Karl Bartos to Reissue His Debut Solo Album Communication on Bureau B
Renowned as an essential member and songwriter of Kraftwerk during their most innovative years, Bartos' Communication carries the transformation of culture through electronic media as its central theme.
Hamburg, Germany, September 4, 2025 — Bureau B announces the release of Karl Bartos' debut album Communication, to be reissued on November 21st on CD/LP/DD. Renowned as an essential member and songwriter of Kraftwerk during their most innovative years, Bartos' Communication was first released in 2003, 13 years after he left the legendary electronic group. The reissue arrives at a moment when its central theme, the transformation of culture through electronic media, feels more relevant than ever.
Listen to ‘I’m The Message’ below:
When Bartos departed Kraftwerk in 1990, he left behind a catalogue that had redefined electronic music: “The Model”, “The Robots”, “Numbers”, “Pocket Calculator” and many more bear his imprint as co-writer and melody-maker.
2021 Kraftwerk’s classic line-up was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for their innovative work – the first German band ever to be honored.
With the sharp witted electro-pop of Communication the Kraftwerk legend extended that legacy, turning his focus toward a rapidly evolving media landscape at the turn of the millennium. At the time, the album’s exploration of celebrity culture, digital imagery, and the early internet felt like a glimpse into the future. Today, it reads as sharp cultural analysis of a reality that has since become ordinary.
Two decades later, this reissue allows Communication to be reconsidered on its own terms. The questions Bartos posed, about image saturation, reality fragmentation, and identity commodification, resonate more strongly in the age of smartphones, social media, and streaming platforms than they did in the early 2000s.
Karl Bartos: 'We are living in an age of huge behavioural mannipulation. Cybernetics, artificial intelligence – this is a major challenge for humanity.'
Bartos’s role in shaping Kraftwerk’s defining sound is undisputed, yet Communication also asserts his independent artistic voice: one that critiques media while celebrating the joy of electronic sound. Its re-release is less a nostalgic act than a reminder that Bartos’s work continues to speak directly to the cultural present. With this reissue on Bureau B, Communication endures as both a document of its time and a timeless statement on media, culture, and music.
For more information on this and other Bureau B releases, please visit https://www.bureau-b.com/releases.
About Bureau B
Bureau B is platform for exciting varieties of electronic, free-spirited music. The spectrum ranges from pop to avant-garde, and the label has amassed an impressive catalogue of reissues and new productions in recent years, including classics from the genre of electronic music in the 1970s and early 1980s popularly classified as Krautrock (Cluster, Roedelius, Moebius, Plank, Schnitzler), alongside new recordings by such formative artists as Faust, Kreidler, Roedelius, Tietchens, Moebius, to name just a few. Bureau B is based in Hamburg, Germany.
Jeff Touzeau
