Kraftwerk's Autobahn at 50: The Echoes Kraftwerk Documentary<img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="111930" data-permalink="https://echoes.org/2024/10/16/wednesday-oct-30-2024-kraftwerks-autobahn-at-50/kraftwerk-autonahncover-600/" data-orig-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/kraftwerk-autonahncover-600.jpg" data-orig-size="600,600" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="kraftwerk-autonahncover-600" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/kraftwerk-autonahncover-600.jpg" data-large-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/kraftwerk-autonahncover-600.jpg" src="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/kraftwerk-autonahncover-600.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="600" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-111930" srcset="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/kraftwerk-autonahncover-600.jpg 600w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/kraftwerk-autonahncover-600-150x150.jpg 150w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/kraftwerk-autonahncover-600-400x400.jpg 400w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/kraftwerk-autonahncover-600-260x260.jpg 260w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />
It’s the 50th Anniversary of Kraftwerk&#8217;s Autobahn.  The iconic German electronic band switched on their debut album in November, 1970, but their breakthrough artistically and commercially came in 1974 with an album that broke all the barriers of music, especially in the Top Forty.
<blockquote>Ralf Hutter: We could never understand why there were&#8211;everybody wanted to stick to the guitars, or the drums because they’re so boring.  And now it’s happening.</blockquote>
To celebrate, we&#8217;re repodcasting our documentary. Kraftwerk&#8217;s Man-Machine Music . We’ll hear from Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hutter as well as Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark, Jean-Michel Jarre, Orbital, Michael Rother, Depeche Mode, James Merle Thomas (Quindar), Karl Hyde (Underworld), Manuel Gottsching (Ashra)  and Conny Plank, looking back on a band that altered the face of music for decades.  Kraftwerk is on our list of <a href="https://echoes.org/2024/10/07/35-icons-of-echoes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">35 Icons of Echoes</a>. We go down the Autobahn with Kraftwerk&#8217;s Man-Machine Music: The Echoes Documentary in the Echoes Podcast.

Kraf

Echoes Podcast: Autobahn’s 50th Anniversary

<img decoding="async" data-attachment-id="112175" data-permalink="https://echoes.org/2024/10/31/echoes-podcast-josse-jaffe-jim-kimo-west/echoes-130/" data-orig-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/west-jaffe-podcast-web1-1200.jpg" data-orig-size="1200,630" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Echoes&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Echoes&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Echoes" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/west-jaffe-podcast-web1-1200-600x315.jpg" data-large-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/west-jaffe-podcast-web1-1200.jpg" src="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/west-jaffe-podcast-web1-1200.jpg" alt="" width="616" height="329" class="aligncenter wp-image-112175" />
On the Echoes Podcast, two masters of strings, from guitar to ngoni, when we talk to Joss Jaffe and Jim &#8220;Kimo&#8221; West. Jaffe is a musical explorer. West is a guitarist with a reputation for Hawaiian slack key music but he also plays with Weird Al Yankovic. Go figure. Jaffe studied tabla drum in India and has picked up instruments from around the world. Together they&#8217;ve made a serene recordings called <a href="https://jim-kimo-west.bandcamp.com/album/santhi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Santhi </a>and it includes instruments like the West African ngoni, Indian tablas and bansuri flute, and e-bow guitar.
<blockquote>Jim &#8220;Kimo&#8221; West: We didn&#8217;t want to go heavily Indian or heavily African or heavily Hawaiian. We just wanted to have a blend of these different influences, stuff that we like from around the world and just do it naturally, just play what we like.</blockquote>
John Diliberto will when he talks to Jim &#8220;Kimo&#8221; West and Joss Jaffe on Echoes from PRX.

