Trans Volta

Disco Computer b/w You Are Disco

scum stats: there’s a bunch of variations of this thing, all seemingly available at reasonable prices

I love soundalikes. I have FOND memories of being in the backseat of my mom’s car on a last-minute, school night adventure to the northern world of Frankenmuth. My brother had started making mix tapes and popped one of his creations in. And I was so stoked to hear a Beatles song I’d never heard before. “Lies” (by the Knickerbockers) is so 100% quintessentially biting on every last bit of Beatles trademarks, I was incredulous with my brother when he explicitly told me that the Fab Four was not the group on the recording. The ensuing argument lasted for a handful of interstate miles at or around the speed limit in a 1995 Ford Taurus.

(side note: Bronner’s and Zehnder’s and the Birch Run outlet mall were all closed by the time we got up there, probably 7:30-8pm on a weekday. We stopped and ate at Halo Burger, which claims to be the oldest burger chain in the country, then went to the gas station next door and loaded up on snacks and trinkets that all seemed different from what we were used to seeing two hours south in Detroit. And then drove all the way home. My mom felt like she failed, trying to do this spontaneous, grand gesture and ultimately landing on fast food and a Mobil. But to a one, me my siblings and I had a BLAST and to this day I still reminisce about this unique adventure)

The idea behind a soundalike is what really gets me thinking. Were the Knickerbockers explicitly trying to sound like the Beatles? And if so, did they have a specific or general reference point? And say now, almost sixty years later, is sounding like the Beatles even a thing? Or are the Beatles just considered “good music”?

I know nothing about Trans Volta except they sound a shit ton like Kraftwerk. To the point where there’s no real doubt, they were trying to ape the groundbreaking German combo.

That being said…I still quite like it. I mean, Kraftwerk is genius, using that as a template, there’s a lot of built-in perfection.

This 45 goes straight in the DJ box and I fully anticipate folks asking “What the hell is this?” - OR - “What Kraftwerk album is this on?”

Mention your favorite sound-a-like in the comments, with some sort of description or story (or not) and I’ll send someone a free record that may or may not sound like something else.