Einstürzende Neubauten | |
|---|---|
 Einstürzende Neubauten in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | West Berlin, West Germany |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels | |
| Members | Blixa Bargeld Alexander Hacke N.U. Unruh Jochen Arbeit Rudolph Moser |
| Past members | Beate Bartel Gudrun Gut F.M. Einheit Mark Chung Roland Wolf |
| Website | neubauten |
Einstürzende Neubauten (German pronunciation:[ˈaɪnˌʃtʏʁtsn̩dəˈnɔyˌbaʊtn̩],lit. 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a Germanexperimental music group, formed inWest Berlin in 1980. The band currently comprises founding membersBlixa Bargeld (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard) andN.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments, percussion, vocals), long-time contributorAlexander Hacke (bass, vocals), plus Jochen Arbeit (guitar, vocals), andRudolph Moser (custom-built instruments, percussion, vocals), who both joined the line-up in 1997.
One of their trademarks is the use of custom-built instruments, predominantly made out of scrap metal and building tools, and noises, in addition to standard musical instruments. Their early albums were unremittingly harsh, with Bargeld's vocals shouted and screamed above a din of banging and scraping metal percussion. Subsequent recordings found the group's sound growing somewhat more conventional, yet still containing many unorthodox elements.
On 1 April 1980,Einstürzende Neubauten made their first appearance, at the Moon Club inWest Berlin.[4] This first lineup featured Beate Bartel andGudrun Gut,Blixa Bargeld, andN.U. Unruh. The two female members, Bartel and Gut, left the band after a short period and foundedMania D. Shortly thereafter,Alexander Hacke (alias Alexander von Borsig), a sound technician and multi-instrumentalist who was 15 years old at the time, joined the band and became a longtime member.
In 1981, percussionistF.M. Einheit (from theHamburg bandAbwärts) joinedEinstürzende Neubauten and they released their firstLP,Kollaps ("Collapse"),[4] a mixture of roughpunk tunes and industrial noises. The industrial noises were obtained from self-made music machines, electronics, andfound objects such as metal plates. The live performances with Einheit in the 1980s included much metal banging and destruction on stage.
During their first German tour,Mark Chung (previously the bass player withAbwärts) joined the group of musicians.[4] This lineup lasted nearly 15 years.
In 1983,Einstürzende Neubauten recorded their second album,Zeichnungen des Patienten O. T. ("Drawings of Patient O.T.").[4] The title came from a 1974 book byLeo Navratil, describing the drawings ofOswald Tschirtner. The band also appeared as guest performers onFad Gadget's "Collapsing New People" 7" single's B-side trackSpoil The Child, recorded atHansa Tonstudio, Berlin in November 1983.
Also in 1983, Bargeld joined the bandThe Birthday Party (featuringNick Cave andMick Harvey) as a guitarist. That group soon disbanded, but Bargeld became a longtime member of one of the bands that sprang from it,Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (again featuring Cave and Harvey). Bargeld remained a full-time member of bothEinstürzende Neubauten and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds until 2003, when he quit the Bad Seeds in order to focus onEinstürzende Neubauten.
In 1984,Einstürzende Neubauten, with guests includingGenesis P-Orridge,Stevo Pearce,Frank Tovey and others, played a show titledThe Concerto for Voices and Machinery at theICA in London. After 20 minutes the venue halted the show when the band began to dig through the venue's stage with drills and jackhammers.[5][6] 1984 also saw the first release of a best-of and rarities compilation,Strategies Against Architecture '80–'83.
The band's next album,Halber Mensch ("Half Man") in 1985,[4] may be seen as a developmental breakthrough. Musical structure became more evident, and Bargeld's lyrics and, especially, his singing changed. He moved from shouted words and phrases toward organized, poetic melodies.
The band played a show inVancouver, Canada, to kick off its third North American tour. The performance was sponsored by the GermanGoethe Institute as part of the German contribution toExpo 86. Also scheduled to appear wereTest Dept andSkinny Puppy, though not everyone was able to play.
On the tour, the group's experimental and improvised live performance style occasionally caused difficulties with venue management and law enforcement. A performance atThe Palladium inManhattan ended after an improvisedpyrotechnics display. The band ignited lighter fluid in a couple of metal pans, and management stopped the performance and cleared the venue.[7][8]
The one-hour filmHalber Mensch (1986) bySōgo Ishii documentsEinstürzende Neubauten's visit to Japan in 1985. The next two albums,Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala ("Five on the open-ended Richterscale") in 1987[4] andHaus der Lüge ("House of the Lie") in 1989,[4] were great successes in the United States and Japan.
In 1990, the band tried something completely new, recording the soundtrack for East German playwrightHeiner Müller's playDie Hamletmaschine ("The Hamlet Machine") for East German radioRundfunk der DDR.[9] The band image ofEinstürzende Neubauten changed: Blixa Bargeld, formerly wearing punk/industrial style clothes, appeared at the live concerts in a suit.
