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Neu!

A Dusseldorf duo of Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother, formed after both left Kraftwerk, who made three albums with the producer Conny Plank and gave krautrock its motorik beat.

Origin
Dusseldorf, West Germany
Years active
1971-1975, 1985-1986
Genres
krautrock, kosmische musik, experimental rock, proto-punk
Labels
Brain, United Artists, Gronland
Also known as
NEU!

Dusseldorf, 1971

Klaus Dinger, born on March 24, 1946 in Scherfede, joined Kraftwerk as a drummer in summer 1970 and played on "Vom Himmel Hoch". Michael Rother, born on September 2, 1950 in Hamburg, joined, and the two spent about six months in Kraftwerk as a trio with Florian Schneider. Sessions with the producer Conny Plank at Windrose failed, and Dinger and Rother left to form Neu! with Plank, who is called the group's hidden member. Dinger named the band over Rother's objection, after Dusseldorf's advertising industry; he kept a pro forma advertising agency to book studios, and the pop-art logo was meant as a protest against consumer society and other krautrock acts.

The debut was recorded in December 1971 in four nights at Star Studios in Hamburg, and released on Brain in March 1972. The duo paid for the sessions themselves to avoid outside influence, took the overnight shifts because they were cheaper, and, Rother told Electronic Sound, there was no second chance because they had no more money. The first two days were unproductive until Dinger brought a taishogoto. Neu! was credited to Dinger and Rother, with Rother on guitar, bass and bowed bass and Dinger on drums, guitar, taishogoto and vocals, and sold about 30,000 or 35,000 copies in West Germany. AllMusic gave it four and a half stars, Mojo five and Pitchfork 9.7, and Q called its beat krautrock's defining relentless rhythm.

Neu! 2 and Neu! '75

Neu! 2 was recorded in January 1973 at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios in Hamburg and mixed in February. The money ran out, and the second side is the single "Super" and "Neuschnee" played back at varying speeds on a record player and cassette; critics at the time called it a cheap gimmick. "Super 16" was used in Master of the Flying Guillotine and in Kill Bill. In 1974 Rother joined Cluster's Moebius and Roedelius to form Harmonia, and Dinger founded La Dusseldorf with his brother Thomas and Hans Lampe.

Neu! '75 was recorded and mixed from December 1974 to January 1975 at Plank's studio and released in February 1975 on Brain and United Artists. Its two sides reflect the two members, Rother's softer melodic material on one and Dinger's harder on the other, as Trouser Press put it, with the drummers Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe on the second side. NME's Andy Gill gave it a perfect score in 1979, calling it pivotally important, and "Hero" has been cited as proto-punk, influencing John Lydon. The band split in 1975 after it.

Afterlife

Reunion sessions in 1985 and 1986 were abandoned amid disputes and appeared as Neu! 4 (Captain Trip, 1995, which Rother says was without his approval) and Neu! '86 (Gronland, 2010). Klaus Dinger died on March 21, 2008. The three studio albums were reissued from the original tapes on May 29, 2001, a vinyl box followed in 2010, and a 50! box set and tribute album on September 23, 2022; Rother and friends celebrated 50 years of Neu! in Berlin on October 26, 2022 and in London on November 3. Rother toured as Hallogallo 2010 with Steve Shelley and Aaron Mullan in 2010. They were only a studio act, with seven live concerts in the original era.

Brian Eno said there were three great beats in the 1970s, Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, James Brown's funk and Klaus Dinger's Neu! beat. David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie, Thom Yorke, Sonic Youth, Stereolab and Tortoise are all cited as admirers, Ian Curtis introduced Joy Division to the albums, and Negativland took its name and its label name from Neu! songs.

Members

Records

Songs

Agitation Free

Where to go next

Official

Reference

Writing and criticism

Sources

  1. Neu!, Wikipedia
  2. Neu! 2, Wikipedia
  3. Klaus Dinger, Wikipedia
  4. Michael Rother, Wikipedia