Twittering Machines

Einstürzende Neubauten
Tabula Rasa

All Songs written & arranged By Blixa Bargeld, Mark Chung, F. M. Einheit, Alexander Hacke & N. U. Unruh. Yes, songs. Some nearly danceable. Hard-core fans may not want to bite but I sure do. And this feast sounds as good as it swallows leaving one desirous yet delighted.

This strikes me as a “see, we can do this too” record mixing N.U. Unruh’s “special instruments” with plenty of klang and stomp and feedback but in song-form with most sung in German which is as big a fist in the face of commerce as a song with lyrics can be. Anita Lane helped out with the lyrics and vocals on “Blume” which is positively entrancing and represents one of those “holy shit” moments at a Monkeyhaus past, holding us silent and still in our seats. Rapt in darkness.

Lyrics are provided in English on the inside:

Die Interimsliebenden (track 1, side 1) [The Interimlovers] an excerpt:

In the space of just one slipped beat of the tongue
there is a big bang and total entropy
from red giants to white dwarfs
the whole scale
of cosmic dimensions are falling
out of my mouth
in the description of a kiss
of the interimlovers

of the iterimlovers
the intermlovers

between the microphone and macrocosm
between chaos and on no course
between plankton and philosophia
between semtek and utopia

there they are
the interimlovers

Not with a bang, but a whimper.

Sickeningly sweet, overripe, hard and driving, dark and wicked Tabula Rasa is a sensual treat not quite like any other. Recorded in 1990-1992 released 1993 on Mute/Rough Trade.

It should come as no surprise that the boys who make noise are Russolo fans but I had never seen this lovely video of “Blume” from Tabula Rasa (1993) by Einsturzende Neubauten wherein they recreate Russolo’s roomful of Intonarumori.

Einstürzende Neubauten
Kollaps

Their first full-length LP (there were earlier cassette-only releases) from 1981 is also the boys who make noise rawest and noisiest and most primitive, i.e. one my favorites. Blixa Bargeld (Lead Vocals, Guitars, Noises), N.U. Unruh (Percussion, Vocals), and  F.M. Einheit (Percussion, Vocals). The percussion referred to does not involve one scrap of traditional kit – you can see their chosen sonic assault weapons on the back cover:

The thing about pieces of metal, pipes and power tools is they don’t resonant like instruments – their harmonic pattern is askew. When you mix this with found sounds, occasional crappy keyboard, Blixa’s completely and utterly over-driven guitar and otherworldly screaming screeching vocals you get a beautiful record as far as I’m concerned. It’s so beautiful and powerful it nearly hurts.

And it still sounds as fresh as a daisy.

Einstürzende Neubauten
Yu-Gung

Adrian Sherwood, who also worked with among others Lee Perry, Sinead O’Conner and Skinny Puppy, did the re-mix for Yu-Gung on this 1985 EP. But the highlight here is the Lee Hazlewood cover “Sand” originally performed by Lee and Nancy Sinatra.

Young woman share your fire with me
My heart is cold, my soul is free
I am a stranger in your land
A wandering man, call me sand

I’ll admit I’m a sucker for ‘merican songs, and the odder the better, sung in broken English. Preferably by a woman (Marlene Dietrich, Hermine, Astrud Gilberto, Nico…) but the Neubauten boys and their noisy toys tear this one up. Blixa whispers and screams while F.M. Einheit, Marc Chung, Alexander Hacke and N.U. Unruh unleash the sorta controlled storm that is Neubauten.

Einstürzende Neubauten
Haus der Lüge

The most accessible ’80s Neubauten with a warm, fuzzy cover that just says – relax & enjoy. From 1989 and 5 LPs into their career, Blixa Bargeld & Co. (N.U.Unruh, FM Einheit, Marc Chung and Alex Hacke) explore song-form (some suggest the song influence came from Blixa’s playing with The Bad Seeds which began in ’83) mixed with their typical gnashing and bashing of metal and other objects found and formed as well as some field recordings from the ‘Revolutionary 1st of May’ in Kreuzberg, Berlin.

“Shatter the harmony and you shatter the social structure” reads the first line from the liner notes by Biba Kopf (aka Chris Bohn). House of Lies begins with Blixa reciting a screed that repeats the line “Don’t You Think:” interspersed with massed noise. “Death disco”, “industrial dance” whatever you want to call it, I call it powerful and at times quietly beautiful.

and another great gatefold complete with lyrics in German & English and inner sleeve filled with the ramblings of Biba Kopf.