Neu!
Encyclopedia
Neu! was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 band formed by Klaus Dinger
Klaus Dinger
Klaus Dinger was a German musician and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal krautrock outfit, Neu! He was also the guitarist and chief songwriter of new wave group La Düsseldorf and briefly the percussionist of Kraftwerk.-Pre-Neu! :Klaus Dinger was born in Scherfede,...

 and Michael Rother
Michael Rother
Michael Rother is a German experimental Krautrock musician and composer.- Early life and education :Born in 1950, Rother went to school in Munich, Wilmslow , Karachi, and Düsseldorf. He also lived in Pakistan in the early 1960s where he was exposed to Pakistani music that would influence his own...

 after their split from Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...

 in the early 1970s. Though the band had minimal commercial success during its existence, Neu! are retrospectively considered one of the founding fathers of Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...

 and a significant influence on artists including David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

, Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...

, PiL, Boredoms, Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...

, Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...

, Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....

, Simple Minds
Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...

, Negativland
Negativland
Negativland is an experimental music and sound collage band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! song, while their record label is named after another Neu! song...

, Stereolab
Stereolab
Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...

, Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

, The Horrors
The Horrors
The Horrors are an English band from Southend on Sea, formed in 2005. Their debut Strange House, was released in 2007 and reached number thirty-seven on the UK Albums Chart, their second album Primary Colours was released in 2009 and peaked at number 25 in the UK...

, Electrelane
Electrelane
Electrelane are a British all-female indie rock band, formed in Brighton in 1998 by Verity Susman and Emma Gaze. The band comprised Susman, Gaze, Mia Clarke, and Ros Murray. Their music draws from wide range of influences including Neu!, Stereolab, Sonic Youth, and The Velvet Underground...

, and much of the current electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 scene.

(1971–1975) Main career

Neu! was formed in 1971 in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

 as an offshoot from an early line-up of another seminal Krautrock band, Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...

, whose early works were also produced by Conny Plank
Conny Plank
Konrad "Conny" Plank was a German record producer and musician. He was born in Hütschenhausen. His creativity as a sound engineer and producer helped to shape some of the most important and innovative recordings of postwar European popular music, covering a wide range of genres including...

.

Drummer Klaus Dinger
Klaus Dinger
Klaus Dinger was a German musician and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal krautrock outfit, Neu! He was also the guitarist and chief songwriter of new wave group La Düsseldorf and briefly the percussionist of Kraftwerk.-Pre-Neu! :Klaus Dinger was born in Scherfede,...

 had joined Kraftwerk midway through sessions for their eponymous debut album. Guitarist Michael Rother
Michael Rother
Michael Rother is a German experimental Krautrock musician and composer.- Early life and education :Born in 1950, Rother went to school in Munich, Wilmslow , Karachi, and Düsseldorf. He also lived in Pakistan in the early 1960s where he was exposed to Pakistani music that would influence his own...

 was then recruited to the Kraftwerk line-up on completion of the album. (Rother had been playing in a local band called The Spirits of Sound, the line-up of which also included drummer Wolfgang Flür
Wolfgang Flür
Wolfgang Flür is a German musician, best known as a member of the electronic group Kraftwerk, from 1973 to 1987, playing electronic percussion...

, who would himself go on to join Kraftwerk two years later.)

Kraftwerk founder Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter is the lead singer, keyboardist, and reportedly leader of the electronic-music band Kraftwerk. Since the departure of Florian Schneider in 2008, he is also the group's sole remaining founding member....

 left the band at this point and, for six months, Kraftwerk consisted of a trio of Rother, Dinger and Florian Schneider
Florian Schneider
Florian Schneider-Esleben is one of the founding members of electronic music band Kraftwerk. He left the band in November 2008.-Career:...

. This line-up played sporadic gigs and made a live appearance on German TV programme Beat Club (recently made available on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

). Attempted recording sessions at Conny Plank's studio were unsuccessful ("a difference of temperament", Rother was later to remark), and Dinger and Rother parted company from Schneider and began a new project with Plank: Neu! (Schneider rejoined Hütter and the pair continued recording the second Kraftwerk album
Kraftwerk 2
Kraftwerk 2 is the second studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in January 1972.-Background:Kraftwerk 2 was entirely written and performed by founding Kraftwerk members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in late 1971, with the sessions produced by the influential Konrad "Conny"...

 with Plank.)

