Kraftwerk – or, at least, what’s left of them – are preparing to rattle through their extensive back catalogue on stage next year. A key former member, however, is looking forwards rather than backwards. 

Bartos was a member of Kraftwerk during the group’s 1975-1990 purple patch, contributing to classics like Computer World and Man-Machine. Having left the Kraftwerk fold back in 1990, Bartos moved towards academia, working as a visiting professor at the Berlin University of the Arts until 2009. He’s also helped out with Johnny Marr/Bernard Sumner’s Electronic project, and, in 2003, released cheery electro-pop LP Communication.

Rumblings about a new Bartos record began back in summer, when the German claimed that he was  “working in high speed on the very last tracks for the album”. As The Quietus report, concrete details have now emerged about the LP. Off The Record will drop in March, and features 12 new tracks. The album is dedicated to the Atomium, a giant iron crystal installation built for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair, and promises, in Bartok’s words, vocoder newspeak, robot sounds, digital glitch, techno pop, catchy melodies, electronic avant-garde, roaring silence, futurism, and, of course, those rhythms!”

A vocoder-heavy excerpt from barmy scene-setter ‘Atomium’ is available to stream below. Bartos also promises to tour the record in the new year. Off The Record is due on March 18, courtesy of Bureau B.

Tracklisting:
‘Atomium’
‘Nachtfahrt’
‘International Velvet’
‘Without A Trace Of Emotion’
‘The Binary Code’
‘Musica Ex Machina’
‘The Tuning Of The World’
‘Instant Bayreuth’
‘Vox Humana’
‘Rhythmus’
‘Silence’
‘Hausmusik’