Einstürzende Neubauten

Arguably the progenitors of true industrial music, Germany's finest machinists, Einstürzende Neubauten, have returned with more kling klang (de)construction on their first new offering since 2000's Silence is Sexy. With the current lineup intact since 1996, the quintet, led by Blixa Bargeld, continues a devoted, refined path in search of...

By Kiran Aditham

January 29, 2004

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Arguably the progenitors of true industrial music, Germany's finest machinists, Einstürzende Neubauten, have returned with more kling klang (de)construction on their first new offering since 2000's Silence is Sexy. With the current lineup intact since 1996, the quintet, led by Blixa Bargeld, continues a devoted, refined path in search of sonic nirvana through new installations and atypical instrumentation. Everything from tubes to clavichords to air compressors has been soldered into the songwriting process, which the band took a unique detour for this time around.

Having decided to transmit their entire recording process via their website, the band and the studio crew were all equipped with laptops to gauge fans' reactions and thereby influence the direction of the album. It seems to have worked, because its churning grooves from the opening eeriness of "Ich Gehe Jetzt" to the rhythmic trance of the follow-up of the title track set a worthy pace for other standouts, including the brutal breakbeat jam "Selbstportrait mit Kater" and the piston-driven "Der Weg ins Frie." Amid all the meticulously honed chaos lies a cinematic backdrop that lends to the eerie tracks that are the majority of this record. Never the easiest of listens but always an excellent testament to daring music, Neubauten is in constant evolution, as the title suggests. Having first emerged as experimental art punks in the early '80s, the group is now a mature machine fully adept at its patented craft.

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