Krautrock legend Michael Rother has defended Manchester giants Oasis for their contribution to a recent Neu! tribute album.
Steeped in Germany’s radical arts scene, a number of acts emerged from the Teutonic nation in the mid 70s that helped to re-define what it was possible to achieve with rock music. Some were so forward thinking that they even ditched guitars altogether.
Neu! were amongst the most prominent of the groups dubbed ‘Krautrock’. The German group released a handful of albums in the mid 70s that have gone on to become lauded as some of the finest proto-electronica of its time.
A recent tribute album to the duo featured a track from Oasis, which led some to slate ‘Brand Neu!’ as being unrepresentative of the band’s legacy.
Speaking to The Quietus, founding member Michael Rother leaped to the defence of the Manchester group. “I very much enjoyed listening to that compilation,” he said. “To be honest, I also quite like the Oasis track. I mention that because I read in some reviews that they got a bit of a beating.”
Rother went on to claim that he saw some elements of Neu! in new Oasis material. “When I heard that Oasis single ‘The Shock Of The Lightning’, I immediately understood the idea behind that, the fast-forward movement, the strong surge in combination with a Beatles-esque sound. To me that’s an interesting combination, Neu! crossed with The Beatles ideas.”
However the German composer admitted that some of the bands on the compilation he is simply not a fan of. Michael Rother claimed that he would like to see Fuck Buttons cover Neu! – arguing that there is a similarity of approach.
“I think the approach they take on their music is similar to our approach in the ’70s, to change everything, to modify everything to make new combinations.”
