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
Blitzkrieg cover

Blitzkrieg

Wallenstein
Amalgamation  cover

Amalgamation

Masahiko Sato & Sound Breakers
My Pharaoh, My King cover

My Pharaoh, My King

John Moloney, Anthony Pasquarosa
The Cherry Thing cover

The Cherry Thing

The Thing, Neneh Cherry
Force of the Wind cover

Force of the Wind

СОЮЗ (SOYUZ)
Substance cover

Substance

Moisture