Aquarius Records: Search Results for Artist: Neu!
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IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion):
Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps "out of print/unavailable" notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock -- or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us -- please email our mailorder department for availability status -- or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.


album cover NEU! Neu! ( Gronland) cd 16.98
A few years back, we were ecstatic 'cause seminal krautrockers Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger had at long last (after an uncomfortable decade-plus of legal wrangling) patched up whatever their differences were, in order to allow their three classic '70s albums to be officially released on cd for the first time! Hallelujah! Unfortunately, those reissues on Astralwerks then went out of print, again. Argh. How are we supposed to do our job, recommending essential stuff like Neu!, when the record labels can't keep these albums available?? We've got Harmonia and Cluster but it's a shame not to have Neu!... Well thankfully, there's been a new Neu! reissue program on the Gronland label. And Neu!, Neu! 2, and Neu! 75 are back in print and back in stock, for a new generation (and those who missed out before) to enjoy.
For those of you not already Neu!-savvy, these are the guys responsible (along with Kraftwerk, with whom guitarist Rother and drummer Dinger once played - that's how they met, before splitting to form Neu!) for the "motorik" beat, the propulsive, autobahn-friendly, proto-punk electronics hybrid that has influenced countless bands. From big fans Bowie and Eno back in the seventies to the hundreds of postrock/electronica acts that namecheck them now, Neu! are gods. Negativland not only got their name from a Neu! song off the first album, but even the name of their label, Seeland, comes from a track off of 75. Indeed, some bands have built their entire careers on, uh, paying homage to Neu! (Michael Rother, quoted in Mojo magazine: "I went to a Stereolab concert once. Suddenly I had the impression I was listening to myself -- very strange!")
Neu! 1 (1971) is a stunning work of art, drifting back and forth between the stripped down minimal kraut-pop that they're most commonly associated with, to long, spacey and psychedelic forays with lapses into musique concrete like moments with lapping water, children and jackhammers. Their sound could be most closely compared to early Kraftwerk or Cluster. In fact, the track "Im Gluck" sounds an awful lot like both Kraftwerk's "Radioland" and, believe it or don't, the beginning preamble to Rush's "Xanadu." Whether these two had Neu! in mind when they worked these songs out remains to be proven, but it's nice to think of such dissimilar groups drawing from the same well.
MPEG Stream: "Im Gluck"
MPEG Stream: "Weissensee"
MPEG Stream: "Negativland"

NEU! Neu! (Astralwerks) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl!!! Here's what we had to say about the cd reissue in AQL#114:
Seminal krautrockers Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger have at long last (after an uncomfortable decade-plus of legal wrangling) patched up whatever their differences were in order to allow their three classic '70s albums to be offical released on cd for the first time! Hallelujah! Now you can trade in your treasured Germanofon bootlegs (as we believe everyone is required to do by the unwritten law of responsible bootleg-purchasing) and pick up these babies, so that Rother and Dinger will finally get some of the $$$ they deserve for their pioneering music-making. (They'd better, since these are *more* expensive than the boots were! Too bad you won't get much in trade now for the boots...)
For those of you not already Neu!-savvy, these are the guys responsible (along with Kraftwerk, with whom guitarist Rother and drummer Dinger once played -- that's how they met, before splitting to form Neu!) for the "motorik" beat, the propulsive, autobahn-friendly, proto-punk electronics hybrid that has influenced countless bands. From big fans Bowie and Eno back in the seventies to the hundreds of postrock/electronica acts that namecheck them now, Neu! are gods. Negativland not only got their name from a Neu! song off the first album, but even the name of their label, Seeland, comes from a track off of 75. Indeed, some bands have built their entire careers on, uh, paying homage to Neu! (Michael Rother, quoted in the most recent issue of MOJO: "I went to a Stereolab concert once. Suddenly I had the impression I was listening to myself -- very strange!")
Astralwerks has done a nice job with these reissues. No, there's no bonus tracks or extensive liner notes or anything "extra", but all the original artwork is included (not that we have an original Neu! lp handy to compare with, but anyway they look nice). We could have done without the stickers on the front with blurbs from famous fans, but that's discarded once you unwrap the cd so no big deal. We'd guess that Neu!'s first album will sell the most copies, as it's graced with the endorsement of Thom Yorke, whereas we hope that Neu! 75 won't suffer from the moronic blurb from John Frusciante.
In keeping with the generally fucked up saga of these records/reissues, we're already having trouble getting enough of these in stock (our suppliers getting one title, but not the others; very small quanities, that sort of bs), so act fast. Sorry for the high price, it *might* come down as the supply situation changes, but for right now it reflects what we have to pay for these. Argh. And the vinyl versions (YES! they're doing LP reissues) have been inexplicably delayed until the end of July! Double argh.
Neu! 1 (1971) is a stunning work of art, drifting back and forth between the stripped down minimal kraut-pop that they're most commonly associated with, to long, spacey and psychedelic forays with lapses into musique concrete like moments with lapping water, children and jackhammers. Their sound could be most closely compared to early Kraftwerk or Cluster. In fact, the track "Im Gluck" sounds an awful lot like both Kraftwerk's "Radioland" and, believe it or don't, the beginning preamble to Rush's "Xanadu." Whether these two had Neu! in mind when they worked these songs out remains to be proven, but it's nice to think of such dissimilar groups drawing from the same well.

