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Neu!
Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plank, who has been regarded as the group's "hidden member". They released three albums in their initial incarnation—'' Neu!'' (1972), '' Neu! 2'' (1973), and '' Neu! 75'' (1975)—before disbanding in 1975. They briefly reunited in the mid-1980s. Although Neu! had minimal commercial success during their existence, the band are retrospectively considered a central act of West Germany's 1970s krautrock movement. They are known for pioneering the " motorik" beat, a minimalist rhythm associated with krautrock artists. Their work has exerted a widespread influence on genres such as electronica and punk. History 1970–1971: Pre-formation Neu! was formed in 1971 in Düsseldorf as an offshoot from an early line-up of another seminal krautrock ban ...
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Klaus Dinger
Klaus Dinger (24 March 1946 – 21 March 2008) was a German musician and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal krautrock band Neu!. He was also the guitarist and chief songwriter of New wave music, new wave group La Düsseldorf and briefly the percussionist of Kraftwerk. 1946–1971: The No, The Smash, and Kraftwerk Klaus Dinger was born in Scherfede, Province of Westphalia, Westphalia, Germany, to Heinz and Renate Dinger on 24 March, 1946. He was their first child. Before he was a year old, his parents moved from the town, which had been badly damaged by an Allies of World War II, Allied siege at the end of World War II, to Düsseldorf. In 1956 he attended Görres Gymnasium School for the first time. During his time there he was part of an a cappella choir, which he had to leave when his voice broke. He was part of the school Swing music, swing band (as a drummer) despite having no prior musical experience. He left the school with a ''Mittlere Reife'' ( ...
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Neu! 2
''Neu! 2'' is the second studio album by the krautrock band Neu!. It was recorded in January 1973 and mixed in February 1973, both at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios in Hamburg, West Germany, and released in 1973 by Brain Records. It was reissued by Astralwerks in the US and by Grönland in the UK and Europe on 29 May 2001. Critic Paul Morley included it in his list of the "5 x 100 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2003. Overview This album further focused the classic Neu! krautrock sound, with the 11-minute "Für Immer" in particular being the archetypal example of their style -- a forward-driving vamping, propelled by Klaus Dinger's drumming and Michael Rother's layered guitar with its fluid lines and droning harmonic structure. '' Pitchfork'' described the album as featuring a proto-punk sound, while ''Fact'' labeled it " spartan psych-rock set to power-driven drum tracks." Side 2 of the record caused consternation at the time. Neu! had quite simply run out of money ...
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Michael Rother
Michael Rother (; born 2 September 1950) is a German experimental musician, best known for being a founding member of the influential bands Neu! and Harmonia (band), Harmonia, and an early member of the band Kraftwerk. Early life and education Born in 1950, Rother was educated in Munich, Wilmslow (England), Karachi, and Düsseldorf. He also resided in Pakistan in the early 1960s where he was exposed to Pakistani music that would influence his own music in the late 1960s and early 1970s. From 1965 Rother played in the band Spirits of Sound, from which other members would later go on to join Kraftwerk (Wolfgang Flür) and Wunderbar. Music career Rother is a multi-instrumentalist (primarily guitar and keyboards) who, along with a catalog of several solo albums starting in 1977, is best known for having co-founded the German group Neu! with drummer Klaus Dinger (five albums between 1971 and 1996), and his collaborative efforts with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius ...
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Neu! (album)
''Neu!'' is the debut studio album by German krautrock band Neu!, released in 1972 by Brain Records. It was the first album recorded by the duo of Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger after leaving Kraftwerk in 1971. They continued to work with producer Konrad "Conny" Plank, who had also worked on the Kraftwerk recording sessions. Upon release, the album was largely ignored internationally but did well in West Germany, selling 35,000 copies. In 2001, the album was reissued by Grönland and then licensed to Astralwerks for US distribution. In 2014, ''Fact'' named it the 36th best album of the 1970s. History Having broken off from an early incarnation of Kraftwerk, Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger quickly began the recording sessions for what would become'' Neu!''. The pair recorded the album across four nights in December 1971 at Star Studios in Hamburg with producer and engineer Conny Plank. Dinger noted that Plank served as a "mediator" between the often disagreeing factions withi ...
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Neu! 75
''Neu! 75'' is the third studio album by German krautrock band Neu!, released in February 1975 on Brain Records. It was recorded and mixed at Conny Plank's studio between December 1974 and January 1975. The album was officially reissued on CD on 29 May 2001 by Astralwerks in the US and Grönland in the UK. Overview This album saw Neu! regroup after a few years' hiatus, during which time Michael Rother had worked with Cluster as the supergroup Harmonia. By this time, Rother and bandmate Klaus Dinger had somewhat diverged in their musical intentions for the band, with Dinger preferring a more aggressive, rock-influenced style than Rother's ambient predilections; the two compromised, and the resulting album showcases both sounds. Side one of the record, which reflects Rother's preferences, was recorded as a duo. On side two, Dinger switched from drums to guitar and lead vocals, with his brother Thomas and Hans Lampe double drumming. On both sides, the use of keyboards and phasin ...
