Roger Mainwood – { feuilleton }

1: Autobahn (1974), an album by Kraftwerk.

Cover art by Emil Schult.

2: Autobahn (1974), a single by Kraftwerk.

3: Doppelalbum (1974), a double-disc compilation album by Kraftwerk.

4: Exceller 8 (1975), a compilation album by Kraftwerk.

Cover by Grafad.

5: Autobahn (1979), an animated film by Roger Mainwood.

6: Autobahn (1980), a compilation album by Kraftwerk.

7: Possessed (1992), an album by the Balanescu Quartet. Track 3: Autobahn.

8: Traffic Jam On Autobahn (1993), a Kraftwerk bootleg from a live soundboard recording at Hummingbird, Birmingham, UK, on July 15th 1991.

9: Autobahn Tour (1998), a Kraftwerk bootleg. The Japanese release of Concert Classics, a live soundboard recording from a concert in Denver, USA on 20th May, 1975.

10: El Baile Alemán (2000), an album by Señor Coconut Y Su Conjunto. Track 6: Autobahn (Cumbia Merengue).

11: Dark Side Of The Autobahn (2003), a single by Mordant Music. The Pink Floyd/Kraftwerk/Joy Division collision that the world was waiting for.

12: Autobahn II (no date) by Kraftwerk. A Russian flexi-disc.

13: Autobahn (2009), an album by Kraftwerk. The remastered release.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The album covers archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Ralf and Florian
• Reworking Kraftwerk
• Autobahn animated
• Sleeve craft
• Who designed Vertigo #6360 620?
• Old music and old technology
• Aerodynamik by Kraftwerk

The Düsseldorf maestros are treated to some animated illustration in this 1979 film by Roger Mainwood which takes Kraftwerk’s Autobahn as its soundtrack. Mark at Strange Attractor provided the tip and he compares the animation style to René Laloux and Roland Topor’s Fantastic Planet (1973). The purple humanoid floating through surreal landscapes is certainly reminiscent of Laloux’s film, but Autobahn also reminds me of Bruno Bozzetto’s Allegro non troppo (1977) and, given that Mainwood’s animation comes a couple of years later, it may well have been inspired by it. Bozzetto’s film is a feature-length “adult” response to Walt Disney’s Fantasia which takes the Fantasia format—well-known classical themes illustrated by animated sequences—but does so in a slightly more grotesque or risqué fashion. Much of Bozzetto’s film seems less daring today than it was in 1977 but the best sequence still works well and happens to be as science fictional as Mainwood’s Autobahn, an entire cycle of planetary evolution set to Ravel’s Bolero. Follow the links below.

• Roger Mainwood’s Autobahn pt. 1 | pt. 2
• Ravel’s Bolero from Allegro non troppo

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Sleeve craft
• Who designed Vertigo #6360 620?
• Old music and old technology
• Aerodynamik by Kraftwerk
• The genius of Kraftwerk

Tag: Roger Mainwood

Autobahnen

Autobahn animated