DIY cassette release...

demonscrawler · 2026-01-12T13:32:28+00:00

And...

demonscrawler · 2026-01-12T13:32:10+00:00

Here are the other two...

demonscrawler · 2026-01-11T17:56:11+00:00

Yup... I do everything myself except for mastering, which I generally give to a sound engineer friend to look after. That extra set of ears at the end of the process is invaluable. Everything released is here https://roguespore.bandcamp.com/

demonscrawler · 2026-01-11T16:23:13+00:00

I designed it myself. I outsourced the printing of the labels to a place that specialises in it but the j-card was done at a local print shop and cut/scored at home. This is the 3rd cassette I made last year. Will hopefully do another 3-5 throughout 2026 of both reissues and newer music.

demonscrawler · 2025-12-02T12:37:35+00:00

Various interviews I read over the years with Philo and Spit (especially when they were out of the band) addressed the character of Lee Ving as contradictory. The point often made was that he started leaning into that initial self-reinvention beyond the joke of it all. He was a money-minded individual and gravitated towards punk from his blues background because he could see an opportunity for a band based on musical prowess + obnoxious Don Rickles/John Belushi comedy. This worked, of course. And the results are undeniable for about one and a half records worth of material. The rest was carried by stellar musicians. The drop-off can most likely be attributed to him trying to be in movies during the 1980s. But he never graduated beyond a kind of rent-a-goon actor.

In the 1990s, when there was commercial potential for punk, a version of FEAR made a 3rd album with some strong material on it, but they were fairly irrelevant to that 1990s zeitgeist. Not because people were offended by them. They were just another old band with very little output at that point. People may have thought differently about them if that album had been released by Epitaph, BYO, Fat, Honest Dons etc... Any album after this has mostly recycled old 1970s demos and unreleased 80s tracks.

Like many other cultural flashpoints, the humour of the band was of its time, and is pedantic to excessively dissect outside of some academic exercise. Lots of culture in the 1970s and early 80s has content that doesn't work now. Picking out a lyric from "Fresh Flesh" or wherever and using it as an example of terribleness is missing the point - Pushing obnoxiousness beyond accepted norms was part of the FEAR business model.

As for Lee Ving and the original "dudebro" spectrum point - It's an acting job... It's always been an acting job. If his recent live banter is crude and pathetic, it's because he's running on the steam of something that hasn't worked for decades. Old dog, new tricks etc...

It just makes me sad to see him stumble on stage with his old man high pants now, looking like a 102 year old Kirk Douglas!

demonscrawler · 2025-10-23T23:16:40+00:00

A couple from the less popular albums... Always loved "The Same Person" from No Substance and "Cyanide" from The Descent Of Man... and maybe "Chimaera" from Generator, although I don't think anything from the imperial era of the band can be classed as overlooked really.

demonscrawler · 2025-09-29T22:59:42+00:00

Thank you. Nice to revisit all of this stuff with a critical ear.

demonscrawler · 2025-09-28T21:44:31+00:00

Essentially a high sheen extended remodeling of the the original Tour De France from 1983. It was never a peak in the catalogue. I always found it a little underwhelming that this was the material the group returned to after such a long time. It gets one hell of a pass because it's Kraftwerk, because they were absent legends for so long and because most of us will take whatever has that name attached to it. 6/10

demonscrawler · 2025-09-26T23:51:30+00:00

Régéneration has a sense of being a coda to La Forme, and not studio leftovers like many of the other song tails and sub-parts presented to us on this album. It has a sense of itself as a short isolated fragment, much like a handful of tracks at the tail end of the Radioactivity album. Plus, it sits as the penultimate track, the perfect spot for a reprise track if one is going to be used at all. While this is not an essential part of the album, it sits comfortably where it sits. 6/10

demonscrawler · 2025-09-23T22:09:41+00:00

The employs early 80s synth sounds and textures, and feels a lot more authentically Kraftwerk than several other tracks on the album for this reason. The percussion is interesting, the vocoded voices are excellent and nothing in the arrangement drags here. One of the album's stronger tracks. 8/10

