Neu! '75

Neu!

album cover

This Was New Then, and Still Is Now

Formed by two musicians who left Germany's Kraftwerk (see p. 433) because the group wasn't taking enough chances, Neu! (pronouced "noy") developed—and perfected—sound-mangling ideas that turned up, years later, in all kinds of electronic dance music. One of the most widely imitated tricks happens on "E-Musik," when multi-instrumentalists Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger put drum sounds through an effects device called a phase shifter. This gadget changes the pitch of the drums, and their tone: One minute the beat sounds like it's coming from little bitty microchips, the next it becomes deeper and heavier—the sound of some monster trudging up the stairs in a horror film. Oscillating back and forth across that spectrum, Neu!'s processing gives the drums a sense of sweep and distinct melodic arcs. Nowadays virtually every rave DJ uses this trick to ramp up the intensity on the dance floor.

This album, the duo's third, is notable for the diversity of its experiments. The pieces on side one occupy an otherworldly, Eno-ish ambient mood, with lush synthesizer textures and noise manipulations draped over crisp, minimalist backbeats. Those are followed by a tune that shows Neu! at its noisiest (the rattling "Hero") and the ten-minute "E-Musik," which contains a series of unexpectedly lyrical guitar solos. Even at the peak of sonic uproar, Neu! keeps everything streamlined—this is rock that has the serene orderliness of music for meditation. At least that's how John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers hears it: On a sticker plastered to the remastered version of Neu! '75, he raves "I love it when people glorify space and simplicity."

Genre: Rock
Released: 1975, Astralwerks
Key Tracks: "E-Musik," "Isi," "See Land"
Catalog Choice: Neu!
Next Stop: Brian Eno: Another Green World
After That: Faust: Faust/So Far
Book Pages: 546–547

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About 1,000 Recordings

Celebrate the joy, the revelation, the mystery, the fun, the sheer shivers-up-the-spine pleasure of great music.

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