album cover NEU! Neu! 2 (Gronland) cd 16.98
Neu! 2 could possibly be considered the world's first "remix" album, as a good portion of it features "varispeed" versions of previously released Neu! material. They ran out of studio time/money, so the story goes, and after recording two songs for a single ended up making alternate versions by playing the record itself at 16 rpm and 78 rpm - you can even hear the needle drop and the record player bumped into - and doing similar remixes of tracks off of the first album with a cheap tape player. 2 wasn't considered the best Neu! album back in the day, but it actually stands test of time quite well (even better than 75) and boasts the acclaim of having had a track used on the soundtrack for the English dubbed version of "The Master Of The Flying Guillotine" (those who spent countless hours of their childhood watching Kung Fu Theater will know well the One Armed Boxer and his travails.)
MPEG Stream: "Fur Immer"
MPEG Stream: "Lila Engel "
MPEG Stream: "Super 16"

NEU! Neu! 2 (Astralwerks) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl!!! Here's what we had to say about the cd reissue in AQL#114:
Neu! 2 could possibly be considered the world's first "remix" album, as a good portion of it features "varispeed" versions of previously released Neu! material. They ran out of studio time/money, so the story goes, and after recording two songs for a single ended up making alternate versions by playing the record itself at 16 rpm and 78 rpm -- you can even hear the needle drop and the record player bumped into -- and doing similar remixes of tracks off of the first album with a cheap tape player. 2 wasn't considered the best Neu! album back in the day, but it actually stands the test of time quite well (certainly better than 75) and boasts the acclaim of having had a track used on the soundtrack for the English dubbed version of "The Master Of The Flying Guillotine" (those who spent countless hours of their childhood watching Kung Fu Theater will know well the One Armed Boxer and his travails.)

album cover NEU! Neu! 75 (Gronland) cd 16.98
The critical status quo qualifies Neu! 75 as the best of their three albums, simply because it is the most musically adept and possesses the most studio polish. While we here at Aquarius are not going to deny that Neu! 75 isn't a great and pretty much required album, we disagree that this is their best work.
The two previous albums were infused with a bold spirit of experimentations that led to the mutable pace of the motorik grooves on "Negativland" (from Neu! 1), and the idiosyncratic "remixes" from Neu! 2. While Klaus Dinger's percussion remains unchanged from the first two releases, Michael Rother moves away from the risk-taking agendas from the first two albums, to a more commonplace rock schtick. Rother's guitars hold a greater range of dynamics with beautifully soaring Pink Floyd-esque harmonics to gritty aggro / glam rock power chords, but his insistance on singing much more maybe isn't a great idea... As previously mentioned, Neu! was a profound influence on David Bowie; thus, it is not a coincidence that Neu!'s "Hero" (from Neu! 75) predates Bowie's "Heroes" by a good two years!
MPEG Stream: "Hero"
MPEG Stream: "Emusik"

