Including the complete contents of most every
Dopplereffekt record released before 2000,
Gesamtkunstwerk is an excellent display of paranoid, menacing retro-electro straddling the early '80s and the late '90s. As with
Kraftwerk classics "Pocket Calculator," "The Robots," and "Home Computer," the social concerns of
Dopplereffekt tracks ("Cellular Phone," "Rocket Scientist," "Superior Race," "Speak & Spell") are expressed almost exclusively in the titles, with a minimum of vocal accompaniment. "Sterilization," the act's most famous track thanks to a few compilation appearances, includes just one vocal tag -- a robotic "We had to sterilize the population" -- but loses none of its post-apocalyptic perfection. Besides the push/pull attraction and repulsion of technology, sex is a big theme ("Plastiphilia," "Pornoactress," "Pornovision") on
Gesamtkunstwerk as well. At least until their next underground club hit, this collection is all the
Dopplereffekt you'll ever need. ~ John Bush