Their eponymous first album
Neu! (album)
Neu! is the debut album by Krautrock band Neu!.It was recorded in December 1971 at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios, Hamburg, Germany, mixed at Star-Musik Studio, Hamburg, Germany, and released in 1972 by Brain Records. It was reissued by Astralwerks on May 29, 2001. This was Rother & Dinger's first...

 sold very little by mainstream standards (though 30,000 records was a lot for an "underground" band), yet is today considered a masterpiece by many, including influential artists such as David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

, Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...

 and Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...

 of Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

. It included the Motorik
Motorik
Motorik is a term coined by music journalists to describe the 4/4 beat often used by "Krautrock" bands such as Neu! and Kraftwerk...

 benchmark tracks "Hallogallo" and "Negativland" (the band Negativland
Negativland
Negativland is an experimental music and sound collage band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! song, while their record label is named after another Neu! song...

 took their name from this track), and bizarre "songs" like "Sonderangebot".

Their second album, Neu! 2
Neu! 2
Neu! 2 is an album by Krautrock band Neu!.- Overview :It was recorded in January 1973 at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios, Hamburg, Germany, mixed in February 1973 at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios, Hamburg, Germany, and released in 1973 by Brain Records. It was officially reissued by Astralwerks on May...

, features some of the earliest examples of musical remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....

es. The band, excited to record another album, decided to expand their limits by purchasing several instruments. With the money they had left as an advance from the record company, they could only record half an album's worth of material. The company would not increase their advance because the first album did not sell anywhere close to well and the label did not see a reason to further finance what was most likely to become a flop. To rectify the lack of material, the band filled the second side with manipulated versions of their already released single, "Neuschnee"/"Super", playing back each song at different speeds and sometimes warbling the music by messing with the tape machine or placing the record off center on the turntable
Turntable
A turntable is generally a rotating platform, and may refer to:-Music:* Turntable, a motor-driven platform that normally rotates a gramophone record at a constant rotational velocity as part of a phonograph....

. The song "Super 16," unwittingly, became the theme song to the 1976 martial arts cult classic Master of the Flying Guillotine
Master of the Flying Guillotine
Master of the Flying Guillotine is a 1976 Hong Kong wuxia film starring Jimmy Wang, who also wrote and directed the film. It is a sequel to Wang's 1971 film One Armed Boxer, and thus the film is also known as One-Armed Boxer 2 and The One Armed Boxer vs...

by Jimmy Wang Yu
Jimmy Wang Yu
Jimmy Wang Yu is a Chinese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He shot to fame with the Shaw Brothers Studio's martial arts film, The One-Armed Swordsman, in 1967...

. This film was later referenced by Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...

 in Kill Bill
Kill Bill
Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....

 (Volume 1) by also featuring the track "Super 16".

Dinger and Rother were both very different when they were left to their own devices, and this led to their final album of the 1970s, Neu! '75
Neu! '75
- Personnel :Band members* Michael Rother – guitar, keyboards, vocals* Klaus Dinger – guitar , drums , vocals * Thomas Dinger – drums* Hans Lampe – drumsAdditional personnel...

. Side One was Rother's more ambient productions which were similar to the first album, albeit more keyboard driven. Side Two (particularly the song "Hero") was acknowledged as important influence by many later involved in the UK's punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 scene, with Dinger's sneering, unintelligible vocals searing across a distorted Motorik
Motorik
Motorik is a term coined by music journalists to describe the 4/4 beat often used by "Krautrock" bands such as Neu! and Kraftwerk...

 beat with aggressive single chord guitar poundings.

To aid with performing on the album, and more importantly, live, Hans Lampe and brother Thomas Dinger were enlisted to help execute more music than was possible by two men. Upon its release, and arguably to this day, Neu! '75 is the most diverse record available from the Krautrock scene. While this can be seen as a positive point, the differences in musical direction (as well as personal issues) not only isolated the Dinger/Rother duo, it isolated their already small fan base. Neu! broke up after the release of Neu! '75.

Neu are highly praised in Julian Cope
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...

's "Krautrocksampler
Krautrocksampler
Krautrocksampler: One Head's Guide to the Great Kosmische Musik - 1968 Onwards, written by musicologist and former The Teardrop Explodes singer, Julian Cope, is a book describing the underground music scene in Germany from 1968 through the 1970s. The book was first published in the United Kingdom...

", along with other great Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...

 artists such as Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...

 and Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...

