NEU! 75

Never heard of this ever. Love the opening track. Now I’m on track three. I love this album. It’s has some definite 70s cheese to it, but man I like it. This is really good. Lots of twists and turns. First couple track had me expecting a lot of piano. I was surprised by the vocals on these tracks. Really fun album. Sometimes this feels like a piano album. Sometimes it feels like a punk album. This is great.

Great

favorite tracks: Leb' whol, Hero, E-Musik, After Eight

Грандиозно..,пря первопроходцы

It’s cool but doesn’t compare to their first album which isn’t even in the 1001

This is a very influential album. This influenced the likes of David Bowie, Brian Eno, Joy Division, Stereolab and countless others even up until Diiv’s first record. The first 3 tracks have more of an ambient style and the last 3 more proto-punk. Is it my favourite record of all time? No. But it’s a decent 4.

Good stuff, glad to finally check them out.

Track By Track Isi - Lovely opening chords. Sounds like it could go anywhere. Sounding a little pop-electro vibe. Nice! Seeland - Very atmospheric. I’m seeing a slightly poppier David Lynch’s Dune in my mind! Cinematic for sure. I really liked this a lot! Leb Wohl - Lovely segue. It’s sounding like more of an ambient album at this point. Good mix of natural and synthetic sounds. Sounds a little like a more hippie Brian Eno or even Sigur Ros. Pretty vibe. Slow, peaceful, slightly kooky, meditative. Really into it. Hero - This was also quite fun. Slightly cheesy ‘80s vibe. Almost montage music in the beginning :) Liked it, but did not care for the vocals much. Ad-libbing to the max! E-Musik - At first thought this was a little boring and repetitive, but as it went on I found it quite meditative/enthralling almost and I got into it. After Eight - Not sure about the choice for this closer! It’s like a very niche Velvet Underground outtake but Kraut-ified. Not bad, but I did not enjoy as much as some of the others. Overall Review: A lovely surprise and discovery! Had never heard of this band before. Really great and unique soundscapes. They have a very loose style, as well as being very bold in their choices of instrumentation. They seem to do what they want and I do respect that. 3.4/5 Favourite Songs: Isi, Leb Wohl

Not my cup of tea.

3 first songs were quite nice and then "Hero" song is hard to listen to. They are Germans :/ Last song "After Eight" also very annoying. This album started well, but the further into this album the worse it is. 3.2/10

It finally wakes up by Hero, the fourth track on a six-track album. And closes on a high note with After Eight. I don't like Krautrock but enjoy it when they go punk. Not enough of that happening here.

Decent range of music here but it is also perplexing! Had me thinking about hopping on the autobahn if you know what I mean.

It's like 3 songs and 3 long interludes, I don't get krautrock.

I didn't hate it, had very few words, and was quite diverse in sound

beutiful ambient album, feels so fresh even today

Industrial Krautrock.

Muy lindo y relajante :D

Neu!’75 ist das dritte Album des Düsseldorfer Duos Klaus Dinger und Michael Rother. Es erschien 1975 bei Brain Records und wurde von Dezember 1974 bis Januar 1975 in Conny Planks Studio aufgenommen und gemischt. Plank produzierte, wie schon bei den Vorgängern. Krautrock steht auf dem Etikett, aber die Platte teilt sich in zwei Hälften, die außer dem Bandnamen wenig verbindet. Die erste Seite gehört Rother. „Isi“ treibt mit dem Motorik-Beat voran, die Gitarren schimmern darüber. „Seeland“ und „Leb’ wohl“ werden langsamer, Gitarre, Klavier und Elektronik schweben eher, als dass sie spielen. Das ist freundliche, fast sanfte Musik, die sich nirgends aufdrängt. Seite zwei dreht das um. Mit Thomas Dinger und Hans Lampe sitzen zwei Schlagzeuger an den Kesseln, und Klaus Dinger singt. „Hero“ ist rau und gepresst und wird gern als Vorläufer des Punk gehandelt. „E-Musik“ pulsiert fast zehn Minuten am Stück, „After Eight“ schließt kurz und schief. Dass beides auf derselben LP liegt, ist erstaunlich, und es funktioniert. Rother und Dinger haben hier keinen Kompromiss gesucht, sondern jeder seine Seite gemacht.