NEU! Neu! 75 (Astralwerks) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl!!! Here's what we had to say about the cd reissue in AQL#114:
The critical status quo qualifies Neu! 75 as the best of three albums, simply because it is the most musically adept and holds the most studio polish. While we here at Aquarius are not going to deny that Neu! 75 isn't a great and possibly required album, we disagree that this is their best work.
The two previous albums were infused with a bold spirit of experimentations that led to the mutable pace of the motorik grooves on "Negativland" (from Neu! 1), and the idiosyncratic "remixes" from Neu! 2. While Klaus Dinger's percussion remains unchanged from the first two releases, Michael Rother moves away from the risk-taking agendas from the first two albums, to a more commonplace rock schtick. Rother's guitars hold a greater range of dynamics with beautifully soaring Pink Floyd-esque harmonics to gritty aggro / glam rock power chords, but his insistance on singing much more isn't a great idea. As previously mentioned, Neu! was a profound influence for David Bowie; thus, it is not a coincidence that Neu!'s "Hero" (from Neu! 75) predates Bowie's "Heroes" by a good two years.

ANEURYSM Quim (Slowleak) 12" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Four song debut 12" from Oakland's DJ Aneurysm. Side one features dark, aggressive digital destruction that would be right at home beside your DHR and Ambush records. Side two is more dance-y and melodic, with distorto beats and (unfortunately outdated and cheesy) spoken voice samples.

album cover EARTH / TRIBES OF NEUROT Split 7" (Southern Lord) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Definitely don't need to say too much about this one. SUPER LIMITED obviously, this split single, Earth on one side, Neurosis offshoot Tribes Of Neurot on the other, was originally released as a give away to all who attended the San Francisco New Years Eve Earth / Neurosis show only. However, we (thankfully, surprisingly) managed to get a bunch, but considering the above, these will be gone in a flash.
The Neurot side is a killer, gorgeous long form drones, thick and serpentine, we hear some Niblock, some Chalk, some Taj Mahal Travellers, gorgeous and thick, dense and dark, one of the best things we've heard from those guys for sure.
Earth counter on their side, with some super stripped down Fahey-doom, sprawling slow motion Appalachia, tuned way down and allowed to spread out like a slow moving black fog. Just guitar mostly as far as we can tell, but pretty dang lovely.
Well worth your $9, especially if you were kicking yourself for missing the show. Pressed on clear yellow vinyl, in a striking, super thick full color sleeve, and as if we needed to tell you again, SUPER LIMITED, so one per customer!!

album cover EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN 1/2 Mensch (Potomak) cd 16.98
Halber Mensch ('half man' in German) originally came out in 1985, at the height of the apex of punk self-immolation, pure German expressionism, and industrial theatricality. The infernal vocal chorale of the title track is about as intense as a vocal piece could ever be, without resorting to pure guttural howling. Here is it a searing repetition of an atonal plainsong, buttressed by the always unique snarl of frontman Blixa Bargeld. The repurposed metals from junkyards and constructions site which have become synonymous with Neubauten immediately appear afterwards on their anthemic single "Yu-Gung (Fuetter Mein Ego)," whose insistent rhythm works almost Gamelan-like as the principal melody to this amazing tune. It should also be pointed out that Pussy Galore, who were already heavily indebted to EN, covered this on their Sugar Shit Sharp ep! later As a grand climax to the album, Neubauten again returns to hellish imagery through the symphony of bowed metals on "Der Tod Ist Ein Dandy," where these cacophonic scrapes amass into a dramatic arc of acoustic noise that easily parallels those same constructions that David Jackman built in Organum.
This is one of those seminal records that should always be in print, and one of those records that you should already have. But if not, you shouldn't pass this up!
MPEG Stream: "Halber Mensch"
MPEG Stream: "Yu-Gung "
MPEG Stream: "Der Tod Ist Ein Dandy"

