Neu! Music

There is nothing normal about Krautrock. It is just weird. It sounds rather weird. Its purveyors seem quite weird. The people that listen to it surely are weird as well. Most likely, they are weird single 40 year old dudes living in German porn filled outer suburban apartments driving dodgy 1989 model Accords to their mediocre jobs pining for the "good" old days when Can and Faust were the soundtracks to their equally lonely and pathetic youth. If any of you have seen the wonderful film adaptation of the graphic novel Ghost World, Steve Buscemi's character in that film is exactly the type of loser I am referring to (see image below).



Whilst doing some some crate digging (OK...a record label did it for me ), Neu! '86 emerged from the dusty ether, and listening to this previously unreleased "maxi-single" brought out the weird 40 year old virgin in me. The cold, calculated computer-souled instrumentation, punctuated with some wonderfully organic, tight, yet simultaneously jangly drum beats and guitar licks work together like sauerkraut and Franziskaner (i.e. well). The Kraftwerk parentage (Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother left Kraftwerk to form Neu!) is quite obvious on this record, with certain tones and rhythms sounding like they were conceived in the same sessions as those found on Trans-Europe Express or Autobahn.

This band on this rare gem manage to paint beautiful scenery through economy ("November"), horror through dissonance ("Paradise Walk") and protest through passivity ("La Bomba [Stop Apartheid World-Wide!]). The music is very much of the time (1986), and why it was never released is a mystery to me. It is a truly fascinating record, with Neu!'s diverse studio experiments constantly keeping the listener engaged as each track represents a fresh and exciting recipe for interesting music stew. It is criminal that this group never fully emerged from the shadows of Kraftwerk, or many of their Krautrock contemporaries. However, justly, their influence has been emerged through the music many a new wave act over the years.

This maxi-single has just been released as part of a vinyl box set of 5 of their records. Check it out. It will make you feel like staying inside, boiling some cabbage, playing with your Eurostar train set and watching 1970's German porn on Betamax. Now, that is my kind of Friday night.

Here is a clip of the band recording the album. The sound is pretty shit though.