Dusseldorf's gifted Kraftwerk, along with Can and Neu!, were pioneers of electronica. Kreidler, one of the key members of the new wave of Germany's electronica groups, has revisited their hometown's pioneering past for sound inspiration. Their self-titled third release builds on the work of previous, but has explored new musical directions. The result: they've come up with some winning tracks. The overall mood is thoughtful, cool, distant and uncanny, but the ambient sounds are more polished than their '70s roots.

The music is built almost purely from Reihse's keyboards, Weinrich's bleeping and clicking electronic sounds and Klein's drum; Alex Paulick's guest bass takes up where Stefan Schneider left. The repeating rhythms build interlocking circles, growing with each iteration. The first song, "Circles", is most typical of the rhythmic pattern, and acts as a blueprint for the rest of the album. There are only two tracks with vocals: Momus' "Mnemorex", for which he also wrote the words, and Leo Garcia's "Estatico". The Momus track is amazing; it's created from a series of observations in a diaryv-- "Stitch me up straight like a snake cut in two" and "A supa-fly guy/With bluebottle feet/Sticking to the ceiling". The lyrics add to the eerie feeling produced by the heavy and distorted bass and the spooky keyboard sounds that seem like a muted elephant trumpeting. These are sounds well-suited to the self-proclaimed god of mockery, Nick Currie. Momus, who is presently on tour with Kreidler, quoted a comment made about Kreidler's music in his tour diary: "I think this music is about sex." It sure as hell isn't made for dancing. If you find want a variation in your musical diet from Marvin Gaye when getting your groove thing on, and require something more intellectual, get Kreidler.