Whereas 1981′s Computer World coincided with a huge escalation in the new wave, R&B, post-disco and hip-hop worlds for synthesized grooves, late 1986′s Electric Café arrived when much of popular music was already electronic. The German quartet started working on Computer World‘s successor in 1982, but when key member Ralf Hütter suffered a serious injury while practicing his newfound cycling hobby, its successor was delayed and repeatedly reworked. When Electric Café finally appeared, its largely digital sounds were no longer cutting edge; hip-hop, Latin freestyle, hi-NRG, and synth-pop were all heard regularly on Top 40 radio while house music raged in the underground.

Aside from the slower, more skeletal and aggressive rhythms of Run-D.M.C.-era hip-hop that dominate its nearly non-stop first side, the album barely reflects or acknowledges any of this. Mostly, it picks up where Computer World left off with percussive vocal samples taking the place of most sung vocal lines and telephone sounds where pocket calculator noises once buzzed. Returning to the symphonic classicism of Trans-Europe Express, “Sex Object” is the most startling track. Whereas early Kraftwerk cuts like “Antenna” danced around sexuality and 1983′s “Tour de France” single sang about cycling while its heavy breathing implied a journey… read more »