more than a musical shift, the album shows a new way of looking at the world.

The video for the title track is a perfect example of nostalgia for the future. The band…