Echoes Podcast: Josse Jaffe & Jim Kimo West

Hans-Joachim Roedelius at 90: The Echoes Podcast<img decoding="async" data-attachment-id="111551" data-permalink="https://echoes.org/2024/10/24/echoes-podcast-hans-joachim-roedelius-at-90/screenshot-2/" data-orig-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Roedelius-John-Zoom-1200x341-1.jpg" data-orig-size="1200,341" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Screenshot&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Screenshot&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Screenshot" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;Screenshot&lt;/p&gt;
" data-medium-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Roedelius-John-Zoom-1200x341-1-600x171.jpg" data-large-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Roedelius-John-Zoom-1200x341-1.jpg" src="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Roedelius-John-Zoom-1200x341-1.jpg" alt="Hans-Joachim Roedelius &amp; John Diliberto Interview Screen Shot" width="1200" height="341" class="aligncenter wp-image-111551 size-full" srcset="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Roedelius-John-Zoom-1200x341-1.jpg 1200w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Roedelius-John-Zoom-1200x341-1-600x171.jpg 600w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Roedelius-John-Zoom-1200x341-1-768x218.jpg 768w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Roedelius-John-Zoom-1200x341-1-860x244.jpg 860w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Roedelius-John-Zoom-1200x341-1-400x114.jpg 400w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Roedelius-John-Zoom-1200x341-1-260x74.jpg 260w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />
In the Echoes podcast  we celebrate the 90th Birthday of German Composer, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, born on October 26, 1934. He was a founding member of the bands Cluster and Harmonia, two groups who influenced artists like David Bowie on his Berlin Trilogy and especially Brian Eno, who went on to make music with these musicians as well. But while Roedelius began in the electronic zone, at 90, he says he&#8217;s unplugging and just playing acoustic piano. But he was part of the breakthrough to a new sound in Germany in the 1970s.
<blockquote>Hans-Joachim Roedelius: In the late ‘60s, everything in the field of arts, any art, was because we had after Hitler, there was a big hole, a big black hole in the culture of Germany.  So we had to, we had to find out to, to go a different way.</blockquote>
While most of us call him Roedelius, his friends call him Achim. The entire hour will be filled with his music and we&#8217;ll hear a feature with Roedelius that takes us through his life and career including time in a Stasi prison in East Germany.. He was not only an electronic pioneer, but a pioneer of ambient chamber music. Hear Roedelius as well as Lloyd Cole and Tim Story. If you&#8217;re not super familiar with him, wait until you hear the sounds he created in the late 60s. He turns 90 on October 26 and he&#8217;s still going.

Echoes Podcast Hans-Joachim Roedelius at 90

I Sing the Song AI-Tony Gerber and the Singing Poet Society: The Echoes Podcast<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="110917" data-permalink="https://echoes.org/2024/10/17/echoes-podcast-tony-gerber-ai/gerb-er-singing-poets-logo-600/" data-orig-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerb-er-Singing-Poets-Logo-600.jpg" data-orig-size="600,600" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Gerber-Singing Poets Logo-600" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerb-er-Singing-Poets-Logo-600.jpg" data-large-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerb-er-Singing-Poets-Logo-600.jpg" src="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerb-er-Singing-Poets-Logo-600.jpg" alt="Singig Poets Society Logo. An Man and woman, looking like their from the 1930s in a circle." width="600" height="600" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-110917" srcset="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerb-er-Singing-Poets-Logo-600.jpg 600w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerb-er-Singing-Poets-Logo-600-150x150.jpg 150w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerb-er-Singing-Poets-Logo-600-400x400.jpg 400w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerb-er-Singing-Poets-Logo-600-260x260.jpg 260w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />AI is everywhere and so many places you don&#8217;t even know it. Last year we even programmed an entire echoes using AI. It was pretty good, but dated. You know AI is in pop and library music, but there is one musician trying to use it for Art. His name is Tony Gerber and you&#8217;ve heard him with the electronic trio Spacecraft, Giles Reaves and Phil Keaggy and on many solo releases. He had the idea of taking classic poetry, setting it to AI manipulated music and using AI singers. It&#8217;s called the Singing Poet Society.
Tony Gerber: Another, another point is that, you know, without the advent of AI to assist acting kind of as an assistant in this particular case, this idea would never have even come to fruition or even come about.
Tony is one of  the least AI musicians you can imagined. We had him playing live pre-pandemic with Giles Reaves and I&#8217;m sure he was actually playing. Discover Tony Gerber&#8217;s journey and the music he&#8217;s creating in the Echoes Podcast.
<a href="https://tonygerber.bandcamp.com/album/singing-poet-society-volume-one" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="110919" data-permalink="https://echoes.org/2024/10/17/echoes-podcast-tony-gerber-ai/gerber-singping-poets-volume-2-600/" data-orig-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-2-600.jpg" data-orig-size="600,600" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Gerber-Singping Poets Volume 2-600" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-2-600.jpg" data-large-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-2-600.jpg" src="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-2-600-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-110919" srcset="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-2-600-150x150.jpg 150w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-2-600-400x400.jpg 400w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-2-600-260x260.jpg 260w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-2-600.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="110918" data-permalink="https://echoes.org/2024/10/17/echoes-podcast-tony-gerber-ai/gerber-singping-poets-volume-1-600/" data-orig-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-1-600.jpg" data-orig-size="600,600" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Gerber-Singping Poets Volume 1-600" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-1-600.jpg" data-large-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-1-600.jpg" src="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-1-600-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-110918 alignleft" srcset="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-1-600-150x150.jpg 150w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-1-600-400x400.jpg 400w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-1-600-260x260.jpg 260w, https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gerber-Singping-Poets-Volume-1-600.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> </a>

