CDOTD 2/21/2023

Neu!: Neu! (Grönland)

Purchased from the dollar bin at the Exchange

I'm taking a break from the severity of B.A. Zimmermann's sound world (I'll be back soon), and in looking for something to put on, came across this. I don't know that I've listened to it to completion before. 

I previously knew nothing about Neu!. They fit under the general category of Krautrock, but what does that even mean? I guess the bands most closely associated with the term (Can, Faust, Cluster and offshoots, this group, and to a lesser extent, Kraftwerk) are all German. All of them aren't strictly instrumental bands, but it's fair to say the emphasis is not on them being singing groups.

I'm reading a few facts, how this was a splinter duo from the original Kraftwerk. You can hear how their interests would have diverged. Kraftwerk headed towards synthesis, roboticization, flat vocals singing about technology, but also staying funky. Neu! plays it more hypnotically, repeated structures, more trippy, more post-psychedelic. I think they're closer to Can than any of the other groups mentioned above, but even then the differences are clear.

Neu! was produced by the legendary Connie Plank, a name I also recognize more than I know anything about. The production is interesting if not flashy most of the time. With only two instrumentalists involved, the music is a studio creation, even if they sound like a four or five piece band.

I may be stating the obvious, but there's a fine line between hypnotic/cooly repetitive, and boring. Neu! comes close to crossing that line. Some people would consider this good music to sit back and smoke weed to, but that's not something I do. I'm certain some would disagree, but I think this a precedent to the more brutal, heavier, minimal guitar soundscapes of Sunn o))). There's a through line from Krautrock to that band, if indirectly. 

Notably, the most abrasive and weird track on the album is the piece "Negativland". I assume anyone reading this far would be familiar with that band name. That piece sounds like a precedent to what Chrome would be doing a few years later. It wouldn't surprise me if Damon and Helios spent time listening to these bands, and Neu! in particular. 

I know this sounds like damning praise, but I don't hate this. I can't say I love it either, but it turns out to have maybe been a good choice for my evening listening. I've been fairly exhausted recently, needing a break, and something anxiety-riddled wasn't right.