, and Cope has also written a song called "Michael Rother" which appears on CD2 of the Deluxe edition of the album Jehovahkill
Jehovahkill
-Track listing:All tracks composed by Julian Cope; except where indicatedPhase 1# "Soul Desert" - 3:53# "No Hard Shoulder to Cry On" - 2:44# "Akhenaten" - 2:52# "The Mystery Trend" - 4:17# "Up-Wards at 45°" - 5:46# "Know " - 3:19...

.

(1975–1984) Band inactivity

In 1974, Rother had already collaborated with German electronic duo Cluster
Cluster (band)
Cluster is a German experimental musical group who influenced the development of contemporary popular electronic and ambient music. They have recorded albums in a wide variety of styles ranging from experimental music to progressive rock, all of which had an avant-garde edge. Cluster has been...

, recording as Harmonia
Harmonia (band)
Harmonia is a Krautrock supergroup from Germany. They formed as a collaboration between Michael Rother of Neu! and Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Möbius of Cluster and later included the British musician Brian Eno.-Musical style:...

 an album titled Musik Von Harmonia
Musik Von Harmonia
Musik Von Harmonia is the debut album from the highly influential Krautrock/Kosmische Musik group Harmonia. Harmonia, was formed by the addition of Neu! guitarist Michael Rother to Cluster, the duo of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius....

. In 1975, he subsequently recorded a second Harmonia
Harmonia (band)
Harmonia is a Krautrock supergroup from Germany. They formed as a collaboration between Michael Rother of Neu! and Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Möbius of Cluster and later included the British musician Brian Eno.-Musical style:...

 album, Deluxe
Deluxe (Harmonia album)
Deluxe is the second album from the highly influential Krautrock/Kosmische Musik group Harmonia. Harmonia was formed by the addition of Neu! guitarist Michael Rother to Cluster, the duo of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius....

, and further sessions followed with Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

, which were not released until 1997 as Tracks and Traces
Tracks and Traces
Tracks and Traces is the one and only album credited to Harmonia '76, but it is generally regarded as the third album by the highly influential Krautrock/Kosmische Musik group Harmonia. Harmonia was formed by the addition of Neu! guitarist Michael Rother to Cluster, the duo of Hans-Joachim...

. In 1977, Rother started recording as a solo artist. His first three albums; Flammende Herzen
Flammende Herzen
-Personnel:* Michael Rother - Guitar, Electric Piano, Bass, Synthesizer, Organ, Electric Percussion, Producer* Jaki Liebezeit - Drums* Conny Plank - Producer, Engineering* Ann Weitz - Front Cover Photograph* Christian Rabe - Back Photo* Rike - Design...

(1977), Sterntaler
Sterntaler
-Personnel:* Michael Rother - Guitar, Piano, Bass, Vibraphone, Hawaii-Guitar, Synthesizer, Strings, Producer, Recording* Jaki Liebezeit - Drums* Conny Plank - Producer, Recording* Ann Weitz - Cover Photo* Rike - Design...

(1978), and Katzenmusik
Katzenmusik
-Personnel:* Michael Rother - Guitar, Electronics, Producer, Cover Photograph* Jaki Liebezeit - Drums* Conny Plank - Producer, Recording* Ann Weitz - Rear Cover Photograph* Rike - Design...

(1979) were recorded with Neu! producer Conny Plank
Conny Plank
Konrad "Conny" Plank was a German record producer and musician. He was born in Hütschenhausen. His creativity as a sound engineer and producer helped to shape some of the most important and innovative recordings of postwar European popular music, covering a wide range of genres including...

.

The two Dingers and Lampe formed La Düsseldorf
La Düsseldorf
La Düsseldorf was a German band, consisting of onetime Kraftwerk drummer and Neu! multi-instrumentalist Klaus Dinger and occasional Neu! collaborators Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe. La Düsseldorf was formed after Neu! disbanded following the release of their Neu! '75 record...

, who were equally cited as influential by David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

 in a 1979 interview with a music magazine. Their first album; La Düsseldorf
La Düsseldorf (album)
La Düsseldorf is the first album of the band La Düsseldorf.-History:Striking up a stylistic compromise with Michael Rother, the other half of Neu!, Dinger had recruited his brother Thomas and friend Hans Lampe to play on side two of Neu! '75, taking the band in a more rocking direction than the...

was released in 1976.

