Various Artists - Brand Neu! (Feraltone) As well as including a couple of tracks from former Neu! band members (Michael Rother and LA Duesseldorf, featuring Klaus Dinger) Brand Neu! collects together tracks (including rare, unreleased and exclusive tracks) from a number of artists which demonstrates the influences that one of the bastions of Krautrock has had upon them. The extended repetitive groove is certainly the order of the day and there are some obvious, some surprising and some down-right cool inclusions. There are those that embrace Neu!’s aesthetics and possibilities, and lead them into pastures new: Ciccone (Sonic) Youth’s “Two Cool Rock Chicks Listening To Neu!” obviously name checks but then implores you to batten down the hatches, and the stabbed funk of Hook and The Twin’s “They’ll get Your Head”. There are those that wear their Krautrock influences well and truly on their sleeves: Fujiya & Miyagi’s “Electro Karaoke” could be straight out of 70’s Germany (think “Hallogallo” – and almost as cool) and LCD Soundsystem’s “Watch the Tapes”. Then there are those musical magpies that like to borrow and absorb in order to better(?) their own credentials: Primal Scream’s “Shoot Speed/Kill Light” does so successfully, Oasis’ “I Can See It Now” is probably the CD’s most surprising inclusion (and would suggest a highlight of their career), and Kasabian’s run-of-the-mill-indie-pop “Stuntman”. All of the elements that are so definitive of Neu! are presented: motorik, groovy, electronic, and riff laden, where themes fast and slow, complex and simple, aggressive (Foals and Holy Fuck’s inclusions) and passive (School of Seven Bell’s exclusive track) are housed under the same roof. Great compilation... but there was a noticeable omission of any Stereolab. www.feraltone.co.uk Willsk Next