Krautrock: June 2004 Archives
This is beginning to get difficult. Something that I might impress upon you, dear reader, is that however junkstore these here GBoAT entries might come across, they are in each a very serious undertaking. My knowledge on each of these subjects are far from encyclopedic, and as such, it is only through relentless and laborious research that we are able to offer you these daily missives. I'm not looking for thanks--just a little forgiveness.
Weird tangent. Anyway, today's subject is Neu!, a band whose history I have only had a very narrow understanding of until, well, about 20 minutes ago. Birthed from the crab grass seedling of early partnerships with Kraftwerk, drummer Klaus Dinger (who played on the second half of Kraftwerk's self-titled debut) and Michael Rother (a touring guitarist) split from the band in 1971 with creative differences, moving in together to work on a new project. Living at the time with a couple of young German ad executives, the two decided on the name Neu!, the most common word used in advertising, and began the process of recording their first LP.
With Kraftwerk producer Conny Plank on board and an extremely limited recording budget (a problem that would plague them for many years), the duo spent four days improvising in studio. The resulting LP, their self-titled debut (comprised entirely of elements conceived on the final two days of studio time), was in very name a strange sort of Genesis from the rigidly mechanical (or "motorik") drumming to the single-note throbbing bass, guitar washes and white noise. It's been said thousands of times (and, I might add, quite a lot more eloquently than I can possibly muster at present), but Neu! really is just so sprawling in its simplicity: covering enough territory in its six parts to expand the ethos of the then emerging Krautrock (German as they were) altogether; the warm sonic wash that would go on to fuel a thousand warm washes.
As per usual, the record didn't find an audience outside of their homeland, but the record did do surprising business in West Germany and following their first (and only) tour, about six shows, the band returned to the studio to record the unsuccessful single "Neuschnee" / "Super", followed by sessions for their sophomore release.
The recording sessions for Neu! 2 were plagued with budget problems, affording the band about enough studio time to record the first side of the record before the money ran out. Broke and under a great deal of pressure from their record company, they could flesh part of the record out with the material from their previous single (about seven minutes), leaving about fourteen minutes of empty space to fill. Their famous response was five additional "compositions": their 45 played at three varying speeds, a recording of a broken version of the single, a song from the already completed sessions as played through a bad tape recorder. WE INVENTED THE REMIX.
After the understandably luke-warm reception to the record, Neu! briefly split, Rother forming the acclaimed (if obscure) Harmonia with the members of lesser Krautrockians Cluster. The band released two records, were called "the world's most important rock group" by Brian Eno, then split. During this time, Neu! reunited to fulfill their contract to Brain Records.
The resulting LP, Neu! 75 (with which I am unfortunately personally pretty unfamiliar), saw the band incorporating more synths into their sound, and at the same time pursuing a more abrasive leaning. More widely acclaimed then the disappointing (though at times stunning) Neu! 2, the record still didn't do any business, and the band (as planned) split.
A year or so later Rother gets a phone call from David Bowie about a project he's working on. He's heard Neu! and Harmonia, and is curious as to whether he'd be interested in working on a new project with Bowie and Eno out in Berlin. Rother declines. Bowie and Eno go on to make Low.
Neu! reunites one last time in 1986 to record the lackluster Neu! 4 (which remained unreleased until the late 90's, and which Dinger released without Rother's blessing), but for the most part, that's where their story as a band ends. That is, if you don't count the sprawling number of Space Rock, Ambient, and Psyche bands that would go on to rip them of (and let's not even get into Stereolab again). which, of course, we don't.
For their part, and for all of the compelling reading I had to the do this morning, Neu! is and will forever be the Greatest Band of All Time.