1991 also saw the release of the double album, a best-of and rarities album,Strategies Against Architecture II. This collection included a musical setting ofHeiner Müller's pieceBildbeschreibung ("Explosion of a Memory" or "Description of a Picture").
InVienna, May 1992,Einstürzende Neubauten performed atThe Academy of Fine Arts' 300th anniversary in a show byErich Wonder,Das Auge des Taifun ("The eye of the typhoon").
The next album,Tabula Rasa (1993),[4] was an important turning point in the band's history, the music becoming softer and containing more electronic sounds.
In 1993, the band was booked to supportU2 during the European leg of theZoo TV Tour, but were thrown off the stage and off the tour when a band member threw an iron bar into the booing crowd.[10]
Mark Chung left the band in 1994 after the recording ofFaustmusik forWerner Schwab's play, and made a career in the music industry.F.M. Einheit, who contributed much to the music and sound of the band, left the band a short time later in 1995, during the recording of theEnde Neu album, at least partially because of a conflict with Bargeld. The lastEinstürzende Neubauten track Einheit worked on wasWas ist ist.[11]Roland Wolf replaced them on bass guitar and keyboards only a short time before dying in a car accident in 1995.
A short time later, the band released the albumEnde Neu ("Ending New") in 1996.[4] The title is wordplay on the band's own name (i.e. "Einstürzende Neubauten"). The songStella Maris – a duet between Bargeld and Hacke's then-wife, singerMeret Becker – became quite famous; a world tour followed the release. During this time, Jochen Arbeit andRudolph Moser (both members ofDie Haut) joined the band: Arbeit on guitar, and Moser on drums, with Hacke switching to bass guitar. This lineup, accompanied byAsh Wednesday on keyboards for live concerts, has held ever since.
Alternative Press included Einstürzende Neubauten in their 1996 list of "100 underground inspirations of the past 20 years."[12]
In 1997, the albumEnde Neu Remixes was released, which featured remixes of the songs fromEnde Neu by artists such asBarry Adamson,Pan Sonic and Darkus (aliasMark Rutherford); Darkus's remix tracks, with others not included onEnde Neu Remixes, were made available separately in the same year onThe NNNAAAMMM Remixes By Darkus release.
From 27 March to 23 May 2000,Einstürzende Neubauten celebrated their 20th birthday with a "20th anniversary tour", playing in the Columbiahalle,Berlin on its birthday, 1 April, and released the albumSilence Is Sexy,[4] followed by a world tour. 2001 also saw the release of another double best-of and rarities album,Strategies Against Architecture III.
Since 2001,Einstürzende Neubauten albums and web projects have been partially produced and supported by Bargeld's wife, Erin Zhu, who also serves as webmaster ofEinstürzende Neubauten's website.
In 2002,Einstürzende Neubauten began work on a new album without the backing of a record label, relying instead upon fan ("supporter") participation in an experiment of a type ofStreet Performer Protocol combined with an internet community and touches of thepatronage system. An exclusiveSupporter Album No. 1, and theAirplane Miniatures EP following, were made available in 2003.
Bargeld leftNick Cave and the Bad Seeds in 2003. In order to go on tour, the band reneged on the idea of creating a supporter-only album, and cooperated withMute Records to go on tour and releasePerpetuum Mobile in 2004.[4] Air sounds, such as blowing the plastic pipes with an air compressor, were greatly explored and used for this album: the working title of the album was, for a long while,Luftveränderung ("Change of air").A half-hour documentary about the supporters project,Traumfestival, was made bySte van Holm and Dihcar, and is available on YouTube.
The live shows of thePerpetuum Mobile Tour were recorded by the band's sound engineers, then burned on CDRs with individual pictures of each show taken byDanielle de Picciotto and sold directly after the concerts; numerous "official" live albums were created during this tour as a result.
In November 2004, the band went on a mini-tour, which included a supporters-only performance at Berlin'sPalast der Republik. The performance was filmed and coordinated byDanielle de Picciotto and Ian Williamson and released on the exclusive supporter's DVD at the end of Phase II.
The band also started a new project calledMusterhaus in early 2005. The first CD,Anarchitektur, was sent out in May 2005, and was also available for download toMusterhaus subscribers. TheMusterhaus project was a "line of releases intended to give the band an outlet for more experimental impulses and exploration."Musterhaus albums were released roughly every 3 months.
The secondMusterhaus CD,Unglaublicher Lärm ("Incredible noise"), was finished on 15 August, and shipped out (as well as posted for download) shortly after.
Phase II of theNeubauten Supporter's project finished in August 2005, and the official site was taken down on 20 September. The supporter albumGrundstück ("Plot of Land") and DVD (containing footage from the November 2004Grundstück performance in Berlin) was shipped in early October 2005.
