The Mix cover

The Mix

Released

It’s hard to believe now, but Kraftwerk were yesterday’s man-machines in 1991, when this techno-flavored remix/remodel collection was released. They hadn’t toured in close to a decade, and hadn’t released an album in five years. But by reworking many of their classic tunes in dancefloor-friendly, bass-heavy versions, they earned a new audience and reinvigorated themselves creatively. In live performance, songs like “Radioactivity” (which has an almost industrial menace here) and “Autobahn” (shaved down from 23 minutes to under 10) hew more closely to these versions than the originals. And a track like “Pocket Calculator,” originally a sub-Devo chirp-and-ping trifle, becomes a pounding, wave-your-hands-in-the-air anthem.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Omega cover

Omega

Robert Hood
Jacob's Optical Stairway cover

Jacob's Optical Stairway

Jacob's Optical Stairway
Head On cover

Head On

Super_Collider
Schismogenesis cover

Schismogenesis

Atsushi Izumi
Succour cover

Succour

Seefeel
Don't Think cover

Don't Think

The Chemical Brothers
Golden Valley Is Now cover

Golden Valley Is Now

Reid Anderson, David King, Craig Taborn
Qualm cover

Qualm

Helena Hauff
Commercial cover

Commercial

Los Amigos Invisibles