La Düsseldorf: La Düsseldorf [KLIMT]

Why you'll love it

This is the album Klaus Dinger made straight after Neu!, cut with Conny Plank and built on that relentless motorik beat. "Silver Cloud" became a single in Germany, and "Time" closes it with nine minutes of euphoric drive.

This edition

• Original four-track 1976 album
• Sleeve art by the Dinger brothers

About the album

When Neu! wound down in 1975, Klaus Dinger didn't take a break; he took the noisy, upbeat side of that band and built a whole group around it. His brother Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe, who had already played on side two of Neu! '75, came along, and from September to December 1975 they recorded at Conny Plank's studio in Wolperath, outside Bonn.

Side one is dominated by "Düsseldorf," more than 13 minutes of pounding drums, chiming guitars and crowd noise that sounds like a city celebrating itself, followed by the stomping chant of "La Düsseldorf." Side two opens with "Silver Cloud," an instrumental of glistening synths that went out as a single in November 1976, then "Time," which Stylus Magazine called the album's masterwork and compared to LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends."

David Bowie was a vocal fan, and you can hear the album's bright, forward-leaning pulse in post-punk and electronic music for decades after. It's music for motorways, though we'd recommend you keep your eyes on the road and not on the turntable.

Also at Kops: more La Düsseldorf on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On Klimt, a reissue of the 1976 album.