album cover EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN 1/2 Mensch (Potomak) lp 16.98
A vinyl reissue of one of the best Einsturzende Neubauten recordings! Halber Mensch ('half man' in German) originally came out in 1985, at the height of the apex of punk self-immolation, pure German expressionism, and industrial theatricality. The infernal vocal chorale of the title track is about as intense as a vocal piece could ever be, without resorting to pure guttural howling. Here is it a searing repetition of an atonal plainsong, buttressed by the always unique snarl of frontman Blixa Bargeld. The repurposed metals from junkyards and constructions site which have become synonymous with Neubauten immediately appear afterwards on their anthemic single "Yu-Gung (Fuetter Mein Ego)," whose insistent rhythm works almost Gamelan-like as the principal melody to this amazing tune. It should also be pointed out that Pussy Galore, who were already heavily indebted to EN, covered this on their Sugar Shit Sharp ep! later As a grand climax to the album, Neubauten again returns to hellish imagery through the symphony of bowed metals on "Der Tod Ist Ein Dandy," where these cacophonic scrapes amass into a dramatic arc of acoustic noise that easily parallels those same constructions that David Jackman built through Organum. This is one of those seminal records that should always be in print, and one of those records that you should already have. But if not, you shouldn't pass this up!

album cover EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN 1991-2001: Strategies Against Architecture III (Mute) 2cd 17.98
On September 12, Blixa Bargeld wandered into Aquarius after hearing that his US tour with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had been cancelled. While I had never met the man before, his demeanor was certainly curt and somewhat cold, muttering his disapproval that we didn't have any of his records in stock. He bought a copy of The Wire and the new Bjork record (if you must know) and was off. I'll admit to being a little shaken to have encountered one of my teen heroes (and thus stumbled through a clumsy introduction), yet the timing of his visit to the States was even more unsettling; for here was a man whose main project has been imploring the metaphors of collapsed architecture as a means for personal and communal exorcisms. Due to my social blunder, I never got to ask for his thoughts on the destruction of the World Trade Center. It may be impossible to set the tragedy and horror of the 9/11 events aside to posit the question to leftist artists, commentators, and organizations: "Isn't the destruction of a symbol as weighty as the World Trade Center what you wanted all along?" Of course the answer predictably will be, "You asshole, how dare you ask that question!" But at sometime, every punk, anarchist, anti-WTO activist, and leftist thinker is gonna have to stop being in shock and answer that question. No, I haven't an answer myself, but I think it will scare me.
If I had been able to muster the courage to ask Bargeld for his thoughts, I could imagine that his answer would be something poetic but vaguely haunting, and maybe something a little bit more allegorical than Stockhausen's recent social gaffes. Or maybe, those are the attributes that I'd like his words to have, and he would just shrug it off as another stupid question from another stupid American. Yet, Bargeld and his stalwart project Einsturzende Neubauten have been engaged in presenting multiple possibilities for the end of the world within evolving musical theatres, ranging from their early brutalism of hammering infernal music out of metal and flesh to their more recent offerings of staged melodramas around Bargeld's lyrical complexities and restrained vocalizations. Thus, I would hope that Bargeld may have something intelligent and insightful to say about the WTC attacks.
"Strategies Against Architecture III," subtitled "A Comedy of Errors" was obviously never intended to be Bargeld's specific answer; but within the current cultural climate, it does address the general themes. Over the last decade, Neubauten has calmed their industrial clamour and embraced the tasteful palette of a chamber ensemble, with strings and horns fleshing out their recent sound. It is obvious that Neubauten has changed with age, looking back at their early work through eyes that no longer seek expression through self-destruction. Rather, Neubauten stands in the ashes of their attempts at self-destruction seeing that the epistomological forces of life may in fact be stronger than the will to destroy. The gleefully abject explosions that made up their earliest work now quietly smolder within the pleasant, strangely cabaret-like, and almost holistically beneficial music found within "Strategies III."
In essence, Neubauten's third compilation of rarities, alternate takes and 'greatest hits' finds their existential angst getting all warm and fuzzy. While I've been wholly disappointed by their work over the past decade, "Strategies III" makes for an nice condensed history for a time period in which existential answers were sought in lieu of taking aesthetic adventures.
RealAudio clip: "Three Thoughts (Devils Sect)"
RealAudio clip: "Wurst (Ballet Version)"
RealAudio clip: "Open Fire"

