Description

1LP Vinyl, Includes full-size (12″) 12-page booklet and picture inner sleeve.

‘Autobahn’ is one of those rare examples of a piece of music that’s almost entirely devoid of precursors. Instead Autobahn represents a mother lode of embryonic influences, ones that would flourish over the next decade and more in the work of artists as diverse as David Bowie, Afrika Bambaataa, Depeche Mode and Juan Atkins. Given the magnitude of its effect, it isn’t too fanciful to imagine that the ‘car-horn’ synthesiser keystrokes at the beginning of the track is the sound of Kraftwerk bidding goodbye to their contemporaries as they glide smoothly along a pristine tarmac ribbon to the future.

Despite its distinctly proggy length, ‘Autobahn’ is nevertheless a powerfully catchy almost-pop song, fresh and immersive from its breezy synthesised melody down to its meticulously and painstakingly sequenced drumbeat. Expanding synth tones rush to meet you like the road reeling past beneath your tyres, while the motorik rhythm captures perfectly the frictionless onward thrust of mechanised movement.