AUTOBAHN

Autobahn is highly regarded as one of the best, if not the best, Kraftwerk album. Definitely essential listening in the Kraftwerk catalog, this album stands out as being fun, energetic, and one of their most progressive overall.

Before this album, Kraftwerk were firmly placed in the krautrock style, but ultimately decided to progress their style into creating electronic pictures that still retained the krautrock punk energy. Autobahn shows Kraftwerk at their creative best. The title tracks goes on for over 22 minutes and displays quite a good bit of progressive electronic and post-krautrock feel. It moves at a steady mid-pace as electronic sounds fade in and out of the periphery. The robotic vocals progressively get more and less robotic through the duration, and the mood ranges from optimistic to very dark and mechanical. To me, this track shows both sides of what automobiles bring to the world: high enjoyment and extreme danger. Tempo and time changes also occur, which is usually of interest to the progressive listener.

Following the title track are a few more electronic tracks of the more experimental variety. "Kometenmelodie 1" is a fading and droning monster with an arrhythmic pulse and whistle-like breath, though it isn't entirely a pessimistic picture. Glistening cascades of robotic keys also fill the frame. "Kometenmelodie 2" is a poppy pre-dance-electo with a steady beat. "Mitternacht" is the sound of a severely industrialized community and it's mechanical inhabitants. The sounds of the factories let off steam and warning alarms blare, in addition to squeeking robot shoes and the dripping of condensation. "Morgenspaziergang" is a whimsical and delightful experiment that brings up images of green grass and flittering butterflies, and the sounds of faun's wooden flute definitely standout here.

Highly recommended work of robotic imagery.