album cover EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Alles Wieder Offen (Potomak) cd 16.98
Admittedly, we approached this new Einsturzende Neubauten album with a little bit of apprehension. In our humble opinion, their recordings from the last decade and a half have fallen so far short of what you'd expect from a group that were absolute music groundbreakers (literally!). Seriously can Silence Is Sexy or Perpetuum Mobile hold a candle (or blowtorch) to Halber Mensch or Drawings Of Patient O.T.? We think not. So Alles Wieder Offen comes as something of a pleasant (hmmm, that's sort of a weird word to use with regards to this band, isn't it?) surprise. It's almost like Blixa Bargeld and co. had a wake up call (albeit a not so aggressive one) that shook them out of their velvet draped parlor and back into the rubble-strewn dank warehouse... at least for a brief spell. For one thing Bargeld is alternating his vocal croon with his former urgent bark. While there still isn't any of the early brutal thunder of heavy machinery, there are atmospheres filled with icy Germanic scowls and white knuckles. Hypnotic male chants, buzzing electronics, blunt object thuds, and metallic clatter too. At long last, Einsturzende Neubauten may have struck an affecting integration of what has long seemed disconcertingly at odds -- their early defiant dissonance and newer refined elegance.
MPEG Stream: "Nagorny Karabach"
MPEG Stream: "Weil Weil Weil"

EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Faustmusik (Mute) cd 15.98

EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Halber Mensch (Thirsty Ear) cd 14.98

album cover EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Kalte Sterne - Early Recordings (Mute) cd 16.98
Do you like early Einsturzende Neubauten (Kollaps, Strategies Against Architecture)? Yeah? Great; then you don't want to miss Kalte Sterne, the new collection of Einsturzende Neubauten's early 7"s, surrounded by many previously unreleased recordings. Most of these were impossible to find the first time around, and represent the beginning of the brilliant German group's (literally) metallic, Dadaist anti-music. Thirteen tracks of scraping atonal genius by the group arguably most responsible for connecting the ideas of 20th century avant-garde composers and '-isms' with the underground art-rock audience. Kalte Sterne reveals a dub sense not readily apparent on the first full length albums, as well as surprisingly well formed looks at their trademark post-Faust, homemade musique concrete. Early Einsturzende Neubauten is iconclastic, ubiquitous and absolutely unique. If you've ever wished for more early-style Einsturzende Neubauten, before they mellowed considerably and became more like 'regular music', here it is. Kalte Sterne is 'noise' in the truest and best sense, for every adventurous ear.
MPEG Stream: "Kalte Sterne"
MPEG Stream: "Tan-Ze-Dub"

