Komputer could easily be dismissed as a
Kraftwerk rip-off or wannabe band; they sound
very similar to Kraftwerk
1977 -
1981, but with a little more '90:s
funkier (while still synthetic) drums. They do however have a certain
humour to what they do, like they really love Kraftwerk and joke around
a bit with the stiff mechanic attitude. The synth sounds are very Kraftwerkian,
and therefore the simple melody lines sound like Kraftwerk too - with any other
instrument you'd never notice this, since the old Kraftwerk melodies always
were very simple, almost childlike. The lyrics are somewhat Kraftwerkish too;
the retro-futurism of many of their songs shines through in 'Valentina Tereshkova',
a song about the first female kosmonaut. 'We Are Komputer' is a nice little
song about themselves (or their Komputer image); very stiff, mechanical,
robot like ("work is pleasure, pleasure is work"). It does have a more British
touch than the Kraftwerk world though; "drinking in an English pub, dancing in a
Soho club" etc. It reminds me a little bit of
Showroom Dummies.
'Komputer Krash' is merely a synthetic voice repeating the title over a funky
synthetic beat and a simple melody. 'Oh Synthesizer' is the most obvious
rip-off of them all; they've simply stolen nearly the entire
Neon Lights and remodelled the melody slightly
to fit the new lyrics. While this may upset die-hard Kraftwerk fans I find it
very amusing; they joke around with an obviously stolen song and call it their
own. How much more of a blatant copy can you be? I like the humorous approach.
I like this EP.
