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Icy cold synthesizer tracks

December 15, 2023

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Gary Numan performs at the Electric Ballroom for the first of three nights as he approaches his 1000th career show on April 13, 2023, in London, England. Jim Dyson/Getty Images

We are well into December now with the temps to prove it, and I thought now is the perfect time to feature an hour of nothing but icy cold synthesizer tracks. Inspired by these frigid temperatures, we're going to be bringing on the chilly synth action from Kraftwerk and Devo, OMD and New Order, Gary Numan and Yaz — and the list goes on. I invite you to throw on a heavy jacket and join me for the program.

Program playlist

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Two mannequins seated at a table, their torsos and legs detached — 'Upstairs at Eric's' is the debut album by British synthpop duo Yazoo (known in the U.S. and Canada as Yaz), released in the U.K. on Mute Records and in North America on Sire Records on August 20, 1982.
Mute Records / Sire Records

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Kraftwerk perform at State Theatre in Minneapolis — Kraftwerk performing at the State Theatre in Minneapolis on Wednesday, June 1, 2022.
Darin Kamnetz for MPR

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Devo circa 1980.
Courtesy Warner Brothers, via NPR