album cover EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Kollaps (Potomak) cd 16.98
Kollaps. The first album from Einsturzende Neubauten, released back in 1981, found the band as a trio with the wild-throated frontman Blixa Bargeld buttressed by the anarcho-rhythmicists N.U. Unruh and F.M. Einheit. The band photo of Neubauten on Kollaps is quite telling, as a it parodies Pink Floyd's grand collection of instruments that emblazoned the back cover of Ummagumma. Instead of the marching band sized collection of drums and mallets, there's an assortment of hammers, pipes, a couple of drills, a cheap looking synth, an ax (yeah, there is a guitar, but there's also an ax!), and sheet metal twisted in the shape of drumheads. These are the instruments that Neubauten uses in the hyper-primitive, industrial-punk tracks found on Kollaps. Neubauten's amplified junkyard was a clearly a bold statement of DIY primitivism, this trio was not without their structural prowess, crafting anthemic blasts out of their rhythmic churns, bristling with sparkplug noise and rabid distortion. "Tanz Debil" is curiously catchy in its amplified shopping cart bashing which Unruh & Einheit hammer out to accompany the demon-then-zombie vocal delivery from Blixa Bargeld. The title track is a 8 minute monochord mantra, and the band actually pulls off an instrumental cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'Aime." Very rough around the edges, but there is a serious-minded, infernal poetry of pain, anger, and rage focused through these scrap metal arrangements. It's great to have this in stock, as Kollaps is a tremendous record.
MPEG Stream: "Tanz Debil"
MPEG Stream: "Kollaps"
MPEG Stream: "Negativ Nein"

EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Listen With Pain: 20 Years Of Einsturzende Neubauten (Cherry Red Films) dvd 30.00

album cover EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Perpetuum Mobile (Mute) cd 16.98
It appears that as Einsturzende Neubauten near a quarter century of existence, they've set aside their cognac glasses and smoking jackets for the time being -- a good thing! Of course, that's not to say that they've returned to their early 80's groundbreaking visceral fury (see: Drawing Of Patient O.T. and Halber Mensch). No, sadly this is not the case. Like its predecessor, 2000's Silence Is Sexy, Perpetuum Mobile's focus is on subdued refinement and somber reflection with often quite beautiful percussive results. There is an overriding sense of heavy fatigue and mournfulness that resonates throughout the album, however, a particular low point of this despairing tone is Blixa Bargeld's tedious, uninspired chant in the fourth track "Selbstportrait Mit Kater" of "Life on other planets is difficult... so difficult". Had to hit the 'skip' button after his first few rounds.
MPEG Stream: "Ich Gehe Jetzt"
MPEG Stream: "Selbstportrait Mit Kater"

EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Silence Is Sexy (Mute) 2cd 22.00
After Marc Chung and FM Einheit left Einsturzende Neubauten, Blixa ended up getting fat...and boring.

album cover EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Tabula Rasa (Mute) 2cd 21.00
The differences between the Einsturzende Neubauten of the '80s and the Einsturzende Neubauten of the '90s are like night and day. The band's early days were spent mucking around junkyards and cold warehouses which proved to be the perfect setting for their spectacular investigations into 'the abject' through the physical abrasion of metal percussion, discordant guitars, and the pained yelp of Blixa Bargeld. These were the days of their best material, as found on such masterpieces of industrialized angst as Drawings of OT and Halber Menche. Much had been made about the fall of the Berlin Wall and Neubauten's aesthetic shift. Political allusions aside, it's quite clear that the Neubauten that produced Tabula Rasa had undergone a profound shift from their early days of blood, grit, and steel. Donning the finest Italian suits and moving with a theatrical swagger, Neubauten merely threatens to physically confront you with rhythmic intensity or the powers of horror. They've actually managed to stretch out their fading career with this strategy. If only we could all be that lucky. When they do launch into a big jackhammer rhythm as found on Tabula Rasa's "Headcleaner," their creaking joints and tired sinews don't really have it in them anymore.
This reissue features a bonus disc with all of the material from the Interim and Malediction singles which came out around the same time as Tabula Rasa.
MPEG Stream: "Die Interimsliebenden"
MPEG Stream: "Headcleaner"

