Neu!

Following their departure from Kraftwerk, Michael Rother (guitar and keyboards) and Klaus Dinger (drums) began Neu!, one of the most significant happenings in the history of rock music. Although they created only three albums (1972, 1974, 1975), they exerted a huge influence on the music of later generations. Even so, it took a quarter of a century before their insights were absorbed by the rest of rock music.

Neu! (Brain, 1972), their first album, was produced, as the next, by Conrad Plank (the same person who had produced the first Kraftwerk record). It brought to rock music the concepts of iteration and impressionism, which had already been mildly toyed with in the works of other cosmic musicians of those years. The songs are essentially a continuum of rhythmic impulses, based solely on percussion and an incessant repetition of a fierce percussive pattern. In practice, the songs become rituals of the deconstruction of sound: the relentless, obsessive beat favors the emergence of details. The method is also used to enhance the neurosis of each piece. Fusing the “dark” tribalism of Kraftwerk and the romantic futurism of Popol Vuh, Neu! contains songs with a certain hyper-realism and an anguished intensity reminiscent of Wagner. The album contains six purely instrumental suites. They are the degenerated, dilated daughters of psychedelia (the reserved guitar playing and coy and slow pulse of Weissensee); this music brings an absurd sound to arrhythmia (Sonderangebot is an exercise on noise in a cosmic void, and Lieber Honig is a voiceless essay created by hand in an equally spooky atmosphere of random sounds). The supersonic vortex of Hallogallo is a pure percussive soundscape of drum machines and guitars, barely disturbed by agreements of minimalism and cacophonous noise. The ten minutes of Negativland contain a blend of expressionism and demonic tribalism, predating heavy metal; this song is an orgy of evil instincts, a whirlwind of daily, psychoanalytic noises (jackhammers, furious guitar distortions, and an ultrasonic syncope). With this austere and hypnotic masterpiece, the Teutonic tradition (that of the desperate Gothic) is combined with psychological tensions of modern times in a demonic ritual. With this record, Neu! invented the "motorik beat;” a propulsive beat and steady pace, which turns the artists’ anguish into a sonic trance.

Neu! 2 (Brain, 1973) is more fragmented than the first record (the duo could not find the money to complete the recording), and it incorporated keyboards. The key song is Fur Immer, which consumes ten minutes in a neurotic seizure similar to that of Negativland. This song, however, is closer to minimalism (the insistent piano pattern) and Sister Ray by the Velvet Underground (the obsessive and inexhaustible drumming). The songs live in the same eerie paranoia and extremely narrow range of expression as the previous records: the theme is always furious, percussive, and atonal, quartered by excruciating bouts of distorted guitar, which concedes nothing to the melody and sensationalism. Through the tribalism of Lila Engel, the shrill carousel of Neuschnee 78, and the crawling gait of Super 16, which was a child of the raucous Super (the two tracks, and Super 78, were the same song recorded at different speeds, as the titles suggest), their repertoire is proven to be a catalog of horrifying technological cadences. Among other things, this second album contains several versions of songs that Neu! had already created played at different speeds. Although these altered tracks were created partially because the band ran out of money, they were nevertheless some of the first cases of “remixes.”

Neu! 75 (Brain, 1975) is a rather different album, much quieter and softer. The album downplays the rhythmic element and incorporates a stronger melodic element. The resulting atmosphere is almost pastoral, by their standards. Neu! used to be the dark side of cosmic music, but here they explore a lighter side of cosmic music. Isi is angelic music for piano, locomotive beat and Terry Riley-ain electronic dervishes. The trance in Seeland is due to both the minimalistic beat and the guitar's middle-eastern line, and the mixture sounds like the missing link between early Pink Floyd and early Brian Eno. The "motorik beat" returns in E-Musik, but, again, the guitar and the keyboards dance on it with a gentle, melodic elegance. Neu! even speaks (or, better, whispers) in Leb Wohl, a delicate sonata lulled by ocean waves that sounds like a slow-motion replay of a romantic ballad and abandons their trademark massive rhythms. Hero is a rock song, and an anthemic one, with strong echoes of the Stooges and the Rolling Stones. So is After Eight. And they both predate punk-rock. Overall the album is a lot less experimental than the previous two, but it may have helped insinuate Neu! into the mainstream.

Rock on Brain (Brain, 1980) is an anthology. Neu! 4 (1995) is a reunion album. Live in Dusseldorf (Captain Trip, 1996) documents a 1972 performance.

After the dissolution of Neu!, Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger pursued separate careers.