(1985–1986) Aborted comeback

Between October 1985 and April 1986, Dinger and Rother tried to rekindle the flame that was Neu!: by adding more synthesizers and a slightly more commercial aspect to some compositions, the band sounded like a cross between their old selves and the recent new wave groups. Then they were torn apart again by personal and musical issues.

An example of the sharp contrast between Dinger and Rother was evidenced by such tracks as "Crazy", Rother's attempt at pop, and "'86 Commercial Trash", a Dingerian collage of dialogue and sound effects from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

's television commercials of that year. The work that took place in these sessions would resurface in late 1995 as Neu! 4
Neu! 4
- Neu! '86 :- Personnel :Band members* Michael Rother – Fairlight, synthesizer, guitar, bass, voice, programs* Klaus Dinger – voice, guitar, OB8, mix, drums, percussion, programsAdditional personnel* Gigi – drums on "Fly Dutch II" and "Good Life"...

, see below.

Conny Plank died in 1987.

(1987–2000) Acrimony

Dinger and Rother did not work together during the 1990s, and indeed some degree of acrimony existed between them, not least due to Dinger releasing a couple of old substandard Neu! recordings on the Japanese Captain Trip Records label without Rother's knowledge or consent. In late 1995, this label released the above-mentioned Neu! 4
Neu! 4
- Neu! '86 :- Personnel :Band members* Michael Rother – Fairlight, synthesizer, guitar, bass, voice, programs* Klaus Dinger – voice, guitar, OB8, mix, drums, percussion, programsAdditional personnel* Gigi – drums on "Fly Dutch II" and "Good Life"...

recordings from the 1985–1986 sessions. It also released Neu! '72 Live in Dusseldorf
Neu! '72 Live in Dusseldorf
- Personnel :Performers* Michael Rother – guitar, voice* Klaus Dinger – drums, voice* Eberhard Kranemann – bass, voiceAdditional personnel* Thomas Dinger – engineer- References :* Prog Archives . Retrieved November 8, 2007....

(recorded on May 6, 1972), considered their weakest release, but notable for the inclusion of Eberhard Kranemann, who was involved with Neu! precursors Kraftwerk as well.

A 1999 tribute album, entitled A Homage to Neu! (Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra Records is a Los Angeles-based independent record label.- History :Founded in 1992 by Brian Perera, it specializes in gothic rock, hard rock, heavy metal and reissues of out-of-print music...

) features covers from artists by bands including the Legendary Pink Dots, Download
Download (band)
Download is an electronic music group formed by Dwayne Goettel and cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy in 1994. The initial lineup also included Off & Gone's Phil Western and Mark Spybey of Dead Voices on Air, but has since been particularly fluid, with Key and Western being the only constant members...

, Autechre
Autechre
Autechre are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both natives of Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are one of the most prominent acts signed to Warp Records, a label known for its pioneering electronic music and through which all Autechre albums...

, Dead Voices On Air
Dead Voices on Air
Dead Voices on Air is Mark Spybey's Experimental and Industrial project formed after his departure from Zoviet France. Many people classify a large portion of his works as Ambient, but Spybey insists his music is not ambient music of any sort and calls it "music for the eyes"...

, Khan
Khan (band)
Khan were an English progressive rock band of the Canterbury Scene during 1971-1972.Formed by Steve Hillage from Uriel, the initial line-up was Steve Hillage , Nick Greenwood , Dick Heninghem and Pip Pyle...

, System 7
System 7
System 7 is the name of a Macintosh operating system introduced in 1991.System 7 may also refer to:* System 7 , a British dance/ambient band* System 7 , 1991 album* IBM System/7, a 1970s computer system...

, and James Plotkin
James Plotkin
James Plotkin is an American guitarist and producer, famous for his role in bands such as Khanate and OLD, but with an extensive catalogue outside these bands. He has performed guitar duties for bands Phantomsmasher and Scorn and continues to remix tracks for bands such as KK Null, Nadja, Sunn...

, as well as an original track from Rother entitled "Neutronics 98 (A Tribute To Conny Plank)".

(2001–2008) CD remasters

The rights to the Neu! back-catalogue are jointly owned by Rother, Dinger's estate and Plank's widow, Christa Fast. However, for many years a degree of acrimony and legal wrangling existed between Rother and Dinger and they could not agree on licensing arrangements to make Neu!'s music available on CD. In the ensuing vacuum, illegal and inferior quality bootleg CDs (mastered
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...

 from old vinyl records) were distributed by an outfit calling themselves Germanofon.

