The Robots Returns - Karl Bartos @ The Carling Academy Birmingham
 | | Karl Bartos |
On a Sunday night in November a stage in Birmingham littered with TVs, projection screens, wires and black boxes was host to a rare appearance by Karl Bartos. Karl’s name might not mean much to some until reminded of his previous career as one quarter of electronic pioneers Kraftwerk who with hits like Trans Europe Express, The Model and Autobahn managed to change the face of pop music forever. Their refusal to play traditional instruments and their lyrical themes of technology and isolation combined with sharp imagery have managed to inspire countless other artists across many genres from the Human League and Afrika Bambaataa in the 1980s and people like Moby and Coldplay today. Electro pop
 | | Karl Bartos in Birmingham |
Since leaving the group in 1991 musician, producer and more recently professor in sound Karl Bartos has been no stranger to making music. In the last decade Karl has worked with acts like OMD and Electronic (Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr). His one off Birmingham performance is one of the first with his new group Audiovision consisting of synthesisers and an electronic voice taking care of the music and a live VJ looking after the visuals. Together the three men perform a combination of kicking electro pop music and striking imagery. As the show starts eerie synth noises make way for electronic voices counting in time as numbers and miscellaneous computer code are projected onto the screens. The first song, an updated version Kraftwerk’s Numbers forms as a reminder of what Bartos is capable of which he builds on later on in the show. The set was a combination of tracks from Karl’s last concept album 2003’s Communication and some past Kraftwerk hits given a new twist and shaken from their clinical origins. Big impact visuals
 | | Karl Bartos |
The visual element to this concert added to the experience. Songs were enhanced with big impact visuals such as The Telephone Call where different types of communication device flickered in time to music as Karl sang about a frustrating relationship conducted over the phone. For the song I’m The Message familiar pictograms from road signs, maps and safety notices interacted with each other in a human like world made up of primary colours. Highlight songs included Computer Love, recently used by Coldplay, and recent track Life which we were told was written about New Order’s Bernard Sumner. As he sang about his friend multiple live images of Karl were distorted in real-time and projected around the stage and onto the television monitors. During the gig a serious looking and dark suited Karl gave way to the smiling and happy man who played the rest of the show including two encores to his crowd of “British friends”. | 