Echoes Podcast: Tony Gerber & AI

Love, Loss Alienation with London Grammar: The Echoes Podcast&nbsp;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="110413" data-permalink="https://echoes.org/2024/10/10/echoes-podcast-london-grammars-in-love/london-grammar-podcast-1200x630-2/" data-orig-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/London-Grammar-Podcast-1200x630-2.jpg" data-orig-size="1200,630" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;10&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS R5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1691164305&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;61&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.076923076923077&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="London Grammar-Podcast-1200&#215;630" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/London-Grammar-Podcast-1200x630-2-600x315.jpg" data-large-file="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/London-Grammar-Podcast-1200x630-2.jpg" src="https://echoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/London-Grammar-Podcast-1200x630-2.jpg" alt="London Grammar - Dan Rothman, Dot Major, Hannah Reid" width="830" height="442" class="aligncenter wp-image-110413" />In the Echoes Podcast, the British dreampop trio, London Grammar. We talked to them in 2021 about their career and album, <a href="https://echoes.org/2021/05/01/echoes-may-2021-cd-of-the-month-london-grammar-californian-soil/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Californian Soil</a>, an Echoes CD of the Month. Now they are back with their fourth album, <a href="https://echoes.org/2024/09/29/echoes-october-cd-of-the-month-london-grammar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Greatest Love</a>, also a CD of the Month. We&#8217;ve been told it&#8217;s a rare thing to get all three member, Hannah Reid, Dot Major and Dan Rothman together for an interview, but you will hear all three today in the Echoes Podcast. They talk about the usual: love, loss, alienation as well as Hannah Reid&#8217;s greatest love, her newborn child. But that&#8217;s not what the song is about.
<blockquote>Hannah Reid: You know, it&#8217;s funny, I&#8217;ve said to Dan a few times that sometimes it feels like my lyrics are a bit prophetic in a way. This song was actually written long before I had my son, but it does take on a new meaning for me now. I do think of him when I think of this album.</blockquote>
London Grammar has been on of the most singular acts of the 21st century. They released their debut album called If You Wait,  in 2013, lead by a single they first dropped independently on the internet, &#8220;Hey Now.&#8221; We were instantly seduced by the voice of Hannah Reid and the orchestrations of Dan Rothman and Dot Major. We talk to them in the Echoes Podcast.
Read John Diliberto&#8217;s review of <a href="https://echoes.org/2024/09/29/echoes-october-cd-of-the-month-london-grammar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Greatest Love</a>. 
Read John Diliberto&#8217;s review of <a href="https://echoes.org/2021/05/01/echoes-may-2021-cd-of-the-month-london-grammar-californian-soil/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Californian Soil</a>

Interview Podcast – Echoes

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