This situation was finally resolved in 2001, when Rother and Dinger put aside their differences and entered a studio to transfer the three Neu! albums to CD, from the original master tapes (reportedly mastering each album three times). These were produced and released by Grönland Records
Grönland Records
Grönland Records is an independent record label originally founded in London, England, which relocated to Berlin, Germany in 2009. "Grönland" refers both to the country and the label's founder, Herbert Grönemeyer.-Origin:...

 (licensed to the Astralwerks
Astralwerks
Astralwerks is a New York-based record label that releases primarily electronic music. It is owned by Virgin Records/EMI and distributed by Caroline Distribution in the United States....

 label in the US), packaged with stickers featuring rave reviews by notable artists, including Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...

. Following the release of the first three albums Dinger and Rother entered negotiations to legally reissue Neu 4! Rother has called the failure of those negotiations "unfortunate" but has left open the possibility of at least some Neu! 4 material as well as additional material from the 1985–86 recording sessions.

Neu! did not record anything new after Neu! 4. Rother has said that he and Dinger had been considering recording a fifth Neu album, but the idea was aborted after personal problems arose between them. Dinger died of heart failure on March 21, 2008. Rother also said that he was unaware of Dinger's illness until just before Dinger died.

Rother writes and produces solo albums. Before his death, Dinger was a member of the band La! Neu?
La! Neu?
La! dusseldorf were a German band founded by Klaus Dinger. After around 1985, Dinger had difficulty getting records released and distributed in Germany, but the Japanese record label Captain Trip Records signed him in 1994, setting up the Dingerland sub-label for Dinger's projects. la! Neu? is a...

 as well as collaborating with Miki Yui and band Sub-tle in a project that is unreleased to this date.

(2009) Brand Neu!

On 25 May 2009, the new record label Feraltone released a compilation CD called Brand Neu! containing tracks by many modern artists who credit Neu! as an influence. Most notably, it featured a track from Michael Rother from the previous Neu! homage album (A Homage to Neu!) and a new track by La Duesseldorf.de, one of Klaus Dinger's final recordings before he died.

In interviews conducted in the summer of 2009, Rother announced that he is working on a box set that will include all of Neu!'s recordings including material that appeared on the Neu! 4 album (which Rother refers to as Neu! '86). "I’m investing a lot of time and effort into the Neu! vinyl box set, which we hope to release later this year," Rother explains. "It will contain all of Neu!’s recordings, also the ones that were illegally released by my Neu! partner, the late Klaus Dinger, in the Nineties."
Plans also are to include a thick booklet filled with rare photos and new text. Rother also mentions the possibility of live recordings appearing in the box set.

In 2010 Rother teamed up with Steve Shelley (of Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

) and Aaron Mullan (of Tall Firs
Tall Firs
Tall Firs are a New York City based underground electric folk rock band, originally formed in 1990 by Dave Mies and Aaron Mullan in Annapolis, Maryland...

) for Hallogallo 2010, a live project to present Neu! music and some new pieces.

Tributes

  • The band Negativland
    Negativland
    Negativland is an experimental music and sound collage band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! song, while their record label is named after another Neu! song...

     is named after a Neu! track, and so is the name of their record label, Seeland.
  • A track on The Whitey Album
    The Whitey Album
    The Whitey Album is a 1988 album by Ciccone Youth, a side project of Sonic Youth members Steve Shelley, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, and Thurston Moore, with Minutemen/fIREHOSE member Mike Watt. The album is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to Madonna and 80s pop in general...

    by Sonic Youth
    Sonic Youth
    Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

     side project Ciccone Youth
    Ciccone Youth
    Ciccone Youth is an experimental band which was formed in 1986. It is a side project of Sonic Youth members Steve Shelley, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, and Thurston Moore, with Minutemen/fIREHOSE member Mike Watt....

     is titled "Two Cool Rock Chicks Listening to Neu!" The NEU!
    Neu! (album)
    Neu! is the debut album by Krautrock band Neu!.It was recorded in December 1971 at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios, Hamburg, Germany, mixed at Star-Musik Studio, Hamburg, Germany, and released in 1972 by Brain Records. It was reissued by Astralwerks on May 29, 2001. This was Rother & Dinger's first...

