Album Review: Various - Brand Neu!
- Written by Kenny McMurtrie
A definite mix of something old, something Neu! this, given that the first of the 14 tracks ('Two Cool Rock Chicks Listening to Neu!') is by Sonic Youth in their Ciccone Youth persona which must be closing in on 20 years old. Secondly we get Primal Scream's 'Shoot Speed/Kill Light', originally on their Xtrmntr album, so things become rather less aged from then on.
All the current bands featured are indebted to the Krautrock innovators in some way or other but I was most dubious about the inclusion of Oasis and the track 'I Can See It Now' (originally a bonus cut on the Japanese release of Don't Believe The Truth) and after repeated listens I'm still not convinced although you'd probably never guess who it was just hearing it unannounced.
Elsewhere there are offerings from Foals, Cornelius and Kasabian as well as unreleased tracks from Pets With Pets ('We Only Found This Place') and Hook & The Twin ('They'll Get Your Head') along with School Of Seven Bells exclusive for the album 'Device Fuer M'. Holy Fuck's 'Super Inuit' (a single from 2008) and, rather surprisingly, Fujiya & Miyagi's 'Electro Karaoke' are probably the songs here that most closely resemble any of the works on Neu!, Neu! 2 or Neu! 75.
Rounding out the disc are two tracks with actual connections to the German geniuses - La Duesseldorf 's 'Sketch 1 08' is one of the last tracks worked on by Klaus Dinger, the band's late drummer, and guitarist Michael Rother contributes 'Neutronics 98'. The first of these is unfortunately nothing spectacular but the second is nine and a half minutes of the signature Neu! sound and a very worthy inclusion on what at best is a very tenuously linked release and, one expects, unlikely to garner a great many new fans for the band.
The re-released original three albums are all available for cheap elsewhere, so anyone wanting to see what the fuss is about would be better advised to order them up.