New-generation samba-soulster and actor Jorge Mario da Silva a.k.a. Seu (“Mister”) Jorge has risen from drug addiction and homelessness in Rio’s Belford Roxo favelas to international renown. The world has seen the Brazilian go from playing the amazing villain Mané Galinha in City of God, to crooning Bowie tunes in Portugese as Pelé Dos Santos in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
Now filmmaker Kahlil Joseph has captured some of the Jorge magic in conjunction with the singer’s eponymous album with the group Almaz, made up of folks from the Recife-based mangue bit band Nação Zumbi. In the two elliptical b&w vignettes below, Joseph finds Jorge wandering around a tasty Hollywood bungalow, musing on his mysterious muse, The Model, the undergoddess, the Oshun. His opaque handling of Kraftwerk’s tentative klassic is a sight to be heard…
After the jump: Check out the revelation of the Model…
Often incorrectly identified as a promo video for the 1974 release of Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn” album, this animated head trip by Roger Mainwood was actually made in 1979 and neither Kraftwerk or their record label had anything to do with the making of the film.
Mainwood discusses the history of his creation:
“Autobahn” was actually the first animated film I did once I had left the Royal College of Art Film and TV school in London. I am rather embarrassed by it now of course, but I suppose if we can look at it as an historical curiosity then it may still have some value ! It certainly gave me an opportunity to learn a lot of things about animation.
I’ve never actually had to explain in words exactly what it was all about. There was a lot of what you might call “psychedelic pop” imagery around at the time that to be honest never had a great deal of actual “meaning” to it at all, and I guess I was tapping into that. Thinking back to my thought processes at that time, I remember wanting to specifically not have conventional cars in the film. I wanted a sense of a repetitive journey, and alienation, which I took to be what the music was about,............hence the solitary futuristic figure, protected by large goggles, moving through and trying to connect with the journey he is taking. The automobile “monsters” are deliberately threatening ( I have never been a big fan of cars or motorways ! ) and when our “hero” tries to make human contact (with different coloured clones of himself) he can never do it. In the end he realises he is making the repetitive and circular journey alone but strides forward purposefully at the end as he did in the beginning . All of which sounds rather pretentious….......but I was a young thing in those days ! Anyway it gave me an excuse to do a lot with the animation which I enjoyed and I think some people also have, although I can see it could be viewed as a rather frustrating film for anyone looking for a conventional storyline.
I never made contact with Kraftwerk, and they had no input into the film images themselves. John Halas got the commission from Kraftwerk’s record company, and it was deliberately experimental in nature and designed to be released on one of the first ever laser discs. Unfortunately the laser disc technology never took off.
The film was entered into various film festivals around the world and won a few prizes, but it never got a commercial release in cinemas but was shown on the TV a bit in the UK and I presume in Germany too. I have no idea what Kraftwerk think about it or whether they have even ever seen it.”
Mainwood’s “Autobahn” appears on Youtube in various forms, mostly chopped up and in black and white. Here’s the full color, uncut original in the best quality I’ve been able to find.
Relatively new to Youtube is this 2008 documentary in its three hour (!) entirety. I’ll admit I haven’t watched the whole thing yet so can’t vouch for quality, though it evidently touches on the whole beloved Krautrock spectrum. Hell, I’d watch a documentary about plumbing if it had something about Can in it, so I’ll be diving right into this one shortly.
So I’ve listened to the entire collection of the newly refurbished and reissued Kraftwerk catalog. Verdict? Well, when you compare it to previous versions, it certainly sounds better. In prior iterations, the CDs from Capital and Cleopatra always sounded kind of hissy and lacked a little clarity for my tastes. But do they sound tons better? Blow your socks off better? Well, not really, no.
Don’t get me wrong, they are certainly the best versions we’ve ever had, but why oh why were these albums not remixed for surround sound? They’re practically crying out for it! Autobahn was issued as a Quad 8-track in 1975. Could that not have been exploited here? It would have been so easy! And there would have been a real reason for fans—hint: it’s called a good value—to repurchase them in the multi-channel format. Man, I’d love to hear Computer World in 5:1 surround. Can you imagine how trippy that would sound? It just seems like a waste to me that they didn’t go the extra mile for one of the most seminal catalogs of 20th century pop music.
At least someone should consider putting out the quad version of Autobahn as a limited edition or something! The Kraftwerk remasters sound great, they really do, but I can’t help thinking that this was a real missed opportunity here.
Since Dangerous Minds seems to be trading the Stones for Krautrock (thanks, Brad Laner!), I thought I’d chime in with this BBC documentary, Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany:
Between 1968 and 1977 bands like Neu!, Can, Faust and Kraftwerk would look beyond western rock and roll to create some of the most original and uncompromising music ever heard. They shared one common goal—a forward-looking desire to transcend Germany?
catalog. Verdict? Well, when you compare it to previous versions, it certainly sounds better. In prior iterations, the CDs from Capital and Cleopatra always sounded kind of hissy and lacked a little clarity for my tastes. But do they sound tons better? Blow your socks off better? Well, not really, no. 