     track "Negativland" is audible in the background.
  • Former Broadcast
    Broadcast (band)
    Broadcast are an electronic music band, founded in Birmingham, England. Original members were Trish Keenan , Roj Stevens , Tim Felton and James Cargill . Various drummers played with the band, including Keith York, Phil Jenkins, Jeremy Barnes, Steve Perkins, and Neil Bullock...

     member Tim Felton and former Plone
    Plone (band)
    Plone was an electronic music band from Birmingham, England.-Career:The group was created in late 1994 when Mark Cancellara and Mike Johnston started to buy old analogue keyboards and fx and began to rehearse making huge soundscapes...

     member Billy Bainbridge named their project, Seeland, after the Neu! song.
  • The Japan
    Japan
    Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

    ese punk
    Punk rock
    Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

    /new wave
    New Wave music
    New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

     band Polysics
    Polysics
    is a Japanese new wave and rock band from Tokyo, who dubs its unique style as "technicolor pogo punk". It was named after a brand of synthesizer, the Korg Polysix. The band started in 1997, but got their big break in 1998 at a concert in Tokyo...

     have an album entitled Neu!
  • Argentina
    Argentina
    Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

    -based band Cassetto is named after the Neu! track.
  • English electronic band Death in Vegas
    Death in Vegas
    Death in Vegas are a psychedelic rock and electronic rock band from the United Kingdom, comprising two permanent members: Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes...

     have a track on their 2004 album Satan's Circus
    Satan's Circus
    Satan's Circus is the fourth studio album by Death in Vegas, released on October 11, 2004 on Drone Records in the United Kingdom and on May 24, 2005 on Sanctuary Records in the United States. Contrary to previous releases, this album features no guest vocalists. This album is the first release...

    entitled "Sons of Rother" which features a Motorik
    Motorik
    Motorik is a term coined by music journalists to describe the 4/4 beat often used by "Krautrock" bands such as Neu! and Kraftwerk...

    -like 4/4 beat and repetitive keyboard chords in the Neu! style.
  • Mexican electronic musician Antiguo Autómata Mexicano
    Antiguo Autómata Mexicano
    Antiguo Autómata Mexicano is the stage name of Mexican techno producer, Ángel Sánchez Borges. Borges was born in 1971, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Borges is also an experimental video artist, but is perhaps most well known for his somewhat acclaimed album, Kraut Slut, released in 2007. His...

     has a track entitled "Rother, Dinger, You and Me".
  • English synth-pop band OMD
    Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
    Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are a synthpop group whose founding members are originally from the Wirral Peninsula, England...

     have a song called "4-neu".
  • English band Porcupine Tree
    Porcupine Tree
    Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...

     covered the track "Hallogallo" on their album Insignificance and Neu! are a major inluence on Steven Wilson
    Steven Wilson
    Steven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...

    's side project IEM
    Incredible Expanding Mindfuck
    Incredible Expanding Mindfuck, also known as I.E.M., was a musical project by Steven Wilson . Its work is mainly influenced by Krautrock and experimental music from the 1960s and 1970s.-Background and history:...

    .
  • Argentinian band Spike The Mikail Rother Hedgekipper are named after the Neu! band member. Their only album to date is Black Forest Gateau named after a UK Neu! album compilation, and the original LP sleeve is clearly visible on the album cover artwork photo showing a scattering of LPs on a park bench.

Musical style

Probably the most cherished element of the Neu! oeuvre is what is often called the "Motorik
Motorik
Motorik is a term coined by music journalists to describe the 4/4 beat often used by "Krautrock" bands such as Neu! and Kraftwerk...

" beat (meaning 'motor skill' in German) - although the band themselves did not use this term, Dinger himself later referred to it as the "Apache beat". At least one third of their recorded output is in the Motorik
Motorik
Motorik is a term coined by music journalists to describe the 4/4 beat often used by "Krautrock" bands such as Neu! and Kraftwerk...

 form. Here they deconstruct the traditional rock song format, with its verses and choruses, intros and changes, stripping it down to a single minimalist 4/4 beat, which Dinger repeats continuously throughout the entire track. Neu! were a big influence on the sound of the 1970s band Hawkwind
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....

