Soul Music: Series 25 - 5. Kraftwerk - Computer World

SOUL MUSIC: SERIES 25 - 5. KRAFTWERK - COMPUTER WORLD (320kbs-m4a/64mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 30th August 2022

How Kraftwerk's classic album Computer World has changed people's lives.

On their first wedding anniversary, David Sanborn and Jennifer Huber remember their Kraftwerk themed celebrations. Ramona Gonzales from the band Nite Jewel recounts how a car crash and a chance encounter with Computer World changed the course of her life. And Andy McCluskey from Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark recalls the Kraftwerk concert that inspired his musical career.

Kraftwerk were forged in the shadow of World War Two, out of a desire to create a new, German music. Uwe Schütte from Aston University explains how Computer World embodies the politics of this time and points the way to a computerized future. Brian Carney recalls how the album's glamour and sheen changed his horizons in the industrial town of St Helens. And in South Central Los Angeles Greg Broussard, aka Egyptian Lover, shows how this album brought love into his life.

Life, love and an electronic future as experienced through the music of this pioneering German band.

Producer: Melvin Rickarby

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2018.

Kraftwerk, Krautrock And The German Electronic Revolution

KRAFTWERK, KRAUTROCK AND THE GERMAN ELECTRONIC REVOLUTION (320kbs-m4a/131mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 20th July 2019

As Kraftwerk visit Jodrell Bank in Cheshire for Bluedot, there's another chance to hear Jarvis Cocker (also on the Bluedot bill) present the story of Kraftwerk, one of popular music's most influential groups.

Jarvis also assesses the contribution of some of Kratwerk's contemporaries and tells the story of a group of musicians that have had a significant impact on acts and movements as diverse as David Bowie and Coldplay, hip hop and the new romantics. The programme features a rare interview with Kraftwerk founder and only remaining original member Ralph Hutter He also examines the part played in the so-called "Krautrock" movement by the other German bands such as Neu! and Tangerine Dream.