Repetitive without anything dirty or tasty (repetitive techno is much more appealing)

I was scared when I saw the "krautrock" moniker, because my experience with the genre so far hasn't been very positive. So I was surprised when it started with almost entirely instrumental tracks, and quite beautiful ones at that, culminating with "Leb' Wohl", a very relaxing, meditative composition. But then the album had to remember to be annoying, right? First of all, they start singing, badly, moaningly, indecipherably. About nothing might I add. And the songs are repetitive as fuck. The same riff over and over and over again, going nowhere, doing nothing special. At least Kraftwerk are creative and experimental with their bullshit. Here, it's just a big load of nothingness. Except the first three songs. I'm starting to think Germans have an inherent misunderstanding of my taste in music. Gimme more spa music smh

This record served as my introduction to Krautrock as I branched out from Kraftwerk to learn what else was going on at the time. It was the first time I learned what it meant to have a motorik beat and how to really appreciate "less is more" in a musical setting. ISI will always be my personal highlight. I feel like I've been searching for songs that live up to it ever since the first time I heard it. I get lost in its driving beat, shimmering synth, and simple piano melody. Truly an exceptional creation. Seeland is probably the next best. I love the guitar tone and the mood created by the song's pace. It encourages the mind to wander to calm places. Leb'whol takes that a step further... but it's more of a track I zone out to rather than actively enjoy. The side 2 opener, Hero picks things up. It almost sounds post-punk at times but has that great motorik sound carrying through. The vocal has never been my favorite element, but I can get past it because the music is so fantastic. E-musik continues the feeling... the driving sound morphing into something more like a chugging train now. It's probably the where the record comes the closest to Kraftwerk. Then After Eight is basically a Hero reprise. Not complaining. It's been a while since I put this on from start to finish, but I'm glad I did. One of my favorite 70s albums for sure.

Interesting album this, never heard any of it before. Won't be rushing to listen again but I liked it

Decent listen, though it’s not something I’d see myself revisiting

I can definitely get behind some minimalist instrumental experimental german rock!

I work in a job with most of my day filled with data entry, this was great to have on and lock into my work tasks.

Neuce (pronounced noice)

An easy 9/10, this is a delightful example of krautrock at its peak. It's got the motorik beats, it's got the pretty ambient/kosmische material, and it's got the gnarly fucking grooves. What's not to love? Those Germans sure knew their stuff!

I’m only giving this a 4 and not a 5 because of the 7-minute long song Hero which was a genuinely awful drunken yelling rock track and didn’t fit at all with the delightful ambient sounds of the rest of the album. But what a treat the rest of it was!

Some phenomenal music, solid all around. I especially loved being abruptly dragged down to dance (Hero) right after having spent the previous 9 minutes levitating near the ocean waves (Leb' wohl). This album truly has it all. Standouts: Leb' wohl • Hero

Very interesting! I thought initially this might be a 5 but on the second listen I felt it was a little unfocused. I think you could get a lot out of it and it's short enough that it doesn't turn into insane ramblings either.

Starts off strong with "Isi", an incredibly pleasant electronic rock instrumental. "Seeland" is more of the same. Some of the vocals don't do a ton for me, but the music is all really good. Chill electronic rock and very accessible compared to some of the other krautrock I've heard. Fun listening experience - there's a lot here that works for me.

It's hard to really formulate an opinion on the music since I don't quite know what it's meant to be. But what it felt for me was very meditative and thoughtful. Not many vocals (and what there was I couldn't understand anyway), and the instrumentation feels designed to make you space out and let your mind go while you listen. It's pretty good.

I couldnt get past the first few songs

I kinda loved the weird asmr bit in the middle

I love Krautrock!