After the break-up, Michael Rother created the supergroup Harmonia, which was comprised of him and most of Cluster. After Harmonia, Rother then embarked on a solo career more in line with the sound of Neu! 75. Flammende Herzen (Sky, 1976 - Water, 2008) recovers the dark, obsessive, demonic, trend of the other Neu! albums, with rhythmic lines repeated until the neurotic sound becomes claustrophobic. He either soaks these claustrophobic numbers in melodic contexts (the titular suite), leaves them to drift in minimalist progressions (Zyklodrom), or both at the same time (Karussell). A hellish pace infects Feuerland, seemingly a left-over black-magic ritual of Walpurgis Night. On this first solo record, Rother plays guitars, bass, piano, organ and synthesizer, assisted only by Jaki Liebezeit on drums. Sterntaler (Sky, 1977 - Water, 2007), again with only Liebezeit, already begins showing much less originality than Rother’s previous works. The subsequent discs, Katzenmusik (Sky, 1979 - Water, 2008), Fernwärme (Random, 1981 - Water, 2007), Lust (Random, 1983), Sussherz Und Tiefen Scharfe (Random, 1985), Traumreisen (Random, 1987), would only repeat the deteriorating formula. Each, though, was saved by some rare melodic idea that saved it from mediocrity. After many years of silence, Rother returned with Esperanza (Random, 1996).

Post-Neu!, Klaus Dinger formed LA Dusseldorf, in which he played guitar and keyboards, accompanied by Hans Lampe on drums, Thomas Dinger on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, and Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards. La Dusseldorf (Nova, 1976 - Warner, 2005 - 4 Men With Beards, 2008) is a hybrid of many things, but seldom recalled Neu!; if anything, it harked to Amon Duul and Can. Their masterpiece, Dusseldorf, was one of the greatest manifestos of Teutonic electronics; it combines the spaciousness of Kraftwerk and physicality of Neu. It is at the same time a tribal dance and a journey into the subconscious. The relentless beat of the drums and synthesizer overlap in myriad sound events, which includes spells, wheezing hallucinogens, guitar distortions, solfeggi mantras, and spatial organs, which all lead into the growing chorus. Even more stunning is the concise anthem La Dusseldorf, a tour de force of grotesque and manic spiritualism grotesque. Silver Cloud (their first single) is a song of appealing spaciousness. Compared to the violent, terrible expressionistic cataclysms of Neu!, LA Dusseldorf’s suites are more lyrical, melodic, and impressionist, although at the pace of savage and heavy industry. The hallucinogenic soundscapes are hymns to human existence, blasphemous orgies of spirits rising in sacred and solemn spirals, leaving behind the desolation of industrial noise.

Viva (Teldec, 1978 - Warner, 2005 - 4 Men With Beards, 2008) saw them approaching the mystical atmosphere of the utopian hippie. This record goes through a series of songs imbued with humanitarian pathos (the song Viva, the boogie White Overalls, the poignant and epic instrumental Rheinita, and the apotheosis of Geld). The Caribbean-futuristic Cha Cha 2000 rambles along for nearly 20 minutes to sublimate the solemn tones of the euphoric disk, and even of the entire era. Individuellos (Teldec, 1980 - Water, 2008) is a simple collection of "songs,” worthy of the synth-pop era (Dampfriemen, Individuellos). For a few years after this last album, Dinger was silent. Then he resurfaced with Neondian (Teldec, 1985), which is credited to Klaus Dinger and Rheinita Bella Dusseldorf. In actuality, this was a supergroup of Dinger on guitar, Nikolaus Rhein on keyboards, Jaki Liebezeit on percussion, etc). Again, several years of silence followed, until Die Engel des Herrn (1992), Dinger’s first true solo album.

Dinger's next project was an ideal fusion of the two bands, appropriately named La! Neu?. Dusseldorf (Captain Trip, 1996) contains the 22-minute Hero '96 and the 33-minute D.-12.22.95, which is a wild psychedelic jam. But it would become one of those prolific, low-quality indie-rock projects of the 1990s, flooding the market with collections of rather mediocre (studio and live) music that crossed acid-rock, motorik sound and ambient electronica. Zeeland (1997) documented a 1997 live performance; Rembrandt (Captain Trip, 1997) is actually a collaboration with fellow La! Neu? member Lensink; Year Of The Tiger (Captain Trip, 1998) contains two half-hour exaggerations; Gold Regen (Captain Trip, 1998); the double CD Cha Cha 2000 (Captain Trip, 1998), which documents a 1996 Japanese tour, which was followed by Live In Tokyo 1996 Vol 2 (1999); Blue (Captain Trip, 1999), which collects unreleased material by Dinger; Live At Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2002).

Dinger died in 2008.

