Michael Rother, “Groove 139” (Groenland)

Here's a much-needed blast of good news: Berlin label Groenland will be releasing a box set of Neu!/Harmonia/Kraftwerk guitarist Michael Rother's first four solo LPs on February 22, 2019. Titled Solo, the box will encompass Flammende Herzen (1977), Sterntaler (1978), Katzenmusik (1979) and Fernwärme (1982), as well as unreleased soundtracks for the films Die Raeuber and Houston and an album of live tracks and remixes. Solo will be available on vinyl and CD.

With Neu! and Harmonia, Rother helped to create a vastly influential strain of krautrock featuring motorik rhythms that were inexhaustibly inspirational. To Neu! drummer Klaus Dinger's staunch, metronomic beats, Rother added guitar tones and textures that veered from blissfully pastoral to majestically grinding (see "Negativland" and "Lila Engel" for proof of the latter style). With Harmonia band mates Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Rother honed a brand of distinctive electronic music that toggled between kosmische and arboreal. Musik von Harmonia and Deluxe are exemplars of mid-'70s underground music, and they still sound fresh over 40 years later.

To the matter at hand. "Groove 139" is a previously unreleased song that was performed live this year at London's Jazz Café with guitarist Franz Bargmann and drummer Hans Lampe (La Düsseldorf, Neu!). Now, there are usually solid reasons why tracks are "previously unreleased," even when they're made by musical legends; they just weren't interesting enough at the time to be exposed to the public. But "Groove 139" bucks that trend—and the fact that it's so new also goes against the grain of great artists losing the plot when they reach old age (Rother is 68).

Lampe works up an indefatigable, mid-tempo "Apache" groove that's powered so many krautrock classics while Bargmann and Rother alternately spray warped and glistening six-string fireworks and burbling electronics over the cruise-control beats. If "Groove 139" sounds like it could've come off Neu! '75, well, who better than Herr Rother to hark back to his peak accomplishments? I could play this bänger for hours.

In a press release, Rother said, “'Groove 139' is a good example of why I enjoy playing live. “[T]here was this buzz and anticipation in the air when we went onstage. The track reflects a mixture of premeditated material and improvised actions which I enjoy very much, these days." Now somebody in Seattle please book these Übermenschen.