Groupe inconnu. Chouette, une première face instrumentale ! Avec des morceaux cool et d’autres plus rythmés, agréable à écouter. L’entrée du chant dans ‘Hero’ est plutôt une mauvaise surprise (façon de chanter assez désagréable). Pareil pour le dernier morceau. Heureusement ‘E-musik’ relève le niveau. Le découverte est assez intéressante, mais mon avis reste mitigé, en particulier à cause du chant. Je l’écouterais probablement de nouveau, mais sans plus. =>3/5

Reminded me both of video game background music, which is great to focus or work to, and also soundscape music to fall asleep to. Not really my thing but I enjoyed it

Neu! is one of those bands that played a huge role in the development of German krautrock, and this is definitely one of those albums that anyone who's into progressive rock and experimental music should listen to. But it's also one of those albums where I think it's important for the listener to understand its historical context and the musical movement it was part of. On the surface, if you played this album for some random person who knew nothing about the history of German krautrock, they'd probably just find it repetitive, boring, and lacking in substance. I think this is one of those albums you can really appreciate only when you understand its time and place.

The reason Bowie went to Berlin. Phased, flanged guitars drone above mechanical, driving rhythms. The first half is Eno ambient. The second half is more rhythmic and propulsive. Both are Germanic goodness. You don't come here for the tunes. What tunes there are are simple scraps that just repeat without developing. But come for the textures, the drums, the eerie drones, the synths and it's unlike anything else Completely wonderful.

At first I wondered why we were listening to this and not the original Neu! album, but by track 2 it grew on me. Krautrock meets ambient meets The Stooges?

This is really electric. As in... this is the music that plays while you are on hold while calling the electric company. 1 star.

This was a fun listen. Not sure if I’ll go back to it, but I’m not opposed to the idea.

Well that was nice …. Lovely slice of coconut . This has the makings of a new friend. A shame to have to give only 3 … but it needs to earn more

Niet memorabel

Oh great, more background noise. 2*

Stands up today. Interesting album. 3.5/5. Raising to 4.

Where has this album been all my life. What an absolute banger. T to B. This blew my mind.

Nothing bad. Felt very Kraftwork-esque but it was fine. 3 out of 5.

I liked the ambience half of this more than the Krautrock half, but even then not by much. Rather bizarre album that shocked me with how much I liked it. Favorite Songs: Leb' wohl, Seeland

Вау

Not very GEUD!

Background electro rock.

Yeah

las de ambient..muy chulas me gustan las otras dos pf, el beat y tal chulo, lo que no me gusta son sus voces gritonas

I hate my job in general, but this album for some reason REALLY made me hate my job

Side one of "Neu! '75" takes an ambient approach - it is melodious, charming, deliberate and thoughtful, although by the time of 'Leb' Wohl' it meanders towards dullness. Side two opens in a livelier style with the up-tempo, garage rock-infused 'Hero', and concludes in much the same vein with 'After Eight'. The middle track on side two, 'E-Musik', attempts to merge the ambient textures of side one with these garage-rock sounds, but it runs overly long and again verges on dullness. "Neu! '75" is an OK album, but it's not an album I will be returning to. Side one 1 "Isi" (4/5) 2 "Seeland" (3/5) 3 "Leb' Wohl" (3/5) Side two 4 "Hero" (3/5) 5 "E. Musik" (2/5) 6 "After Eight" (3/5) Total - 18 Average - 3.0 440/1001 233/440 albums reviewed were new to me.

I put this on when I had to take my son to soccer. The kids were unimpressed. It just makes me think of that Portlandia sketch where a couple is at their kid's preschool complaining about the music selection and the conversation reaches a fever-pitch when the teacher confesses she doesn't know about NEU! or krautrock and all of the parents get "stressed out". So they know NEU!. But should they? I'm on the fence. I've always really liked Hero. It's definitely an album to hear at least once.

