Part 2 of don’t-turn-around-but-the-future-of-music-is-standing-right-behind-you. In Germany. As we meet Faust, the second of the Krautrock quartet (along with Neu, Can and Kraftwerk) who grabbed ‘Rock’ music by the lapels in the early 1970′s, gave it a good shoeing and invented the future without many of us even noticing at the time. (See ABON 0003 for Part 1).

‘Pain’ is actually the closest Faust ever got to a conventional song and, by their standards is pretty mainstream.  Half song. Half drone. Half exquisite meditation on the meaning of being. Half dentist drill. 100% genius.

Apparently it’s all about the self-loathing and self-doubt created by suddenly having serious money for the first time after Faust signed to the Virgin Label. But for me it’s much more universal than that. Touching on the need to remain self-critical and never take yourself too seriously if you are fortunate enough to become more successful in life. In that conext, guitar-as-dentist’s-drill self-applied to the ego on a regular basis is the perfect - and perfectly beautiful – metaphor.    

Released 1973.

Available on the album ‘Faust IV’: Amazon

Another of those beautifully simple rock songs that takes repetition as a theme and then, through varying the theme subtly creates a sound that is both hypnotic and electrifying. In many ways another spiritual successor to Neu (see ABON 0003) but with layered guitars and voices playing the repetitive part of Neu’s Motorik drumming.
This song was recorded in the twilight of The Clean’s career. They’d started in 1981, sounding like a New Zealand take on the Velvet Underground with occasional early Stooges leanings. Loud, abrasive, spiky and often very very good. By 2001 they were confident enough to adjust their angle of attack and attempt to engage the listener without resorting to throwing in the kitchen sink. And to realise that repetition can (perhaps paradoxically) be the basis of not only the most beautiful, hypnotic music but also when done brilliantly – as on ‘Stars’ – the most electrifying and arresting.
Recorded 2001.
Available on the cd ‘The Getaway’: Amazon

What better to follow a Neu track than a Neu tribute track. In their time Neu sold a miniscule number of albums, were completely unknown to practically all mainstream (and less mainstream) music fans and were ridiculed by many of those who knew them as being repetitive, minimalist and musically unsophisticated. In reality they were repetitive, minimalist and musically very sophisticated. The whole theme of this blog (as you can see in About) is that it’s the less common strings that tell us most about the universe and of course music. Neu are the perfect case in point. And now they even have tribute albums made by bands whose members weren’t alive when the first Neu stuff was released in 1971. In tribute, The Foals concoct their best piece so far. Not immediately or obviously a derivative of the Neu sound. But then you realise it must be a Neu tribute because: 1. it is a repetitive, minimalist and musically sophisticated noise that takes you exactly where Neu used to take us, and 2. it’s on a Neu tribute album. Exquisitely beautiful.
OK I know you’re wondering…apparently Titan Arum is a name invented by David Attenborough for one of the largest plants in the World because he didn’t want to be heard on TV using the real Latin name – Amorphophallus Titanum. And that you will have to translate yourselves.
Released 1n 2009.
As far as I know only available on the Brand Neu! CD. Amazon

So here it is then. The best beat ever invented by white guys. And they’re German. Just what was the World coming to in the early 1970′s?
Neu were 1 of 4 crucial bands that emerged from Germany in the late ’60′s/early ’70′s while most people were looking and listening elsewhere. Can, Faust and Kraftwerk were the other 3.
A complete antidote to the over-the-top, overly complicated and unfortunately over here UK Prog Rock at the time, Neu’s beat was so hypnotic and – there’s no other word for it – interesting that they didn’t even need to embellish it with much else. Words, tune, melody, Roger Dean cover art, Tales From Topograhic Oceans, Lambs Lying Down On Broadway all a little unnecessary.
Neu were to become infinitely more influential on contemporary electronic music than anyone could possibly have imagined at the time. And to pass the test of time better than most of their UK and USA contemporaries. Never charted though.
In reality not many were listening in 1975 but Brian Eno was. He once said “there were 3 great beats in the ’70′s; Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, James Brown’s funk and Klaus Dinger’s Neu! Beat”. Klaus was Neu’s drummer and alongside guitarist Michael Rother created the phenomenon we now call Motorik.
Of course nowadays it’s difficult to read a music mag without Neu being referenced somewhere. And quite right too.
Recorded 1975.
E-Musik is from the album Neu! 75. Available in many good record shops but Rough Trade have a particularly good Neu section: RoughTrade