"Electric Café" is the ninth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released on October 27, 1986. It was available in both English and German versions, with a limited Spanish edition featuring versions of "Techno Pop" and "Sex Object" that had Spanish lyrics. This was the first Kraftwerk album to be produced using predominantly digital musical instruments, though it was still recorded onto analog master tapes. In 2009, the album was remastered and re-released under its original working title, Techno Pop.
The development of the album began in early 1982 under the working titles Technicolor and later Techno Pop, but its progress was delayed after Ralf Hütter, one of the band's members, suffered a cycling accident in May or June of that year. EMI Records had already set a release date for Techno Pop, and promotional advertisements were released, complete with assigned catalog numbers. However, the album was ultimately renamed Electric Café. Hütter explained that they had been working on a conceptual album, but once the composition progressed, they changed the titles and the concept. At one point, there were pre-orders made under the Techno Pop name despite the band still working on the sleeve and finalizing the album. Hütter and the band later clarified that no unreleased songs from this period exist—everything they worked on during the Technicolor and Techno Pop stages eventually ended up on Electric Café, and the band prefers to work on finished products instead of creating multiple versions of a song.
Musically, Electric Café is characterized by its first side, which consists of three tracks forming a suite of variations that share recurring elements. For example, a bass melody from "Musique Non-Stop" can be heard again in "Techno Pop". The first side is largely instrumental, with phrases spoken rather than sung. "Techno Pop" and "Sex Object" both include partial Spanish lyrics, further adding to the album’s international feel. The second side is a bit more conventional in structure, with three songs that follow a traditional pop format.
One of the most notable tracks is "The Telephone Call" ("Der Telefon-Anruf" in the German version), which features Karl Bartos on lead vocals, making it the first and only Kraftwerk song with him as the lead singer. The album closes with the title track, "Electric Café," which includes lyrics in French and Italian. The track gained additional exposure in the U.S. when it was used as the theme for Sprockets, a German television parody featured on Saturday Night Live, where it was played slightly sped up.
