#137 Neu! - Neu!

I heard them mentioned in a Believer article about drum machines, which talked about Kraftwerk, and mentioned that some members started Neu! afterwards. They're a name I'd heard bandied around, so lets hear what's what.

On some level, its what you'd expect from guys who just quit Kraftwerk. It's minimal, highly repetitive, and longwinded. On the other hand, it's more guitar driven, and arty in a different way. Ok, an aside. I think I know post-punk when I hear it, but when put on the spot, I struggle to define it. I think it comes down to two main things:

1. Subversion of pop approaches: punk did pop conventions nastily, post-punk tried to escape pop conventions.
2. Disinterest: punk hated society so much it lashed out, post-punk hated society so much it disconnected.

The result was a consciously arty movement that grew from one that was traditionally disinterested in making art: the subversion and disdain are the common thread, tackled differently. I think repetition is also key, and its something that incorporates both those other two elements.

So I hear that Krautrock (like this album) influenced post-punk. And as I listened to this, I could totally hear it. Its got the iciness, the repetition, and the structures are decidedly un-pop. So the trappings are there. But it comes years pre-punk. And what bands does this reminds me of? Slint, and Laughing Stock-era Talk Talk. But those bands are largely considered post-rock. So this album precedes punk, and it inspired the reaction to punk, but really sounds most like what came after post-punk. The lessons here number two:

1. Movements are cyclical, and inspiration chains are hard to follow. Something that seems new might just be gravitating back to what inspired what inspired it.
   
2. These labels are sort of bullshit.
   

I like the album. It sounds like Slint and Laughing Stock-era Talk Talk, and a bit like Television. Its meditative, organic, and it breathes. It is simple, but effective and inventive, and I think it will fit the niche of atmospheric some-relation-to-punk-or-rock music that Laughing Stock previously occupied. Also, goddamn, that closing track is uncomfortable 4/5

Edit: cleaned up, I wrote this late.