, particularly Simon King
Simon King (musician)
Simon King is an English drummer most noted for his work with Hawkwind. He was described in 1985 by British rock magazine 'Sounds' as 'definitive rock drummer.'...

 and Lemmy's driving Motorik
Motorik
Motorik is a term coined by music journalists to describe the 4/4 beat often used by "Krautrock" bands such as Neu! and Kraftwerk...

 bass and drum double act. The band's 1975 track "Opa Loka" is an homage to Hallogallo. Japanese experimental music group Boredoms cite Neu! as a huge influence on their later sound, evident in their unique application of the radical tape manipulation remix techniques and driving 4/4 rhythms pioneered by Rother and Dinger. Releases such as Super Ae
Super Ae
Super æ is the fifth full-length album by Boredoms, released in 1998. It was named the 44th greatest album of the 1990s by Pitchfork Media....

 and Super Roots 3
Super Roots 3
Super Roots 3 is the third installment of the Super Roots EP series by Japanese experimental band Boredoms. It consists only of one song, half an hour in length, which has a repetitive rhythm almost throughout.-Track listing:...

 pay clear homage to the classic Neu! sound.

In terms of traditional western and rock music harmonic form, Rother would complement Dinger's rhythm by eschewing chord changes, and instead opting for a harmonic drone
Drone (music)
In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. The word drone is also used to refer to any part of a musical instrument that is just used to produce such an effect.-A musical effect:A drone...

 – a single chord, layering numerous electric guitar overdubs. Timbral
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...

 change takes over from harmonic change as the main focus of interest. Conny Plank
Conny Plank
Konrad "Conny" Plank was a German record producer and musician. He was born in Hütschenhausen. His creativity as a sound engineer and producer helped to shape some of the most important and innovative recordings of postwar European popular music, covering a wide range of genres including...

 was renowned as a producer for creating a working environment where musicians could be free to explore such experiments, and also as a master of timbral texture and spatialisation
Spatial music
Spatial music, music in space, or space music uses the localization of sounds in physical space as a compositional element in music, in sound art, and in sound editing for audio recordings, film, and video...

. Many other Neu! tracks are very slow and gentle, sketching out traces of a song in what might be called an ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

 style.

Former members

  • Klaus Dinger
    Klaus Dinger
    Klaus Dinger was a German musician and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal krautrock outfit, Neu! He was also the guitarist and chief songwriter of new wave group La Düsseldorf and briefly the percussionist of Kraftwerk.-Pre-Neu! :Klaus Dinger was born in Scherfede,...

     (1971–1975, 1985–1986) – vocals, drums, guitars, keyboards
  • Michael Rother
    Michael Rother
    Michael Rother is a German experimental Krautrock musician and composer.- Early life and education :Born in 1950, Rother went to school in Munich, Wilmslow , Karachi, and Düsseldorf. He also lived in Pakistan in the early 1960s where he was exposed to Pakistani music that would influence his own...

     (1971–1975, 1985–1986) – vocals, guitars, bass guitar, keyboards
  • Eberhard Kranemann (1972) – bass guitar, slide guitar.
  • Uli Trepte
    Uli Trepte
    Uli Trepte was a German musician best known for his collaborations with various influential Krautrock bands in the early 1970s.-Early career:...

     (1972) – bass guitar.
  • Thomas Dinger
    Thomas Dinger
    Thomas Dinger was a German drummer, singer and songwriter who was active in solo pursuits in addition to having been a member of Neu! andLa Düsseldorf, both with his brother Klaus Dinger.-with La Düsseldorf:...

     (1975) – drums.
  • Hans Lampe (1975) – drums.
  • Conrad Matheiu (1985–1986) – bass guitar.
  • Georg Sessenhausen (1985–1986) – drums.

Discography

All Neu! albums on Brain Records
Brain Records
Brain was a Hamburg-based record label prominent in the 1970s releasing several important Krautrock records by bands such as Neu!, Cluster and Guru Guru...

 were reissued in 2001 by Astralwerks
Astralwerks
Astralwerks is a New York-based record label that releases primarily electronic music. It is owned by Virgin Records/EMI and distributed by Caroline Distribution in the United States....

 and Grönland Records
Grönland Records
Grönland Records is an independent record label originally founded in London, England, which relocated to Berlin, Germany in 2009. "Grönland" refers both to the country and the label's founder, Herbert Grönemeyer.-Origin:...

. All Neu! albums on Captain Trip Records have at least in part been re-released as part of the 2010 Grönland Records Vinyl Box.

Studio albums

Year Title Notes
1972 NEU!
Neu! (album)
Neu! is the debut album by Krautrock band Neu!.It was recorded in December 1971 at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios, Hamburg, Germany, mixed at Star-Musik Studio, Hamburg, Germany, and released in 1972 by Brain Records. It was reissued by Astralwerks on May 29, 2001. This was Rother & Dinger's first...