The first track is a beautiful evolving piece with fresh synths. Love the drums enter in the meditative second track. A track that feels like a big empty landscape. Getting into track 3 is actually magical. Like sailing in a calm but wintery sea, near the shore. What a start to side two with Hero! The sound and energy are very different but the vibe is a natural extention to the thing. I adore the double drumming. Track 5, the longest here, feels like the most dated one because of the extensive use of eq changes. But the energy is good and you do get into a meditative vibe. The spacy end sounds like ambiant video game music from the 2000's, which is quit remarkable. The last track After Eight brings back the punkiness of Hero. With the shouts and double drumming. With an edition of great keyboards and guitars. I loved this one. A great jurney from Finnish to end. Some unnecessary games on track 5, but nothing that really destroys the flow of the album. A 4.5, 4.6.

Very atmospheric with some very heavy tracks

Wednesday, 30 September, 2026 Amazing record! Both sides have bangers. I’d never heard it before. Excited for more.

In the grand scheme of music genres, krautrock is a very much underrated part of it. 4.5 bumped down to 4.

I’m at a 4. I liked this one. I think the atmospheres it creates are larger than they have any right to be, given the simplicity of each soundscape. There’s an intentionality to it that overcomes the lack of stronger progression in each minute to minute part of each track. I don’t want to say they made no effort in keeping things fresh, but they clearly felt confident enough with the base of each track that they just didn’t need to. Generally, I think it works. The progressions are microscopic, but do just enough to perk up the ears, especially during the first half of the album. I think it falls down to a 4 with the back half of the album, as the shift to a more energetic soundscape exposes that microscopic sense of progression. If the first half of this album is a solemn trip to mourn a lover, the back half feels like an anxiety-driven layover. There’s a natural snotty energy in each track that feels like a good precursor to the punkier back half of the 1970s, but they all go just a bit long for what they are. I don’t think any of them are bad, although I had little issues with each of them. “Hero” is cool, and I can understand how David Bowie was inspired by it, but it just lingers a little. Same with “E. Musik”, which could’ve had several parts of it shaved down to move from moment to moment a little sooner. “After Eight” felt a bit weak as a closer, given the production melting any nuanced progression into the wall of sound; I think the back half feels too similar to the first half, and it just didn’t click for me as a result. That said, I admire the swings on both sides of the album, and while it’s hard to call it truly ‘cohesive’, it’s hard not to call it entertaining. I think it’s more than compelling enough to warrant a 4, especially given the serenity in the first half of the album contrasting with the whiny nature of the back half. I think that’s its ceiling, at least for me. I do think it’s worth listening to, and I’d definitely recommend it. I don’t think it’s for everyone, but if you like Kraftwerk & you want a little more bite, this could probably feed the appetite. It’s not up to a 5 for me, just because of that back half feeling too long, but it’s absolutely a 4. I’m glad it’s on the list.

meh 2

An interesting listen, but not something I'd likely go back to. Experimental, not bad. Seems like a soundtrack. 3/5

First three songs very nice and chill, then gets heavier for second half. I like it, there is a lot going on.

3-/5

Pleasant

First half = solid ambient work playlist. Second half = insufferable mouth sounds.

Lite konstig blandning?

Ei kova

Pretty interesting. I enjoyed it.

Meh First half better

Great album. Side 1 ambient, chilled quite relaxing and then side 2, some great droning Kraut Rock.

Fantastic record. These guys and Kraftwerk are the best German bands to ever walk out of that country.

Experimental, both for 1975 and for today. Pleasant to listen to.

An interesting album, divided in two halves between a solid atmospheric electronica style and an electronic, post-punk rock style. Maybe it was just the early morning commute listen, but I liked the first half a lot more than the second. So I’ll split the difference at: 2.5⭐️

Good album. Just better ones out there

That's a pretty cool album I like how it kind of ranges from ambient to metal and protopunk I'll be keeping that one around and checking out their other stuff

Instrumentation was a chill electro-rock vibe. Vocals were muted which was kind of nice - I thought the playing was better than the singing anyway. “Hero” was a bit screamy, but again muted, so, bearable.

Techno-ish but not very smooth, like using rock elements instead and some songs are rock or punk-ish. A bit grating.