Musterhaus No. 3Solo Bassfeder ("Solo bass-spring"), released 8 December, is a collection of bass spring compositions by the individual members ofEinstürzende Neubauten.
Phase III of the Supporter's project started on 10 February. On 25 February, the fourth part of theMusterhaus series,Redux Orchestra versus Einstürzende Neubauten, was completed. One of the new additions to Phase III started in March 2006 was a piece-by-piece album,Jewels, finally finished in August 2007.
Danielle de Picciotto, Alexander Hacke's wife and longtime companion, released the DVD documentaryEinstürzende Neubauten - On tour withneubauten.org which describes the supporter project in detail, having interviewed international supporters during the Perpetuum Mobile tour in 2004.
Musterhaus No. 5Kassetten ("Cassettes"), finished 15 May with release scheduled for 31 May. At the same time,Alles was irgendwie nützt ("Everything of any use"), an album that had been in the work since Phase 2, were completed. The album consists of rare live tracks, handpicked by 6 supporters of Phase 2 and mixed by Boris Wilsdorf. This was quickly followed byMusterhaus No. 6Klaviermusik ("Piano music"), released on 31 August.
In October, Neubauten released a public DVD, the recording made atPalast der Republik.
Musterhaus No. 7Stimmen Reste ("Voice Remainders") was released on 2 December, consisting of vocal experiments, vocal recordings, and manipulations of voice recordings, enriched with leftover instrumental tracks made with polystyrene, electronic pulses, Hammond organ, bass guitar, and metal percussion.
It was announced on the band's website that it would be undertaking a "small (mostly)UK tour" in April 2007, but playing inHanover on 22 April beforehand.Musterhaus No. 8Weingeister ("Wine spirits") was released on 6 April, forming the final installment of theMusterhaus series.
A new commercial album was made available later in the year,[13] the first release since 2004'sPerpetuum Mobile. The new album,Alles wieder offen ("All open again"), was released in 2007[4] without the backing of a label, a move the band had intended to make withPerpetuum Mobile. Fans who were part of the paid EN community at neubauten.org received access to an album with the same tracks plus a number of extra songs, and an optional DVD about the making of the album. The band also filmed a video for "Nagorny Karabach".[14] They spent the first half of 2008 touring for the album, playing 32 dates in 19 European countries.
Einstürzende Neubauten celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2010 with a tour through Europe. An American leg was also planned, but eventually cancelled due to visa scheduling problems.[15]Silence Is Sexy was reissued on 1 July 2011.[16] In November 2014 the group released albumLament,[17] a studio reconstruction[17] of a performance piece commissioned by the Belgian town ofDiksmuide to commemorate the outbreak of World War I.[18]
The albumAlles in Allem was released in May 2020 as the group's first full-length release of new material since 2014.[19] A tour dubbedThe Year of the Rat Tour was planned for 2020 to support the album's release, but was postponed to 2022 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, being renamedThe Year of the Tiger Tour.[20] The tour's names were based on the animals associated with the tour's year in theChinese calendar.
In January 2023, the group announced the Rampen Phase of its Supporter's project on its website, introducing the idea of repurposing improvisations from the previous tour into a full album.[21] The album was originally planned to release in autumn of the same year, but was officially announced to release in the spring of 2024 on 24 December 2023.[22] The album was released in early April 2024.[23] The singleIst Ist was also released prior to the album[24] and the autumn 2024alien pop music tour was announced, with concerts in Europe scheduled.[25]
Current members[edit]
Current touring musicians[edit]
| Former members[edit]
Former touring musicians[edit]
Other personnel[edit]
|
The band name is usually translated into English as "Collapsing New Buildings".Neubauten ("new buildings") is a general term referring to buildings constructed in Germany after 1945. These are often regarded as cheaper, flimsier, and less aesthetically attractive thanAltbauten, or pre-1945, especially pre-modernist buildings. Due to the extensive destruction throughout Germany during theSecond World War, and the extensive rebuilding thereafter,Neubauten constitute a very familiar element of German cities.
The band's name attracted unexpected attention when on 21 May 1980, not two months after the band's forming, the roof of theBerlin Congress Hall famously collapsed, killing one person and injuring many. The resulting media attention surrounding the collapse of the German-American icon gave the meaning of their name a new dimension.[28]
The Einstürzende Neubauten logo is anappropriation by the band of anarchaicideogram orpetroglyph. It appears to be astick figure with acircled dot orsol (
) as its head.[29] The provenance of the logo has been attributed to the sacred ring ofStonehenge,[30] or possibly to anOlmecNative American cave, and most directly in one source[31] toancient Chinese origins.[32]
The logo is placed on all of the band's official products, such as vinyl/CD/DVD covers, posters, artwork, and memorabilia. The logo is copyrighted by the band.[33] Blixa Bargeld said that byre-purposing aToltecpetroglyph, whose meaning was purposefully undefined, as their bandlogo, it would be "filled" with meaning later.[33]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
