Autobahn
$45.00
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Kraftwerk
Autobahn
[ Mute / CD ]
Release Date: Monday 5 October 2009
With its iconic Emil Schult sleeve, Kraftwerk release their international breakthrough album. The symphonic title track, an epic ode to the joys of motorway travel, wraps a mesmerising motorik rhythm around a sampled collage of car horns, engine noise, whirring tyres and radio crackle. In edited form, it becomes a revolutionary hit single around the world. Elsewhere, in wordless industrial folk music, the band reveal both their light and dark sides - "Mitternacht" is all creeping midnight shadows, while "Morgenspaziergang" is fresh with morning dew and birdsong. Two versions of "Kometenmelodie", one a starkly gothic prowl, the other a sunny electro boogie, provide further instrumental sound paintings.
Translucent blue vinyl with 12-page booklet.
Although Kraftwerk's first three albums were groundbreaking in their own right, Autobahn is where the group's hypnotic electronic pulse genuinely came into its own. The main difference between Autobahn and its predecessors is how it develops an insistent, propulsive pulse that makes the repeated rhythms and riffs of the shimmering electronic keyboards and trance-like guitars all the more hypnotizing. The 22-minute title track, in a severely edited form, became an international hit single and remains the peak of the band's achievements -- it encapsulates the band and why they are important within one track -- but the rest of the album provides soundscapes equally as intriguing. Within Autobahn, the roots of electro-funk, ambient, and synth pop are all evident -- it's a pioneering album, even if its electronic trances might not capture the attention of all listeners.
5 / 5 All Music Guide.
Tracks:
Autobahn
Kometenmelodie 1
Kometenmelodie 2
Mitternacht
Morgenspaziergang
