Neu - Neu 2

Neu with lots of quirks and weirdness, that's how to describe the second album by this legendary krautrock duo from 1973 in a nutshell. The story on how the guys ran out of money and manipulated some of their material in a manner predating the remix practice in electronica, is well known. Aside that, the "normal" first half of the album already indicates the more intense and deranged dimensions in the band's music. "Für Immer" may sound like a rework of "Hallogallo", but it sounds more muscular and louder. In "Spitzenqualität" Klaus Dinger bangs his Apache beat with vengeance and lets his robotic drum loop gradually fall apart, which is very weird and easily beats "Sonderangebot"'s ambient noise at its own game. "Lila Engel" is the first time Neu! plays a concise rock song, albeit with mad energy and loopy voice from Dinger. This one is definitely one of the harshest and most nightmarish moments in Neu! canon, even rivaling "Negativland".

Then Neu manipulates with their songs, using speed alterations, broken tape recorders and the needle dropping technique to create quirky versions of their tunes which sound either insanely manic (when "Neuschnee" and "Super" are sped up) or apocalyptically gloomy (slowed down "Super" and "Hallo Excentrico"). The untreated "Neuschnee" and "Super" themselves formed an excellent, despite flopping at the time, single. "Neuschnee" is a driving dreamy upbeat tune with Rother´s trademark dreamlike guitars on the fore, whereas "Super" is almost punk, and even for punk rock, sounds rather deranged. One might argue that if Neu had enough money to complete the album in the usual manner, then this record may have not sounded as weird altogether. Judging by the non-"remix" material, it's apparent that there was already loads of madness lurking in their creative ways.