  • Label: Brain Records
    Brain Records
    Brain was a Hamburg-based record label prominent in the 1970s releasing several important Krautrock records by bands such as Neu!, Cluster and Guru Guru...

1973 NEU! 2
Neu! 2
Neu! 2 is an album by Krautrock band Neu!.- Overview :It was recorded in January 1973 at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios, Hamburg, Germany, mixed in February 1973 at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios, Hamburg, Germany, and released in 1973 by Brain Records. It was officially reissued by Astralwerks on May...

  • Label: Brain Records
  • 1975 NEU! '75
    Neu! '75
    - Personnel :Band members* Michael Rother – guitar, keyboards, vocals* Klaus Dinger – guitar , drums , vocals * Thomas Dinger – drums* Hans Lampe – drumsAdditional personnel...

  • Label: Brain Records
  • 2010 NEU! '86
    Neu! 4
    - Neu! '86 :- Personnel :Band members* Michael Rother – Fairlight, synthesizer, guitar, bass, voice, programs* Klaus Dinger – voice, guitar, OB8, mix, drums, percussion, programsAdditional personnel* Gigi – drums on "Fly Dutch II" and "Good Life"...

  • Released:
  • Label: Grönland Records
    Grönland Records
    Grönland Records is an independent record label originally founded in London, England, which relocated to Berlin, Germany in 2009. "Grönland" refers both to the country and the label's founder, Herbert Grönemeyer.-Origin:...

  • Authorised re-release of NEU! 4 with a different track listing.

  • Compilation, out-take and live albums

    Year Title Notes
    1982 Black Forest Gateau
    • Label: Cherry Red
      Cherry Red
      Cherry Red is a London-based independent record label formed in 1978.-History:Cherry Red grew from the rock promotion company founded in 1971 to promote rock concerts at the Malvern Winter Gardens...

  • Compilation album
  • Contains 2 tracks from NEU! and 4 from NEU! '75
  • 1995 NEU! 4
    Neu! 4
    - Neu! '86 :- Personnel :Band members* Michael Rother – Fairlight, synthesizer, guitar, bass, voice, programs* Klaus Dinger – voice, guitar, OB8, mix, drums, percussion, programsAdditional personnel* Gigi – drums on "Fly Dutch II" and "Good Life"...

  • Released:
  • Label: Captain Trip Records
  • Studio out-takes album
  • 1996 NEU! '72 Live in Dusseldorf
    Neu! '72 Live in Dusseldorf
    - Personnel :Performers* Michael Rother – guitar, voice* Klaus Dinger – drums, voice* Eberhard Kranemann – bass, voiceAdditional personnel* Thomas Dinger – engineer- References :* Prog Archives . Retrieved November 8, 2007....

  • Label: Captain Trip Records
  • Rehearsal recording
  • 2009
    }
  • Label: Eberhard Kranemann self-release

  • |
    • CD-R compilation
    • Featuring 3 unreleased NEU! tracks recorded in the tour that followed the recording of NEU! '72.

    |-
    | 2010
    | Vinyl Box
    • Released:
    • Label: Grönland Records

    |
    • Box set
    • Contains the all three studio albums, out-takes album NEU! '86, NEU! '72 (live 18 minute maxi-single).
    • 36-page picturebook, stencil, NEU! t-shirt, and digital download code.

    |}

    Singles

    • 1972 – "Super" / "Neuschnee" (Brain Records)
    • 1975 – "Isi" / "After Eight" (United Artists Records
      United Artists Records
      United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...

      )
    • 2010 – "Crazy" / "Euphoria" (Grönland Records)

    Tribute albums

    • 2001 – A Homage to NEU! (Cleopatra Records
      Cleopatra Records
      Cleopatra Records is a Los Angeles-based independent record label.- History :Founded in 1992 by Brian Perera, it specializes in gothic rock, hard rock, heavy metal and reissues of out-of-print music...

      )
    • 2009 – Brand NEU!: Tribute to NEU! (Feraltone)

    External links

    • http://www.neu2010.com/ Neu! 2010
    • http://www.la-duesseldorf.de/ Current official Klaus Dinger website
    • http://www.dingerland.de/ Previous official Klaus Dinger website
    • http://www.michaelrother.de/ Michael Rother's official website
    The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
     
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