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The Sound of the Machine

My Life in Kraftwerk and Beyond

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The Sound of the Machine

By: Karl Bartos
Narrated by: Jim Boeven
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Whether in Kraftwerk or as an acclaimed solo artist, Karl Bartos has had an extraordinary impact on electronic music. In The Sound of the Machine, Bartos’ recollections include his childhood in postwar Germany, the early musical encounters that led him to Kraftwerk, and fascinating insights from his time with the group, such as the genesis of monumental songs like "The Robots," "The Model," and "Tour de France," and candid accounts of his relationships with the other bandmembers.

©2022 Omnibus Press. English language translation © 2020 by Katy Derbyshire (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing Entertainment & Celebrities Celebrity
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This is exceptional. A detailed look at Karl's life - before, during, and after his time in Kraftwerk. Inquisitive and intelligent riffs on many topics - life in post-war Germany, computer technology, musical composition and theory, Werner von Braun, many more. It's a huge and absorbing story. Take just a moment to become accustomed to narrator Jim Boeven's diction and style, and the narration then forms a big part of the appeal. And using a native speaker makes for authentic pronunciation of German names and place names. This has been 19 hours very well spent. Credit also to Katy Derbyshire who did the translation of the source material into English. A very fine audiobook.

Detailed, absorbing, fascinating

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Karl is certainly very ambitious in this thorough, detailed personal history. It’s the story of his life, his involvement with Kraftwerk, their legacy, and much philosophising about music and creativity.

Using a German to narrate the audiobook is a double edged sword. Obviously German words are pronounced perfectly however many English words are completely mispronounced which is quite jarring and took me out of the narrative.

I enjoyed it however this is not a book for the casual fan and is primarily for those who want a deep dive, and who are tolerant with lengthy digressions on creativity and art.

In depth look at Karl’s life and work

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Though I loved the Kraftwerk tunes that I came across on their original release, it wasn't until 2009 that I took a deep dive into the catalogue. Even then, I knew little about the band beyond the standard stuff we have been fed over the years. So obviously that was my starting point for listening to this book; to find out more. Karl's account is very interesting and it came across as balanced, fair and well researched. As someone involved in composing, I found much of his experiences outside of Kraftwerk fascinating too, if a little long in the first few chapters (but do stick with it). Now I am keen to check out his 90s output and revisit the work he did with OMD and Electronic. Excellent work Karl.

Illuminating

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Waited years for this to be translated and only managed to digest it this week. Very engaging!

Balanced take on biography

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