At a glance
- Artist
- Kraftwerk
- Released
- 1977
In the issue
A concept album about train travel that perfected Kraftwerk's minimalist electronic pop. Afrika Bambaataa later sampled it for "Planet Rock," helping birth electro-funk and giving hip-hop one of its foundational electronic textures. Wolfgang Flür later marveled at how far that influence spread: "Oh it's everywhere," he said.
How it was made
Recorded at Kling Klang Studios in 1977, Trans-Europe Express refined Kraftwerk's vision of robotic pop into its most elegant form. The band jammed for hours, then edited tape like film, splicing the best moments into sleek, minimalist tracks about European train travel, the meeting of Europe and America, and the power of music and technology. "Trans-Europe Express" and "Hall of Mirrors" referenced their influence on David Bowie's Berlin period. The band's studio discipline bordered on neurotic—they installed a phone that couldn't ring to avoid noise pollution—but it let them craft the pristine, hypnotic grooves that defined the album. Trans-Europe Express became foundational to hip-hop when Afrika Bambaataa sampled the title track for "Planet Rock" in 1982. Kraftwerk's vision of electronic music as a trans-national language had crossed cultural boundaries. The album influenced David Bowie's Low and "Heroes." It established Kraftwerk as the architects of electronic pop.
Listen
More by Kraftwerk in the issues
- Kraftwerk1970
- Autobahn1974
- The Man-Machine1978