album cover EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN The Jewels (Potomak) cd + book 16.98
Much will be made of the strategies that Einsturzende Neubauten used in making The Jewels. Frontman Blixa Bargeld devised a series of Tarot-like cards which represented the vast collection of materials which are at Neubauten's disposal - steel, tin, zinc, wood, plastic, glass, ceramics. The entire band would then draw cards, and the compositional process would begin. The tracks tend be a bit shorter than the typical Neubauten opus, and the songs follow the recent aesthetic shifts towards quieter, controlled orchestration for their unusual materials. On a few tracks, there are hints of their formerly infernal selves, glancing back to one of the last true masterpieces Funf Auf Der Nach Oben Offenen Richterskala. Originally released as a subscription only download through their website; now available with a 40 minute film as a Quicktime movie and large book with lyrics and Blixa's insight into the process.
MPEG Stream: "Robert Fuzzo"
MPEG Stream: "Die Ebenen Werden Nicht Vermischt"

album cover EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Zeichnungen Das Patienten O.T. (Drawings Of Patient O.T.) (Potomak) cd 16.98
A brilliant reissue from the seminal German industrial ensemble Einsturzende Neubauten. This album represented the first full realization of the Neubauten project, with F.M. Einheit and Marc Chung (both hailing from the underappreciated post-punk ensemble Abwarts) joining the trio of Blixa Bargeld, Alexander Hacke, and N.U. Unruh. The O.T. from the title of this record references Oswald Tschirtner, a resident of psychiatric hospital for artists, where the patient created these compulsive drawings out of the unkempt visions in his head. Such is the way the Neubauten seeks to employ sound on this record: cracked, naive, and dangerous. Found objects, stolen radio transmissions, repurposed machinery, and lots of metal bashing appear in this album, inspired as much by musique concrete juxtaposition as by punk fury. The desolate drone-centric piece "Armenia" and the propulsive "Vandium I-Ching" represent two of the extremes found on this ever-impressive album.
MPEG Stream: "Vanadium-I-Ching"
MPEG Stream: "Abfackeln!"
MPEG Stream: "Armenia"
MPEG Stream: "DNS Wasserturm"

album cover EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Zeichnungen Das Patienten O.T. (Drawings Of Patient O.T.) (Potomak) lp 16.98
A brilliant reissue from the seminal German industrial ensemble Einsturzende Neubauten. This album represented the first full realization of the Neubauten project, with F.M. Einheit and Marc Chung (both hailing from the underappreciated post-punk ensemble Abwarts) joining the trio of Blixa Bargeld, Alexander Hacke, and N.U. Unruh. The O.T. from the title of this record references Oswald Tschirtner, a resident of psychiatric hospital for artists, where the patient created these compulsive drawings out of the unkempt visions in his head. Such is the way the Neubauten seeks to employ sound on this record: cracked, naive, and dangerous. Found objects, stolen radio transmissions, repurposed machinery, and lots of metal bashing appear in this album, inspired as much by musique concrete juxtaposition as by punk fury. The desolate drone-centric piece "Armenia" and the propulsive "Vandium I-Ching" represent two of the extremes found on this ever-impressive album.
MPEG Stream: "Vanadium-I-Ching"
MPEG Stream: "Abfackeln!"
MPEG Stream: "Armenia"
MPEG Stream: "DNS Wasserturm"

KNIFEHANDCHOP / DJ ANEURYSM Shotgun Wedding Vol 2 / Evil Doppleganger (Violent Turd) cd 10.98

album cover M., SACHIKO / KAFFE MATTHEWS / ANDREA NEUMANN In Case of Fire Take the Stairs (Improvised Music From Japan) cd 17.98
Recorded live in Japan on St. Patrick's Day of 2002, the line-up for this electronic / improvisation performance has Kaffe Matthews on sampler / laptop, Andrea Neumann on prepared piano, and Sachiko M using sinewaves and a contact microphone. Neumann's use of the piano is rather unconventional as she performs exclusively within the piano itself, scraping and plucking the strings with metal objects and motors, avoiding the keyboard altogether. Sachiko M, who has become a ubiquitous presence in the ever-growing field of electronic improvisation, is qualititatively active in her manipulation of her raw sinewaves. But Matthews has placed herself at the center of activity, controlling the tightly looped samples culled from her collaborators and building loose structures of pulses, clicks, and rhythms within this extended performance.
RealAudio clip: "Track 3"

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