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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. Many of its more prominent records are currently being reissued on CD by Repertoire Records. In the middle of 1971, Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser's management style at Ohr caused two of his A&R men, Bruno Wendel and Günter Körber, to leave Ohr and set up their own record company, which they called Brain. Wendel & Korber brought Guru Guru with them from Ohr, and immediately signed Cluster, who had recorded one LP for Philips; they soon recorded and released ''Cluster II''. Brain was rapidly a success throughout West Germany and much of western Europe, although had little presence in the US. Signings throughout the seventies and into the eighties included Neu!, Cluster, Harmonia, Klaus Schulze, Edgar Froese, Guru Guru, Grobschnitt, Novalis, Jane, Birth Control, Embryo, Popol Vuh, Curly Curve, Scorpions, Electric Sun, Accept and ...
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Krautrock
Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electronic music, among other eclectic sources. Common elements included hypnotic rhythms, extended improvisation, musique concrète techniques, and early synthesizers, while the music generally moved away from the rhythm & blues roots and song structure found in traditional rock music. Prominent groups associated with the krautrock label included Neu!, Can, Faust, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel, Popol Vuh, Amon Düül II and Harmonia. The term "krautrock" was popularised by British music journalists as a humorous umbrella-label for the diverse German scene, and although many such artists disliked the term, it is no longer considered controversial by German artists in the 21st century. Despite this, English-languag ...
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Conny Plank
Konrad "Conny" Plank (3 May 1940 – 5 December 1987) was a German record producer and musician. He is known for his innovative work as a sound engineer and producer in Germany's krautrock and kosmische music scene in the 1970s. Plank was involved in releases by Neu!, Kraftwerk, Cluster, Harmonia, Ash Ra Tempel, Guru Guru, Kraan, and other German groups of the era. He later produced for new wave acts such as D.A.F., Eurythmics and Ultravox. As a billed performer, Plank also formed the group Moebius & Plank, releasing 5 albums between 1979 and 1986. Career 1960s In mid-to-late 60s, Conny attended new-music courses at the Rheinische Musikschule in Cologne, taught by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Henri Pousseur, and Earle Brown. In the late 1960s, Plank began producing albums and working as a sound engineer, and became involved in the underground music scene, which was spreading from Berlin throughout Germany. In 1969 he served as engineer for the first Kluster ...
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Krautrock
Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electronic music, among other eclectic sources. Common elements included hypnotic rhythms, extended improvisation, musique concrète techniques, and early synthesizers, while the music generally moved away from the rhythm & blues roots and song structure found in traditional rock music. Prominent groups associated with the krautrock label included Neu!, Can, Faust, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel, Popol Vuh, Amon Düül II and Harmonia. The term "krautrock" was popularised by British music journalists as a humorous umbrella-label for the diverse German scene, and although many such artists disliked the term, it is no longer considered controversial by German artists in the 21st century. Despite this, English-languag ...
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Thomas Dinger
Thomas Dinger (28 October 1952 — 9 April 2002) was a German drummer, singer and songwriter who was active in solo pursuits in addition to having been a member of Neu! and La Düsseldorf, both with his brother Klaus Dinger, and 1-A Düsseldorf. Biography Neu! and La Düsseldorf Alongside Hans Lampe, Thomas Dinger performed percussions on the second side of the third album, recorded by the Krautrock band Neu!. After Neu! disbanded Dinger co-formed La Düsseldorf, along with his brother Klaus Dinger, Harald Konietzko, and Hans Lampe. Thomas Dinger took parted in the recording sessions for the albums '' La Düsseldorf album'' (1976) and '' Viva'' (1978), playing percussion and performing vocal parts. Thomas, however, quit the band during the production of ''Viva'', "tired of quarreling endlessly with his imperious brother Klaus", and "promptly set off for the south of France". In early 80s, he wrote several tracks for the La Düsseldorf final album '' Individuellos'' (1981). ...
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Motorik
Motorik is the 4/4 beat often used by, and heavily associated with, krautrock bands. Coined by music journalists, the term is German for "motor skill". The motorik beat was pioneered by Jaki Liebezeit, drummer with German experimental rock band Can. Klaus Dinger of Neu!, another early pioneer of motorik, later called it the "Apache beat". The motorik beat is heard in one section of Kraftwerk's "Autobahn", a song composed to convey the feeling of driving on the German highway. It is heard throughout Neu!'s "Hallogallo", from their self-titled album ''Neu!'', and used on all subsequent Neu! albums with differing tempos and variations; Hawkwind reproduced Neu!'s "Hallogallo" motorik beat on the track "Opa-Loka" on their 1975 '' Warrior on the Edge of Time'' album. Some music critics observed that the motorik style conveys a similar sense of forward momentum as the music of Beethoven and Rossini and bears a resemblance to the rhythmic drumming in jazz. They opined that it ini ...
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Harmonia (band)
Harmonia was a West German musical "supergroup (music), supergroup" formed in 1973 as a collaboration between members of two prominent krautrock bands: Cluster (band), Cluster's Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius joined by Neu! guitarist Michael Rother. Living and recording in the rural village of Forst, Lower Saxony, Forst, the trio released two albums—''Musik von Harmonia'' (1974) and ''Deluxe (Harmonia album), Deluxe'' (1975)—to limited sales before dissolving in 1976. AllMusic described the group as "one of the most legendary in the entire krautrock/kosmische musik, kosmische scene." In 1997, a series of shelved 1976 collaborations between Harmonia and British musician Brian Eno saw release as ''Tracks and Traces''; it was reissued with more unearthed material in 2009. Following the release of the live album ''Live 1974'' (2007), the trio reformed between 2007 and 2009. In 2015, Grönland Records released the 6-disc box set ''Complete Works'', featuring remastered r ...
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