More Bounce to the Ounce

"Among the book’s many revelations is that the vocoder’s two cultures—the military and the funky—completely failed to speak to each other. 'Of all the World War II cryptology experts I interviewed,' Tompkins writes, 'none was aware of the vocoder’s activities in the clubs, rinks, and parks of New York City… Of all the hip-hop civilians I interviewed, none was aware of the vocoder’s service in any war.' It’s a nice irony, given the vocoder’s original function to connect people."

Sam Anderson in New York reviews Dave Tompkins's How To Wreck A Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II to Hip-Hop, the Machine Speaks.