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
Unseen Forces cover

Unseen Forces

Justin Walter
Face Time cover

Face Time

James Rushford, Oren Ambarchi, Kassel Jaeger
Hand in Hand cover

Hand in Hand

Félicia Atkinson
Expecting cover

Expecting

Shane Parish, Tashi Dorji
Shunter cover

Shunter

Driftmachine
Selected Early Keyboard Works cover

Selected Early Keyboard Works

Catherine Christer Hennix
Live at Commend, NYC cover

Live at Commend, NYC

Carlos Niño & Friends