KRAFTWERK

4.5 stars. Well once again I need to thank Tom Ozric for convincing me to get into the early KRAFTWERK records. I've said before that the Electronic genre is not one of my favourites, but this debut from them as well as Ralf and Florian's earlier album "Tone Flote" with the band ORGANISATION are both essential Krautrock gems. I even like this one better than the ORGANISATION recording. I just remember a friend of mine in high school playing the "Autobaun" record a lot and I did not like it at all, which also kept me from checking out any of KRAFTWERK's other records until now.

"Ruckzuck" has this catchy groove to it not unlike CAN. Flute is prominant throughout. The tempo picks up 2 1/2 minutes in. There is a brief calm after 3 minutes before the groove is back but a little rawer this time. The sound fades in and out as the tempo shifts the rest of the way. "Statovarius" opens with spacey and eerie sounds before it gets a little strange and experimental 3 1/2 minutes in. A flury of drums a minute later followed by scraping violin sounds and a melody 5 minutes in. This is dark and oh so good. The tempo picks up until you think it's going to explode. This happens again with those screeching violin sounds that build to a climax. It's spacey 10 minutes in before once again the drums and violin sounds speed up before this time ending abruptly to end the song.

"Megaherz" is experimental as it changes from one climate to the next before settling in with a light and spacey soundscape. The flute and organ 7 minutes in are cool. "Von Himmel Hoch" features electronic sounds that expand and receed. It sounds like 3 explosions between the 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 minute marks. Pulsing sounds and drums 4 minutes in are speeding up. Nice. The drums are great 5 minutes in. Weird noises before 7 minutes. We start to get a beat a minute later as the drummer puts on a show once again. It ends with an explosion.

Hey they're still playing drums, flute, organ, keys and violin at this point, it may be an experimental way mind you, but this is Krautrock.