Katzenmusik! So cool!
― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 7 February 2016 13:01 (eight years ago) link
His first three solo albums are all stunningly good, some of Liebezeit's finest ever work on them as well.
― calzino, Sunday, 7 February 2016 14:51 (eight years ago) link
This thread revive inspired me to blast out Flammende Herzen this aft, such a euphoric album.
― calzino, Sunday, 7 February 2016 16:26 (eight years ago) link
feuerland is the motorik sound taken to perfection
― calzino, Sunday, 7 February 2016 16:42 (eight years ago) link
Flammende is my special favorite
― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 7 February 2016 18:09 (eight years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 8 February 2016 04:24 (eight years ago) link
This is doing my head in at the moment.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b071c24k
He has so many adorable stories, he just sounds so lovely.
― Möbius the Stripper (Branwell with an N), Monday, 29 February 2016 09:13 (eight years ago) link
66 years old yesterday! Happy Birthday Michael!
― Wewlay Bewlay (Tom D.), Sunday, 3 September 2017 12:29 (six years ago) link
Michael Rother boxset "Solo" The vinyl and CD boxset "Michael Rother - Solo" will be released in collaboration with Groenland Records on 22 February 2019. The vinyl version of the boxset will contain the original and digitally remastered albums "Flammende Herzen", "Sterntaler", "Katzenmusik" and "Fernwärme" as well as the album "Soundtracks" with Michael Rother´s scores to the feature films "Houston" and "The Robbers" as well as the album "Live & Remixes" featuring two remixes for Paul Weller and the British band "Boxed In" and live recordings of the new track "Groove 139" (with Hans Lampe and Franz Bargmann) and "Drone Schlager" by his project "Hallogallo 2010" (with Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth and Aaron Mullan of "Tall Firs").
The vinyl version of the boxset will contain the original and digitally remastered albums "Flammende Herzen", "Sterntaler", "Katzenmusik" and "Fernwärme" as well as the album "Soundtracks" with Michael Rother´s scores to the feature films "Houston" and "The Robbers" as well as the album "Live & Remixes" featuring two remixes for Paul Weller and the British band "Boxed In" and live recordings of the new track "Groove 139" (with Hans Lampe and Franz Bargmann) and "Drone Schlager" by his project "Hallogallo 2010" (with Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth and Aaron Mullan of "Tall Firs").
(A bit) more here, incl. a youtube of "Groove 139", which is some groovy motorik stuff (and (therefore) awesome)http://thequietus.com/articles/25758-michael-rother-new-box-set-solo
― willem, Tuesday, 4 December 2018 14:51 (five years ago) link
Those records are so, so good, completely core kraut-kosmische for me (I may actually listen to Flammende Herzen more often than Neu tbh)
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 4 December 2018 16:12 (five years ago) link
I will totally take any of those first four Rother albums over anything else he ever did. Katzenmuzik is actually on my shortlist for favorite records ever.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Tuesday, 4 December 2018 16:35 (five years ago) link
otm - they are apex expressions of 'innigkeit'
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 4 December 2018 16:56 (five years ago) link
Wish I liked these records more, but I think these three Rother albums (I've never heard the fourth) are some of the silliest and least challenging albums to emerge from the whole Krautrock scene: "Sonnenrad" is lovely, yes, but every other Rother track is like a less-good version of that one ("Stromlinien," for instance, is nearly identical). Katzenmusik is one idea spread across an entire album. The brittle guitar sound on songs like "Karussell" reminds me of The Cars or something, and not in a good way. Compared to an immediate contemporary such as, say, Manuel Gottsching (whose run of albums between '77 and '79 mops the floor with anything Rother ever did, including Neu!), Rother hardly rates. Every Rother solo tune sounds like he's about to break into the melody of "Modern Love" by Bowie at any moment; every song.
