A Short History of Neu!

Neu! invented a new rhythmic pattern. They called it 'motorik'. It was to inform many of their contempories like Kraftwerk and David Bowie during the seventies and into the eighties. Their invention was based on the looping techniques developed by Holger Czukay, member of Can, and the sequencing techniques they had been part of while they were still members of Kraftwerk. Neu's music pulsed, it seemed to be driven, just as if it were motorized. Which is where the name 'motorik' comes from. It is almost a straight four-to-the-floor dance rhythm with a hint of rock'n'roll.

Neu! comprised of drummer Klaus Dinger and guitarist Michael Rother. The two of them came up with the idea of Neu! while they were still a part of Kraftwerk with Ralf Hutter and Florian Scheider. The four of them made one album as Kraftwerk, yet Dinger and Rother realized quickly that they were not that interested in Hutter and Scheider's concept of 'tone-films'. Kraftwerk's 'tone-films' were devised to soundtrack a romantic realism, whereas motorik was more about creating a mechanical groove within which lives a soundscape.

Between 1971 and 1975 the duo recorded and released three albums. 'Neu!', 'Neu! 2' and 'Neu! 75'. The music is minimalist. Or maybe, minimal-minimalist. The tracks are drawn-out and mantra-like. They create a spiritual feeling, almost hypnotic. The whole of Neu's output can be summed-up by their first song. The song is called 'Hallogallo' and it is track one, side one of their first album, 'Neu!'. A cool bass fades in alongside their trademark motorik rhythm. The drum and bass is impossible to ignore. It has a physical quality which embraces the listener. Throughout the track, which is ten minutes long, there are various textures and overlays of guitar delays, sustains and shades, and then various drum fills to fade-out. And that is Neu! That sound and structure and motorik journey sums up almost everything the band ever did.

After the three albums Neu! split. Dinger worked with his brother Thomas in a punk-influenced band called La Dusseldorf. Rother formed a band which was a little funkier called Harmonia. The two bands had some influence over both David Bowie's trilogy of albums recorded in, or centering around, Berlin, and some of Brian Eno's work.

Neu!, Can, and Kraftwerk created new ways of arranging and structuring music. We call it 'krautrock' these days. However it has influenced just about every genre and sub-genre of dance and electronic music to this day, as well as many indie bands, like Stereolab and their hybrid Europop. Now that's some legacy.