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FORGOTTEN HISTORY: 2 | History Defined

“Nobody knew you could do that, we always try to do things to break the normal order”: More than 30 years before Teenage Engineering, Kraftwerk saw the future of portable music-making and released a pocket calculator instrument

Marking an album that foresaw the 21st century’s computer-addicted society, Kraftwerk dropped their own branded handheld synth decades ahead of the trend

MusicRadar

Classic Interview: Soft Cell’s Dave Ball – “To my mind, Kraftwerk are as influential as The Beatles”

The late synth-pop veteran on synths, production and keeping things simple

MusicRadar

"He will always be loved by fans who loved his music": Dave Ball, founder of Soft Cell and The Grid, has died aged 66

Ball had recently finished work on a new Soft Cell album alongside bandmate Marc Almond

MusicRadar

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The Guardian - UK

Florian Schneider’s Kraftwerk instruments put up for auction in US

Auction in US includes late musician’s vocoders, flute, sunglasses and bike he rode in Tour de France video

The Guardian - UK

Kraftwerk announce their first UK and Ireland tour for eight years

Electronic music pioneers Kraftwerkwill play 15 dates across the Uk and Ireland in May and June

Louder

“It was such a shame to leave A Secret Wish on its own. The band still had such great potential – it was unfinished business”: Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag couldn’t dump Propaganda and their prog roots in the past

Their 1985 contained tones of Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk and Supertramp. It took until 2022 for the singers and producer Stephen Lipson, as xPropaganda, to deliver The Heart Is Strange. But it was worth the wait

Louder

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‘The best song to have sex to? Kraftwerk has good beats’: Mel Giedroyc’s honest playlist

The comedian, presenter and podcaster was haunted by Eleanor Rigby and can’t really handle Abba at karaoke, but which 90s dance banger makes her pine for the good old days?

The Guardian - UK

Wimbledon’s electronic line calling failure is a victory for humanity

Comment: Wimbledon apologised after the system cost Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova a point on Sunday, following complaints from various players in SW19

The Independent UK

Forever Now review – timeless stars shine among grab bag of 80s nostalgia

Public Image Ltd deliver a thrilling set and the The can still enthrall, but it is the techno-symphonies of headliners Kraftwerk that remain truly peerless

The Guardian - UK

“Everyone says Vienna was an electronic track, but it’s mainly piano, violin and viola. Those strange combinations made us what we were”: You may think Ultravox were a synth-pop band. They know they were prog

Midge Ure and Billy Currie aimed to create timeless music by crossing previously-closed musical borders – and they argue that their biggest hit worked because of human imperfections rather than digital precision

Louder

Scottish rappers, deaf composers and an AI song called Zygotic Washstands: the biggest hoaxes in pop

Ex-Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flür was conned into believing he was collaborating with a member of Daft Punk – but it’s far from the first time musicians and audiences have been fooled

The Guardian - UK

“We love you guys. Without Kraftwerk we would not find our own robot style, being on stage with the helmets, you know”: How a fake Daft Punk fooled Kraftwerk’s Wolfgang Flür into a collaboration

They pretended to be Thomas Bangalter

MusicRadar

“To listen now is to be dazzled by how many of its ideas were embraced and expanded by key artists… its ripples today dominate modern music”: Kraftwerk’s 50th anniversary edition of Autobahn

The less-is-more electronic music milestone returns with Ralf Hutter Atmos remix

Louder

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MusicRadar

“Karl left because they spent millions on these machines but never played one note. They were caught by the technology and it overtook them”: Our lost interview with Kraftwerk’s Wolfgang Flür gives rare insight into the band's internal conflicts

Back in 2007, we caught up with Kraftwerk’s former rhythm robot, who had much to share about the fraught relationship with the band that defined electronic music

MusicRadar

“We should use the tools of today’s society to create music – otherwise it is just antique”: How Kraftwerk’s The Model set the prototype for modern pop

The No.1 hit from the band that liked to say: “Our drummers don’t sweat!”

MusicRadar

"They inhabited the future of their time, but they sound historical to me now": A music professor breaks down the theory behind Kraftwerk's Autobahn

Following the landmark album's 50th birthday, we pop the hood on Kraftwerk's breakout release to inspect its musical mechanics

Louder

Kraftwerk to celebrate 50th anniversary of classic Autobahn album with reissues in March

Kraftwerk will release a new Dolby Atmos mix of Autobahn on Blu-ray and digitally, as well as their first official vinyl picture disc in March

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MusicRadar

“This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next 15 years”: How a song intended to be an album track would leave a massive mark on music’s future

When Brian Eno first heard it, he could sense its potential to revolutionise the way pop would be made

Louder

Members of Yello, Daft Punk and New Order guest on new Wolfgang Flür album Times

Former Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flür to release new album Times in March

Louder

Mogwai's new single Fanzine Made of Flesh sounds like "ABBA meets Kraftwerk" according to guitarist Stuart Braithwaite

Scottish post-rock quartet Mogwai will release their brand new studio album The Bad Fire in January

MusicRadar

"A new era of accidental techno is upon us": 2025's new DIY drum machine craze is here, and all you need is a flashlight and an FM radio

A producer creates a kick drum pattern using a torch, and it even has sidechain compression

Louder

“The Doctor Who theme was just a fraction of what she could do… She felt sound very deeply – things that haunted her came out”: Actress Caroline Catz on hearing Delia Derbyshire’s unreleased archive

Doc Martin and DCI Banks star’s record collection also features krautrock, space rock, acid folk, Canterbury and metal music

The Guardian - UK

‘Like Depeche Mode, but evil’: the sweaty, sexual music of 80s EBM

As documented in a new book, electronic body music swept Belgium and Germany as its artists strove to make something entirely new – but their militaristic look became controversial

Louder

“Unfriendly immigration officers read ‘musician’ and ask, ‘Anything I should know?’ I say, ‘Oh yeah!’ They remember Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and it’s OK”: Yello’s offbeat synth prog ethic gets Dieter Meier round the world

The “Dada version of Bryan Ferry” – who says he uses bandmate Boris Blank’s audio imagery to find structure then leap off into chaos – admits he was never a tortured artist

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