May 12, 2015 Playlist

Kosmik Radiation's 10th Anniversary & 500th Episode!

"Radio-Activity" by Kraftwerk (1975)
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Kraftwerk  "Radio-Activity"  1975 (Germany)
This week is the 500th official episode of the Kosmik Radiation show, which debuted on WORT-FM in the wee small hours of April 27, 2005. Our klassik album is a pivotal but somewhat overlooked LP from the krautrock canon: Kraftwerk's 5th album was the follow up to their international smash hit breakthrough Autobahn, and as with all their subsequent records it is a concept album with a technological theme, that theme being . . . radio! They would not acquire the funk until their next album Trans-Europe Express, and this album did not contain any "hits" to rival their songs about cars, trains, bicycles or pocket calculators, but Radio-Activity is the album that marks their transition from long-haired kosmische krautrockers to the 21st century technopop robots we know and love today. In fact, this is the album where they started using robot voices for the first time, arguably the final addition to their signature sound along with the synthesizers and electronic percussion. The title song is the best known track on this album, though in later years they reworked it from a dark pun about radio (like hit songs are radioactive or something) into a serious anti-nuclear song (the chorus changed from "radio activity" to "stop radio activity" and lyrical references to Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Selafield were added); other highlights include "Antenna" which points the way toward the industrial sounds of Suicide and Throbbing Gristle, "Airwaves" which is the most danceable number, and the closer "Ohm Sweet Ohm" - a classical European melody played by a chorale of electronics which sounds like the summation and grand finale of their formative period. 
   
Artist Song Album Year Country
The Pink FairiesDo ItNever Never Land 1971
UK/Canada
Captain Beefheart & His Magic BandElectricitySafe As Milk1967
USA
Jefferson AirplaneLatherCrown Of Creation 1968
USA
Sly & The Family StoneIn TimeFresh1973
USA
Scott WalkerJackieScott 21968
UK/USA
 
 
FunkadelicCosmic SlopCosmic Slop1973
USA
Dr. JohnPots On Fiyo (File Gumbo) / Who I Got To Fall On (If The Pot Get Heavy)The Sun, Moon And Herbs1971
USA
Curtis MayfieldUndergroundRoots1971
USA
   
 
ClinicCosmic RadiationFree Reign2012
USA
Pharoah SandersAstral TravelingThembi1971
USA
The Mystic Moods OrchestraCosmic SeaAwakening1973
USA
   
 
KraftwerkAntennaRadio-Activity
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
1975
Germany
KraftwerkAirwavesRadio-Activity
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
1975
Germany
FaustJenniferFaust IV 1973
Germany
KraftwerkOhm Sweet OhmRadio-Activity
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
1975
Germany
   
 
Earthling SocietyKosmik Suite #1Plastic Jesus And The Third Eye Blind2006
UK
Robert WyattRivmic Melodies'68rec. 1968, rel. 2013
UK
The Fiery FurnacesRestorative BeerWidow City2007
USA
 
  
The Grateful DeadCosmic CharlieAoxomoxoa1968
USA
DonovanCosmic WheelsCosmic Wheels1973
UK (Scotland)
The Modern LoversAstral PlaneThe Modern Loversrec. 1972, rel. 1976
USA
Ariel Pink's Haunted GraffitiEarly Birds Of BabylonMature Themes2012
USA
LiarsProud EvolutionSisterworld2010
USA/Australia
 
  
The Mothers Of InventionOh No / The Orange County Lumber TruckWeasels Ripped My Flesh1970
USA
Sonic YouthTeenage RiotDaydream Nation1988
USA
The Jimi Hendrix ExperienceBurning Of The Midnight LampElectric Ladyland1968
USA/UK
Neil YoungTime Fades Away (live)Time Fades Away1973
Canada
 
  
The Stark RealityBustin' Out Of Doors (Hoagy Carmichael)Acting, Thinking, Feeling (box set)rec. 1970
USA
      
   
   
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