Neu! (Brain, 1972), prodotto come i successivi da Conrad Plank (lo stesso che aveva prodotto i primi Kraftwerk), portava sostanzialmente all'esasperazione i concetti di iterazione e di impressionismo che balenavano gia` nelle opere dei musicisti cosmici di quegli anni. I brani sono essenzialmente continuum di impulsi ritmici, basati esclusivamente sulle percussioni e sulla ripetizione incessante di feroci pattern percussivi. In pratica il brano diventa un rituale di decostruzione del sound: l'incalzante, ossessivo andamento favorisce l'emergere dei dettagli. Il metodo serve anche a esaltare la nevrosi dilaniante dell'era post-industriale. Fondendo il tribalismo "nero" dei Popol Vuh e il futurismo romantico dei Kraftwerk, i Neu! pervenivano a un iper-realismo angosciato di intensita' wagneriana. L'album contiene sei suite puramente strumentali. Figlia degenere della psichedelia dilatata (il chitarrismo lezioso e le pulsazioni rallentate di Weissensee), questa musica esalta i due estremi sonori, quello dell'assurdo aritmico (Sonderangebot, un esercizio di solo rumore in un vuoto cosmico, e Lieber Honig, saggio di canto afono in una non meno spettrale atmosfera di suoni casuali) e quello del vortice supersonico: Hallogallo e` pura percussivita` di batteria elettronica e chitarre, appena perturbata da accordi minimali e da disturbi cacofonici. I dieci minuti di Negativland sono un connubio di espressionismo demoniaco e tribalismo heavy-metal, un'orgia di istinti malvagi, un vortice di frastuoni che e` l'immagine psicanalitica del quotidiano (martello pneumatico, furibonde distorsioni chitarristiche, sincopi ultrasoniche). Con questo capolavoro austero e ipnotico, la tradizione teutonica (gotica, superominica, disperata) si sposa alle tensioni psicologiche dell'evo moderno. ritualismo demoniaco. I Neu! avevano inventato il "motorik beat", quel battito propulsivo, costante, incalzante, che trasformava l'angoscia in trance.

Neu! 2 (Brain, 1973) e` piu` frammentato (il duo non trovo` i soldi per completare la registrazione) e incorpora le tastiere. Il brano-chiave e` Fur Immer, che consuma in dieci minuti una nevrosi epilettica simile a quella di Negativland, ma piu` vicina al minimalismo (l'incalzante pattern pianistico) e alla Sister Ray dei Velvet Underground (il batterismo ossessivo e inesauribile). Anche i brani minori vivono della stessa lugubre paranoia, situandosi in uno spettro espressivo estremamente angusto: il tema e` sempre quello di una percussivita` furibonda e atonale, squartata da lancinanti attacchi di chitarra distorta, che nulla concede alla melodia e al sensazionalismo. E` la musica meno romantica del mondo. Dal tribalismo di Lila Angel allo stridulo girotondo di Neuschnee 78, dall'incedere cingolato di Super 16 al sabba sguaiato di Super (brani registrati a diverse velocita`, come dicono i titoli), il loro repertorio e` un catalogo di cadenze dell'horror tecnologico. Fra l'altro l'album contiene versioni a diversa velocita` di brani gia` incisi dai Neu!, ed e` quindi uno dei primi casi di "remix".

Neu! 75 (Brain, 1975) is a rather different album, much quieter and softer. The album downplays the rhythmic element and incorporates a stronger melodic element. The resulting atmosphere is almost pastoral, by their standards. Neu! used to be the dark side of cosmic music, but here they explore a lighter side of cosmic music. Isi is angelic music for piano, locomotive beat and Terry Riley-ain electronic dervishes. The trance in Seeland is due to both the minimalistic beat and the guitar's middle-eastern line, and the mixture sounds like the missing link between early Pink Floyd and early Brian Eno. The "motorik beat" returns in E-Musik, but, again, the guitar and the keyboards dance on it with a gentle, melodic elegance. by a year.
Neu! even speaks (or, better, whispers) in Leb Wohl, a delicate sonata lulled by ocean waves that sounds like a slow-motion replay of a romantic ballad and abandons their trademark massive rhythms.
Hero is a rock song, and an anthemic one, with strong echoes of Stooges and Rolling Stones. So is After Eight. And they both predate punk-rock
Overall the album is a lot less experimental than the previous two, but it may have helped insinuate Neu! into the mainstream.

Rock on Brain (Brain, 1980) is an anthology. Neu! 4 (1995) is a reunion album. Live in Dusseldorf (Captain Trip, 1996) documents a 1972 performance.