Sorry, rant over. I'm still bitter about being convinced to buy those Water reissues a decade ago
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 4 December 2018 23:26 (five years ago) link
LOL totally disagree but totally love your skewering anyway
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 4 December 2018 23:42 (five years ago) link
Yes, total bollocks. Having said that, I always think the Rother albums are a bit on the bland side, a bit too nice, I prefer La Dusseldorf. I love his guitar playing though. I like Ashra too, but they're bland too.
― Monica Kindle (Tom D.), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 00:02 (five years ago) link
although I raved about "Zyklodrom" above from memory some 14 blink-of-an-eye years back, when I listened again to Flammende Herzen the track that still did it for me was/is "Feuerland", with its smears of sound and fatigued/winded drum sound (which reminds me of JD's Closer, e.g. "Passover"). I suspect that Martin Hannett was listening closely, just as "Oasis" on Ash Ra's Correlations invents Durutti Column a year early.
― Paul, Wednesday, 5 December 2018 00:12 (five years ago) link
Every Rother solo tune sounds like he's about to break into the melody of "Modern Love" by Bowie
haha oh wow
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 00:25 (five years ago) link
I listened to these again last night after reading the thread and agree they do sound a little enervated - like echoes of previous work, work in which he was more immanent. I do love the title track of Flammende Herzen - that and Feuerland.
― Have the Rams stopped screaming yet, Lloris? (Chinaski), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 15:23 (five years ago) link
"Oasis" on Ash Ra's Correlations invents Durutti Column a year early.
This is true btw.
― Monica Kindle (Tom D.), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 15:45 (five years ago) link
Stromlinien is my favourite thing he's ever done, like a krautrock Shadows:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvDmbjqPfb8
― PaulTMA, Wednesday, 5 December 2018 16:02 (five years ago) link
idk about enervated/not immanent
the michael rother albums are 'redeemed' music, not 'struggle' music. It is their core identity to be thus. Deluxe and Neu! are at least partly struggle music.
(classic examples of redeemed music/struggle music for context: mozart/beethoven, early stravinsky/mid period stravinsky, david sylvian/scott walker, kottke/fahey)
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 16:07 (five years ago) link
He'd definitely had a Hank Marvin thing going on.
― Monica Kindle (Tom D.), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 16:07 (five years ago) link
early/mid stravinsky are the wrong way around in what I just typed
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 16:09 (five years ago) link
I like this explanation; I need to think about it. I suppose I instinctively find the former more engaging, where the latter can seem a little programmatic.
― Have the Rams stopped screaming yet, Lloris? (Chinaski), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 16:28 (five years ago) link
yeah it really depends; i have music from either type that reduces me to a shuddering jelly
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 16:33 (five years ago) link
This is the thing - I'm not against redemptive at ALL; in fact, I might prefer the strange kind of ecstacy that comes with the unburdening of struggle. An obvious point, but it's always the quality of the expression.
― Have the Rams stopped screaming yet, Lloris? (Chinaski), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 16:48 (five years ago) link
Digging this convo Thanks to all, as always, for tolerating my ridiculous pronouncements
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 22:52 (five years ago) link
Every Rother solo tune sounds like he's about to break into the melody of "Modern Love" by Bowie at any moment
that 3am manhattan vibe is a good thing imho. "modern love" is self-actualized/-redeemed blues -- "i know when to go out and when to stay in . . . it's not really work, it's just the power to charm" -- resonant like rother's solo stuff of the bittersweet relief/ennui of a world-class artist with nothing left to prove but still the impulse to create
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 23:30 (five years ago) link
is there a particular origin for the redeemed/struggle dichotomy?
― rob, Wednesday, 5 December 2018 23:49 (five years ago) link
Not entirely, it’s kind of a personal fixation, but it sprang from an interview in the wire with Scott Walker shortly after tilt came out in which Sylvian comes up and, at least the way I remember it, SW contrasted his music and Sylvian’s by describing the latter’s music as coming from a “redeemed” place. Stuck in my mind. Struggle is not a great polar twin term but you see what I’m getting at.
