It’s beginning to look a lot like Kraftwerk. December 1, you should be able to look forward to a simulated Stylophone app for iPhone and iPod touch. The Stylophone, for those of you unfamiliar with this classic, was a wonderful late-60s invention and a high-water mark for electronic instrument simplicity. Run a stylus across a simple metal keyboard, get sound. It’s a no-brainer to bring this to Apple mobiles, with their touch and sonic capabilities. And while the Stylophone was used on many, many songs, I anticipate quite a few “Pocket Calculator” covers showing up on YouTube in the days after release. Now we just need a good effects program on the platform, and you can have one person playing Stylophone while someone adjusts effects on their machine.

Lots more pictures here, and yes, they’re pulling out all the stops, with classic, bass, and treble versions:

iStylophone 2008 Gallery

Incidentally, the Stylophone itself has returned in a remaked form. (You can also buy used originals, which some people prefer - link originally swapped; thanks, Michael Moncur, for the catch.) I’m curious if anyone has used the remakes? I have to admit, fun as the iPhone idea is, I wouldn’t mind holding a replica of the actual object.

What if Kraftwerk’s classic “Computer World” were made today? And, erm, what if Kraftwerk were actually Swedish? For all of you who dare to dream, our friend Audio Objekt has created a re-created version. (Warning: video contains occasional scandalous nude images as social critique, so it could be very briefly not safe for work.)

Sing along:

BLOGG.
INTERNET.
GLOBALISERING.
PIRATKOPIA.

Wow. I suddenly feel really depressed. I think. Actually, maybe I’d better watch that again with my Swedish-English dictionary handy this time.

The YouTube community in general seems to be all about Kraftwerk. Where else would you find people sharing video evidence that Kraftwerk’s “Pocket Calculator” employed a bleepy portable music toy called the Bee Gees Rhythm Mach– wait a second. Forget about Kraftwerk for a second. There’s a Bee Gees Rhythm Machine? Now that’s a beautiful thing. Have a look:

Musical activists are opposing a Japanese nuclear reprocessing plant. What’s in it for you: free musical downloads opposing contamination by nuclear radiation. (Any pro-radiation readers will have to look elsewhere.) Nuclear reprocessing is a way of reclaiming spent nuclear fuels. Sounds great, right — recycling and whatnot? Unfortunately, there are serious risks involved. The plant, Rokkasho-mura reprocessing plant in Japan’s Aomori Prefecture, is under fire because:

1. Just two weeks into testing, after the plant opened last year, radioactive water containing plutonium and uranium spilled inside the plant.
2. According to a recent report, this particular plant has a design flaw that makes it susceptible to Japan’s frequent earthquakes — and the plant maker is alleged to have kept this flaw secret for eleven years.
3. Reprocessing in general has been criticized for increasing the risk of global nuclear terrorism.
4. Using nuclear energy as a power source poses numerous risks throughout the fuel cycle both in terms of the environment and terror targets.
5. Personally, they had me at the radioactive water.

Stop Rokkasho.org: Hear [Music downloads]
Via the good peoples of Synthtopia

Music with political agendas has been controversial among readers of this site. But when high-profile musicians like Ryuichi Sakamoto are organizing musical protests, and the likes of Kraftwerk contribute songs, there’s no question these events have an impact.