089: Kraftwerk - Computer World (1981)

Eins, zwei, drei, vier! This week, Producer Mike brings our winter of electronic music to a close with a band that didn’t just pioneer electronic music – they basically wrote the source code. Kraftwerk formed in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1969 and started messing around with basically anything with wires that made a funny noise. They weren’t the first band to experiment with electronic music, but they infused it with a quirky, creative sense of humanity that transcended language and resonated with audiences worldwide. None of the members of Kraftwerk owned a computer when they recorded their 1981 album Computer World, but the album is shockingly prescient, anticipating the myriad ways computers have wormed their way into every aspect of daily life, and it’s also among their most influential, echoing through genres like hip-hop, electro, and basically any music with an electronic pulse. So get ready to beam yourself into the future, because Discord & Rhyme is going fahr’n, fahr’n, fahr’n auf der Autobahn.

Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, Rich Bunnell, Phil Maddox, Amanda Rodgers

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/089-kraftwerk-computer-world-1981

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