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Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk And Our Computer World

Kraftwerk, photographed in 1977. From left: Florian Schneider, Karl Bartos, Ralf Hütter and Wolfgang Flür. Gilbert Uzan/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images hide caption

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Gilbert Uzan/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Music Interviews

Kraftwerk And Our Computer World

In a new book, writer Uwe Schütte takes up a close examination of the unique context that gave rise to one of the century's most influential art projects.

Kraftwerk And Our Computer World

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The Culture Corner: Revisit The Matrix Of Kraftwerk's 'Computer World' 40 Years On

Kraftwerk perform during the Kraftwerk - Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, Autobahn (1974) at The Museum of Modern Art on April 10, 2012 in New York City. Mike Coppola/Getty Images hide caption

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Mike Coppola/Getty Images

World Cafe Words and Music Podcast

The Culture Corner: Revisit The Matrix Of Kraftwerk's 'Computer World' 40 Years On

XPN

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, John Morrison revisits Kraftwerk's Computer World and its importance then and now.

The Culture Corner: Kraftwerk's 'Computer World'

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Kraftwerk's Remarkable Journey — And Where It Took Us

Kraftwerk standing in phone booths in Keio Plaza Hotel, Tokyo, September 1981. Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images hide caption

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Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images

All Songs Considered

Kraftwerk's Remarkable Journey — And Where It Took Us

On this edition of All Songs Considered, we take a musical journey honoring the genius of Kraftwerk's Florian Schneider, who died May 6, just a few days after turning 73.

Kraftwerk's Remarkable Journey — And Where It Took Us

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Kraftwerk And The Art Of No Emotion

Robots: Ralf Hutter, Henning Schmitz, Fritz Hilpert, and Stefan Pfaffe of the band Kraftwerk perform during the Kraftwerk — Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 at The Museum of Modern Art on April 10, 2012 in New York City. Mike Coppola/Getty Images hide caption

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Mike Coppola/Getty Images

All Songs Considered

Kraftwerk And The Art Of No Emotion

Over its 40 year career, the German electronic band has managed to build an audience fanatical enough to sell out an eight-night retrospective at a major art museum while exploring a range of music that resists emotional expression.

Kraftwerk In New York: Decades Of Influence On Display

Ralf Hutter (left) and the other members of Kraftwerk in performance at the Museum of Modern Art in New York on Tuesday. Peter Boettcher/Courtesy of MoMA hide caption

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Peter Boettcher/Courtesy of MoMA

The Record

Kraftwerk In New York: Decades Of Influence On Display

Four decades after their sound helped redefine popular music, the German synthesizer quartet is playing a series of eight concerts at New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Kraftwerk In New York: Decades Of Influence On Display

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The Vocoder: From Speech-Scrambling To Robot Rock
Courtesy Michael Jonzun and Dennis Ackerman

Music Interviews

The Vocoder: From Speech-Scrambling To Robot Rock

The device famous for making human voices sound robotic did not originate in the recording studio. As music journalist Dave Tompkins writes in How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II to Hip-Hop, it began as a speech-encoding machine during World War II. Read an excerpt from Tompkins' book about the vocoder and its unexpected history here.

The Vocoder: From Speech-Scrambling To Robot Rock

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