Former Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flür was once tricked into working with a Thomas Bangalter impersonatorFormer Kraftwerk percussionist Wolfgang Flür was tricked into working with an impersonator pretending to be Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter.
Flür – who was a member of Kraftwerk from 1973-1987, but has been releasing solo music since 2015 – released his new album Times on 28 March. He had previously teased a collaboration with Bangalter in the years prior to its release, but since the album has landed, reports newly claim that the collaboration is not with the real Bangalter, and that Flür has seemingly been tricked.

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For some context, the saga dates back to February 2023, when – as documented in a timeline of events by Luke Perez, the Daft Punk Historian – producer and music partner of Flür, Peter Duggal, posted on social media that “cool things” were emerging from a collaboration with Thomas Bangalter, along with an image from Blitzed Magazine in which Flür and Duggal describe getting a Facebook message from him.
Fans did believe this to be odd, as Bangalter does not have a social media presence, and the post was later deleted. However, skip to January 2024 and in an interview with Blick, Flür mentioned that he had an album releasing in September of that year and that Bangalter (among other artists) would be featured on it. The album was eventually pushed back to March 2025, and Flür further discussed the collaboration on Ben Cardew’s Line Noise Podcast in February, though the episode has seemingly been taken down now.
Eventually, its track listing was revealed, and showed collaborations on two tracks from someone named Thomas Vangarde. ‘Vangarde’ was a fake surname Bangalter’s father previously used to preserve his anonymity, so it was brushed off as being nothing more than a pseudonym.
With the official release of the album, Bangalter’s real name was not credited anywhere, with platforms like Spotify crediting the Vangarde name instead. Shortly after, a representative of the Daft Punk team who runs their official Discord channel wrote online, “PSA: recently a ‘Thomas Vangarde’ was credited on Wolfgang Flür (of Kraftwerk)’s latest album, and it was assumed/reported that this was an alias of Thomas Bangalter. This is confirmed false! Unfortunately it is not Thomas of DP on the project and news otherwise is inaccurate.”
They later stated that legal teams have been made aware, and asked for people to extend Flür some kindness. “It’s not his fault that oversight failed here! Just because the media is being unkind about the mistake doesn’t mean fans have to be. Please do not harass him about the mistake or tell him to feel embarrassed. And please still listen to the rest of Times!” They said.
Wolfgang Flür’s Times is still available to stream or buy now.
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