SENIOR COCONUT • El Baile Aleman (Kraftwerk covers) • LP

When it was released in 2000, El Baile Alemán was grandly — and probably not entirely without irony — described as “the future of electronic music,” right there on the back cover of the second album by Señor Coconut. The concept of “Kraftwerk covers with Latin American rhythms” may sound like a drunken gimmick at first, but it actually has real substance, works brilliantly, and even a quarter-century later still feels remarkably fresh and hugely entertaining. Here, the Düsseldorf robots are lubricated with sunscreen instead of machine oil, dancing somewhat awkwardly and stiff-hipped, yet always perfectly in step with cha-cha-cha, merengue, and cumbia; every now and then there are glitches, and a few sparks fly.

The minimalist, Prussian-strict sound of the originals, combined with the tropical warmth of the rhythms — plus a few samples and breakbeats — creates countless moments that are as witty as they are seductive, sounding both retrofuturistic and difficult to categorize. This eccentric sound has remained so fresh precisely because Schmidt’s electrolatino never actually became the future of EDM. A few years after Señor Coconut, more closely related styles such as reggaeton and tropical bass achieved that instead — proving that yesterday’s vision of the future can become tomorrow’s short-lived trend just as quickly. In that sense, it may even be a blessing that Señor Coconut’s “German dances” never found their way into any mainstream.