It’s a strange mix of lower-fi electro and Rolling Stones. I enjoyed the “Leb’ wohl” tune, which fit neither of those descriptions. 2.6/5.0

First Listen; 4; Plodding, expansive mood in the first few tracks, almost ambient, with a more exotic feel and stranger sounding instrument effects. Transitions to more rocking in the second half. Not a complete expert on this, but this feels like much more of a precursor to modern indie and alternative rock than other music of the time period. Has repetitive rhythms and throbbing, driving guitar. The long tracks really let you get lost in the feeling of it all. Favorite Track: E-Musik

chill but not too crazy

Massively influential album in spite of - or perhaps because of - its dual nature; contemplative keyboard-based pieces underscored by the familiar motorik beat give way to raucous guitar-based chaos with accompanying unhinged vocals. Love it; more of this sort of thing, please.

I'm into it. I wish it was a little more fast paced though

Downbeat and pensive

Struggle to get through for some reason

...Huh. This is a weird one. 21 minutes of gentle pleasant atmosphere and then it's like they heard Wire's Pink Flag for the first time and decided, "Oh fuck yeah, we're doing THAT from now on actually." Except they pre-date Wire's Pink Flag by nearly 3 years with this. For all I've heard about the startling originality et cetera of Pink Flag in its day you'd think I'd have at least heard of this band and record before? I guess that's why I embarked on this project to start with... I'm certainly glad to have heard them now! Enjoyed both halves quite a bit; will be back to listen again

Åha det er ikke mig. Det skal jeg aldrig høre igen.

*52 1. Halvleg var godt til letbane and chill, men da der kom vokal på blev det lidt noget doo doo.

Generelt ret behagelig opgave og noget jeg nok bedst vil huske som behagelig baggrundsmusik. Jeg kommer til at genbesøge det! Stor 3

This ain't it bro 1.7

Jeg kan godt mærke at jeg er ret alene her, men jeg synes, det er fremragende album. Altså som i mindst 4 stjerner. For det første er det vanvittigt, at det er lavet i 75 - så kan man snakke om at være foran sin tid - det er fanme vildt at lave elektronisk ambient rock OG proto-punk/proto-industrial på det her tidspunkt. Jeg er også helt vild med trommerne - ikke at jeg ved noget som helst om at spille på trommer, men jeg lægger virkelig mærke til dem og synes de giver pladen en hel dimension i sig selv. Jeg elsker, hvordan albummet består af to helt forskellige sider og stilarter, men alligvel formår at forene dem og binde dem sammen ved lade albummet bygge op, stille og roligt, så det nærmest går op i en højere enhed/katarsis, når man rammer 'After Eight'. Den første side er nærmest over i Sigur Ros territorie, hvilket i sig selv er et kæmpe plus, men det bliver ikke mindre imponerende af, at de var små 25 år på forkant. Anden side virker til tider som en krydsning mellem punk og pink floyd, med noter af David Bowie - på den gode måde. Alt i alt lidt af et mesterværk, men selvom jeg sætter stor pris på næsten alle aspekter af albummet, så mangler der måske alligevel et eller andet jeg ikke rigtig kan sætte fingeren på, der får det helt op på de 5 stjerner

Neu thank you.

There were rock licks that were interesting to hear, but, as with the rest of the album, they never expanded beyond a repetition that felt like it went on too long. Not enough musical complexity to show they deserve to be listened to as competent artists.

I just listened to Goldie's Timeless and I didn't really know how to rate that as just a listening exercise. Dancing to? Yeah, maybe. But this is just a great listen, despite the general lack of words, being mostly music with mostly subdued vocals/words, but interesting music that kept my interest throughout. 5 "Much more timeless than Timeless and being over 40 years hence" stars. Leb' Wohl (live fully!) is right. What a sentiment! I'm on board with that...you never know when it's gonna end, right?

I'd enjoy this fine as part of a movie or something. As a standalone album, I need to be harsh.

This was good until the singer started singing. In fact, I think this was really good until exactly half way through, and it was a descending scale of being good the whole time. The best song is the first one and the worst one is the last. Apparently this album is split in two by the visions of the two band members, and you can really tell. The second half was so bad I can’t give this a three. Ugh.

hero rocks

Side 1 very chill. Side 2 more driving, similar to their debut (which belongs on this list).