Introducing Neu! again.
a career-o-spective by James Andean
reprint; originally in Bad MonkeyX issue 3, YEAR
click the covers for album reviews
This year marks the release for the first time on CD of the three albums that comprise the entire output of German seventies band Neu! - 1972's Neu!, 1973's Neu! 2, and 1975's Neu! '75. This is largely due to the resurgence of interest in "krautrock," and Neu! in particular, largely as a result of their influence on the current post-rock/alternative/whatever-you-want-to-call-it wave of bands, such as, for example, Radiohead (whose Thom Yorke is quoted on the advertising sticker for one of the albums, speaking in glowing terms about the band). Indeed, their influence, professed or otherwise, can be heard through a large number of bands from the late 70s on, including Sonic Youth, Stereolab, David Bowie, Bauhaus, P.I.L., Brian Eno, and countless others. Surprisingly, however, they remain relatively obscure, though that might change now that their albums are more widely available.
The band was formed in 1971 as an offshoot of Kraftwerk, from which members Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother left to form Neu!. (Don't be fooled; the only Kraftwerk album on which the two appeared was their eponymous and rather difficult to come by debut, which, one can only speculate, must have had a significantly different sound than the more familiar robotic synthesizer quartet of the later 70s.) The duo stood more or less alone for the first two albums, but were upped to a quartet for Neu! 75 with the recruitment of Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe, both, surprisingly, on drums.
The krautrock scene with which the band was affiliated (the other prime perpetrators being Can and Faust, both fully worthy of further exploration by the curious), as with much of the music of the early to mid-70s, was, often with good reason, periodically criticized for being rather self-indulgent. Neu!'s approach is interesting in this respect. They are, perhaps, as self-indulgent as their peers; but in Neu!'s case, they are self-indulgent through maximum restraint. While this appears contradictory, a quick listen (if such a thing is possible) to their first album will explain what I mean.
Neu!'s songs tend to be quite long, from 7, to 10, to 20 minutes, and are usually remarkably bare, simple, repetitive, often just a drumbeat, a one or two note bass riff, and the occasional drone or guitar buzz. Not only that, but it is often the same tempo, the same beat, sometimes even the same riff, that is taken up from song to song, even from album to album. This is decidedly not due to any shortcomings on the parts of the musicians, both of whom are virtuosi in their own rights, and play a vast array of instruments (surprising though it may seem, considering the deceptive simplicity of the music); it is rather a deliberate aesthetic choice, the pursuit of a minimalist ethic. The final effect, if you allow the albums time to slowly grow on you, is quite remarkable, undeniable, and even strangely catchy. They stand at an interesting juncture; some of their peers, and some of their own post-Neu! output, quickly slide closer to the ambient new-age side of things, while the opposite facet of their music was quickly to explode into an infancy-stage punk scene. Neu! were somewhere between the two, and have, perhaps, a stronger claim as "art" than either.
At the end of it all, what really keeps the band interesting and relevant is their attitude, a somewhat absurdist, self-conscious, dada approach to the music, be it serene, experimental, or angry and driven, that they share with the best of the other German bands of the day (particularly Faust). It is this which allows them to escape the pitfalls to which some of their less memorable cohorts succumbed, and which keeps the steady repetition invigorated and fascinating, while the more ambient, decidedly pretty pieces are saved from seeming precious by the ever-present reminder that the band isn't really taking themselves so very seriously.
Pick some of these up, and give them a listen. Or ten. I think you will be surprised at how contemporary they sound, and there is such wide variation, despite their sometimes disciplined minimalism, that it is extremely likely that some of it will appeal. And it is very possible that you will fall immediately and irrevocably in love.
Bye, bye... bye, bye.........
Neu! sites seem to be hard to find, for now at least. We'll add what we find. Have any good Neu! links? Tell us: neu! links Neu! Links
As ever, Allmusic is a good place to start. Check out their Kraut Rock entry.
And if you're in an absurd clicking mood, go see the homepage of Louise Johns Neu!. Because that's all I could find. There's some Calvin and Hobbes comics, and geneaology for - maybe! - your own name!