Michael Rother

Those records are so, so good, completely core kraut-kosmische for me (I may actually listen to Flammende Herzen more often than Neu tbh)

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.

otm - they are apex expressions of 'innigkeit'

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

LOL totally disagree but totally love your skewering anyway

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.

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.

Every Rother solo tune sounds like he's about to break into the melody of "Modern Love" by Bowie

haha oh wow

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.

"Oasis" on Ash Ra's Correlations invents Durutti Column a year early.

This is true btw.

Stromlinien is my favourite thing he's ever done, like a krautrock Shadows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvDmbjqPfb8

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)

He'd definitely had a Hank Marvin thing going on.

early/mid stravinsky are the wrong way around in what I just typed

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.

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.

yeah it really depends; i have music from either type that reduces me to a shuddering jelly

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.

Digging this convo
Thanks to all, as always, for tolerating my ridiculous pronouncements

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

is there a particular origin for the redeemed/struggle dichotomy?

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.

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.

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

his first four albums are re-released, also available on spotify now.

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.

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 6
2. Neuschnee
3. Seeland
4. Sonnenrad
5. Blauer Regen
6. Stromlinien
7. Sterntaler
8. Fontana di Luna
9. Orchestrion
10. Deluxe (Immer Wieder)
11. Hallogallo
12. Dino
13. Negativland (with Thurston Moore)
14. E-Musik (with Thurston Moore)

oh damn, I'd pay like....20 bucks for a live album of that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtYvda-Q2Nc

that was AWESOME thank you

wow <3

it's now impossible for any vaguely avant-garde gig to happen in London without Thurston Moore showing up, apparently

Pretty much.

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?

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

never heard this before. listening now - it extremely owns

hell yes

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.

I listened to him constantly after Brexit Day - his albums (first 4) are a pure sugar rush.

He comes across in interviews as an extremely pleasant, positive and nice person - and his music mirrors his personality perfectly.

Tother is on most of my playmixes, he goes with everything

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!

Perfect combination of personalities imo.

The sober ying to Klaus' raging yang

Dude is supporting Einstürzende Neubauten in Denmark in a few months. I've been trying to persuade them to get Rother to join them onstage for a song, because wow, I think that could have a similar sober ying / raging yang dynamic. Blixa seems to like the idea, and he's actually thinking about it?

Like, the Düsseldorf school and the Berlin school colliding in such a pleasing and circle-completing way would make me so happy.

Is he still hot af @ 69 yo?

Blixa or Michael? They are both still hottttt.

Michael looks really spry and healthy, like he plays tennis every day. :D

Wopp-Wopp, new album Dreaming. Can't find anything about it apart from the pre-order page on Grönland's webshop https://www.groenland.com/product/michael-rother-dreaming-lp/

aw hell yeah

Seven disc boxset yall