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 6 December 2018 00:24 (five years ago) link
Found it tucked away quoted by a commenter on one of momus’ live journal posts:He's much more of an ethereal merchant than I am. I'm a man who struggles with spirituality whereas he's given in to it. My album and the one before it is about struggle in a Dostoyevskian sense. It's a real fight for me in every line. Whereas he's given in to a state of grace.
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 6 December 2018 00:32 (five years ago) link
First part of a long interview: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/02/20/39086811/german-guitar-god-michael-rother-talks-kraftwerk-neu-and-the-dubious-term-krautrock
― JoeStork, Thursday, 21 February 2019 20:15 (five years ago) link
his first four albums are re-released, also available on spotify now.
― JoeStork, Saturday, 23 February 2019 23:26 (five years ago) link
another good interview: https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2019/03/06/michael-rother-the-aquarium-drunkard-interview/I like michael rother, he seems like a cool guy.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 15:44 (five years ago) link
Played live in London earlier this month, with Thurston Moore opening. Review: https://thequietus.com/articles/26329-michael-rother-neu-live-review
Amazing setlist (4 to 9 constitute Sterntaler, but Scheisse, look the songs that make up the rest of the set!)1. Katzenmusik 1/Katzenmusik 5/Katzenmusik 62. Neuschnee3. Seeland4. Sonnenrad5. Blauer Regen6. Stromlinien7. Sterntaler8. Fontana di Luna9. Orchestrion10. Deluxe (Immer Wieder)11. Hallogallo12. Dino13. Negativland (with Thurston Moore)14. E-Musik (with Thurston Moore)
― willem, Tuesday, 16 April 2019 20:39 (five years ago) link
oh damn, I'd pay like....20 bucks for a live album of that
― frogbs, Tuesday, 16 April 2019 20:41 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtYvda-Q2Nc
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 16 April 2019 21:23 (five years ago) link
that was AWESOME thank you
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Tuesday, 16 April 2019 22:19 (five years ago) link
wow <3
― nxd, Wednesday, 17 April 2019 09:01 (five years ago) link
it's now impossible for any vaguely avant-garde gig to happen in London without Thurston Moore showing up, apparently
― Neil S, Wednesday, 17 April 2019 09:14 (five years ago) link
Pretty much.
― Do you like 70s hard rock with a guitar hero? (Tom D.), Wednesday, 17 April 2019 09:22 (five years ago) link
and an irresistible, groove-driven ‘Hallogallo’ from the first Neu! album, that gets the crowd dancing wildly. An audience member shouts out: ‘Play that one again and for longer!’
Can that clip above loop for three hours?
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 19 April 2019 19:22 (five years ago) link
some days i think if sterntaler was the only music i heard for the rest of my life i'd be okay with it
today is def one of those days
― Homegrown Georgia speedster Ladd McConkey (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 5 February 2020 14:43 (four years ago) link
never heard this before. listening now - it extremely owns
― ||||||||, Wednesday, 5 February 2020 18:26 (four years ago) link
hell yes
― Homegrown Georgia speedster Ladd McConkey (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 5 February 2020 18:31 (four years ago) link
I hadn't listened to it in a long time so I put it on now immediately my mood improved 100%. Thank you thread and Michael.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 6 February 2020 05:48 (four years ago) link
I listened to him constantly after Brexit Day - his albums (first 4) are a pure sugar rush.
― (includes digression on farting) (Tom D.), Thursday, 6 February 2020 09:25 (four years ago) link
He comes across in interviews as an extremely pleasant, positive and nice person - and his music mirrors his personality perfectly.
― (includes digression on farting) (Tom D.), Thursday, 6 February 2020 09:28 (four years ago) link
Tother is on most of my playmixes, he goes with everything
― GK Chessington's World of Adventure (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 6 February 2020 12:20 (four years ago) link
tom otm re: nice guy michael, i always feel bad for him that he had to play with certified bastard klaus dinger despite the magic of their work in neu!
― Homegrown Georgia speedster Ladd McConkey (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 6 February 2020 12:41 (four years ago) link