Wolfgang Flür lives a bittersweet disc launch. The one who was a member of Kraftwerk between 1974 and 1986 has published this new album, ‘Times’ this Friday, a work that contains stellar collaborations by Peter Hook (former New Order), Boris Blank (former Yello) or a such “Thomas Vange”. The official notes affirm that Thomas Vange is the alias of Thomas Bangalter of the extinct Duo Daft Punk. However, it has turned out to be an imposter.
The “Daft Punk historian” Luke Perez, says Billboard, has discovered the thymus and has verified, thanks to a person close to the Daft Punk circle, that Bangalter’s alleged collaboration with Wolfgang Flür has never existed.
The alleged collaboration of Wolfgang Flür and Thomas Bangalter was conceived in 2023 when the alleged former Daft Punk-intention wrote Flür through social networks to collaborate. In a strange interaction with Flür, “Bangalter” asked Flür for a signed copy of his 2022 ‘Magazine I’ album: “Can you send me a signed copy? I collect albums and yours has to be signed for you, ”said the fictional bendgalter. «Without Kraftwerk, in Daft Punk we would never have found our robotic style. I love you, Wolfgang, could you send me the album? “
Flür sent him a signed copy of ‘Magazine 1’ to the alleged bustalter and the collaboration between the two materialized. The name of Thomas Vaz appears in two cuts of ‘Times’,’ über_all and ‘Monday to the Moon’, both next to Peter Hook. However, the Daft Punk environment has denied that this collaboration has occurred. According to Perez, the imposor has used an alternative name to hide his whereabouts, but the name choice is directly related to the true bendgalter, because he is a alias his father used in his old musical career.
For Perez, the alleged collaboration smelled like a scorching from the beginning, and Daft Punk historian expresses his surprise because no one from Flür’s environment, or his record label, Cherry Red Records, who has edited ‘Times’, have questioned this collaboration at all and have simply assumed that Bangalter now uses the alias of Thomas Vange for some reason. Stores in Spain such as Fnac or Rotor Discs sell ‘Times’ with the claim of a collaboration with Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk that has never taken place.