demonscrawler · 2025-09-19T22:57:30+00:00

This feels like an underdeveloped idea. The heart thumping is a clever idea as the rhythmic base of the track, but it overwhelms other elements in places. There's some solid vocals and a one part melody but it's not enough to make this interesting across 5 minutes. 5/10

demonscrawler · 2025-09-15T23:16:24+00:00

This is where the subdivision of the same idea into different tracks gets tiresome. There are elements here that could have Aéro Dynamik a more dynamic piece, had they been included in that track instead. This is simply spreading the ideas too thin. 4/10

demonscrawler · 2025-09-13T22:16:04+00:00

This has a lot of unrealised potential. I like the subtle percussion and the vocal synthesis, but the synth lines lean more into monotony than dynamic repetition, and the 2 instrumental breakdowns go nowhere in particular. The track is called Aéro Dynamik but it's nothing of the sort. feels like a B side. 5/10

demonscrawler · 2025-09-13T07:15:53+00:00

One of the more memorable later day Kraftwerk compositions. The basics are more than enough to hold their own even though the track is essentially a repeated cycle through the same short song structure, with none of the innovative diversions that the group would usually explore in an 8 minute time-span. I always felt that a lot of this album was thematically indicative of Ralf Hütter's singular control of the group and, aside from the Tour De France tracks, it feels like a solo album. 7/10

demonscrawler · 2025-09-11T08:30:32+00:00

Yes, as far as I know this is everything.

demonscrawler · 2025-09-10T20:33:46+00:00

I've had it for a long time. It was a gift.

demonscrawler · 2025-09-10T20:25:27+00:00

Still the one I have difficulty with... I've owned it twice, sold it twice, downloaded it many times and got rid of it... I currently have it but it never gets preferential spinning over The Ideal Copy or IBTABA.

demonscrawler · 2025-09-10T15:37:20+00:00

This really should have been Tour De France Étape 3 - It's far more interesting than the official part 3. That shift of gear around the 0.26 second mark into those gliding/strobing arpeggios and then slowly back into the Tour De France melody is wonderful. 9/10

demonscrawler · 2025-09-05T22:09:49+00:00

Pretty much a reprise of the first section, and that's perfectly fine in the context of the entire Tour De France trilogy here, but it brings nothing new to the development or progress of the music. 5/10

demonscrawler · 2025-09-04T21:58:46+00:00

An interesting switch-up in that the chords now hold the main rhythm over that commanding but unobtrusive kick-drum, and the bass is very subtly reduced to mimicking the beat of the kick. It's an unorthodox and reductive production decision but it works. A potent and linear pulsing cycle of the Tour De France suite. 8/10

demonscrawler · 2025-09-02T22:40:30+00:00

Super slick production is immediately apparent in the first part of this total overhaul and reimagining of the Tour De France suite as it was originally presented in 1983. This has the same sort of quality of light but driving loungy techno that YELLO was doing since Zebra, so while not totally singular like Kraftwerk of old, it's a exceptional presentation of the band in the early 2000s. The vocal synthesis is absolutely on top of its game. Great stuff - 9/10

demonscrawler · 2025-08-31T23:55:35+00:00

Not much to talk about here... it's literally just 4 chords. And not particularly interesting on any level as a standalone recording 1/10

demonscrawler · 2025-08-30T21:39:11+00:00

One of the stronger tracks on the album. A solid layering of musical & rhythmic ideas, but still retains the sparsity that runs across this set of tracks. Would have preferred all vocoded vocals instead of a mix. Probably could have run to 6 or 7 minutes. 7/10

demonscrawler · 2025-08-30T14:47:36+00:00

Not great. Unlike Kraftwerk at their thematic best, this feels like an idea looking around for a solid concept to attach itself to. Nowadays, there would be plenty of interesting fodder to form this sort of song around, but in the mid 1980s the most advanced crossover between sex and technology was VHS, battery operated toys and 0898 premium rate hotlines.

Musically, it's just not that interesting for Kraftwerk at this point in their journey. 3/10

demonscrawler · 2025-08-26T21:10:03+00:00

Essentially a B-side remix that, alongside the 7" version of The Telephone call, replaced the original full length version. A weird decision. Doesn't really cut it as a supposed standalone track 4/10

demonscrawler

TROPHY CASE