La Düsseldorf cover

La Düsseldorf

Released

Under his own recognizance, Klaus Dinger went off to make something like Neu! but much cheesier and more obviously rock. In concert with his brother Thomas (also a drummer) and Hans Lampe (yet another drummer), he takes everything cool about Neu! and jettisons it. The result? Kind of amazing and still pretty cool. The received wisdom is that Rother is an even-tempered genius (he is) and that Dinger was the lunatic obstructionist (he was)—but this doesn’t say anything about music. All on his own, Dinger is still a coherent, careful producer. Not enough gets said about how Dinger tuned and recorded drums, which are relentlessly soft in texture, even when being pounded to hell—and this is a huge aspect of why Neu! and la Dusseldorf worked so well. There are very few sharp edges on these four tracks of chugging and stomping and dumb singing, all of which I love. Without Neu!, this still would have been a major contribution.

Sasha Frere-Jones

Recommended by

Suggestions
Seven Up cover

Seven Up

Timothy Leary, Ash Ra Tempel
A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke cover

A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke

Wadada Leo Smith, Vijay Iyer
Sylvan Esso cover

Sylvan Esso

Sylvan Esso
Red Ribbon cover

Red Ribbon

Yuta Matsumura
Semnal cover

Semnal

Cosmin Nicolae
It Changes cover

It Changes

Tim Fraser, Ailie Ormston
Esto cover

Esto

Ryo Murakami