Michael Rother suono` con gli Harmonia (che erano lui e i Cluster) e poi intraprese una carriera solista improntata al sound solare del Neu! 75. Flammende Herzen (Sky, 1976 - Water, 2008) recupera quell'andamento cupo, ossessivo, demoniaco, quelle linee ritmiche ripetute fino alla nevrosi, quel sound claustrofobico, immergendoli in contesti melodici (la suite omonima) o lasciandoli andare alla deriva in progressioni minimaliste (Zyklodrom) o entrambe le cose allo stesso tempo (Karussell). L'incedere luciferino ammorba soprattutto Feuerland di un sinistro ritualismo da Notte delle Valpurghe. Rother suona chitarre, basso, piano, organo e sintetizzatore, aiutato soltanto da Jaki Liebezeit alle percussioni. Sterntaler (Sky, 1977 - Water, 2007), ancora con Liebezeit, e` pero` gia` molto meno originale. I dischi successivi, Katzenmusik (Sky, 1979 - Water, 2008), Fernwarme (Random, 1981 - Water, 2007), Lust (Random, 1983), Sussherz Und Tiefen Scharfe (Random, 1985), Traumreisen (Random, 1987), non faranno che ripetere quella formula, con rari spunti melodici che li elevino dalla mediocrita'. Dopo molti anni di silenzio, tornera` con Esperanza (Random, 1996).

After Neu! split, Dinger formed LA Dusseldorf, switching to guitar and keyboards while letting Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe play percussions.

Klaus Dinger formo` invece i Los Angeles Dusseldorf, con cui suonava chitarra e tastiere (drummer Hans Lampe, Thomas Dinger on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards). La Dusseldorf (Nova, 1976 - Warner, 2005 - 4 Men With Beards, 2008) e` un ibrido di tante cose, ma raramente ricorda i Neu!. Semmai gli Amon Duul e i Can. Il loro capolavoro, Dusseldorf, uno dei grandi brani-manifesto dell'elettronica teutonica, fonde la spazialita` dei Kraftwerk e la corporalita' dei Neu, risultando al tempo stesso una danza tribale e un viaggio nel subconscio. Al battito implacabile della batteria e del synth si sovrappongono una miriade di eventi sonori, formule magiche, sibili allucinogeni, distorsioni chitarristiche, solfeggi mantra, lunghe note spaziali d'organo, fino al crescendo corale. Ancor piu` mozzafiato e` il conciso inno di La Dusseldorf, un tour de force di spiritismo grottesco e maniacale. Silver Cloud (il loro primo singolo) e` un brano spaziale e accattivante, con cui l'esperimento puo` entrare in classifica.
Paragonate ai violenti, atroci cataclismi espressionisti dei Neu, le loro suite sono piu` liriche, melodiche ed impressioniste, nonostante l'incedere selvaggio da industria pesante. Sono inni allucinogeni all'esistenza umana, orge blasfeme di spiriti che si elevano in spirali sacre e solenni, lasciandosi alle spalle la desolazione del rumore industriale.

Viva (Teldec, 1978 - Warner, 2005 - 4 Men With Beards, 2008) li avvicino` alle atmosfere mistiche e utopiste degli hippie attraverso una serie di brani intrisi di pathos umanitario (l'inno Viva, il boogie White Overalls, lo strumentale struggente ed epico Rheinita e l'apoteosi di Geld) e la lunga fanfara-marcia caraibico-futurista di Cha Cha 2000, lungo i cui 20 minuti si sublimano i toni solenni ed euforici del disco e di tutta un'era. Individuellos (Teldec, 1980 - Water, 2008) e` pero` una semplice raccolta di "canzonette", degna del synth-pop dell'epoca (Dampfriemen, Individuellos). For a few years Dinger was silent. Then he resurfaced with Neondian (Teldec, 1985), which is credited to Klaus Dinger and Rheinita Bella Dusseldorf (actually a supergroup of Dinger on guitar, Nikolaus Rhein on keyboards, Jaki Liebezeit on percussion, etc). Again, several years of silence followed, until Die Engel des Herrn (1992), the first album credited to Dinger alone, came out.

Dinger's next project was an ideal fusion of the two bands, appropriately named La! Neu?. Dusseldorf (Captain Trip, 1996) contains the 22-minute Hero '96 (a poem set to music a` la Patti Smith) and the 33-minute D.-22.12.95, a wild psychedelic jam. But it will become one of those prolific, low-quality indie-rock projects of the 1990s, flooding the market with collections of rather mediocre (studio and live) music that crosses acid-rock, motorik sound and ambient electronica: Zeeland (1997), which documents a 1997 live performance; Rembrandt (Captain Trip, 1997), which is actually a collaboration with fellow La! Neu? member Rembrandt Lensink; Year Of the Tiger (Captain Trip, 1998), which contains two half-hour exaggerations, Autoportrait Rembrandt mit Viktoria + Apache and Notre Dame; Gold Regen (Captain Trip, 1998); the double CD Cha Cha 2000 (Captain Trip, 1998), which documents a 1996 Japanese tour and will be followed by Live In Tokyo 1996 Vol. 2 (1999); Blue (Captain Trip, 1999), which collects unreleased material by Dinger; Live At Kunsthalle Dusseldorf (2002).

Dinger died in 2008.