oscar@utcsrgv.UUCP (Oscar M. Nierstrasz) (04/19/84)
So, I said to the record clerk, "This record is slightly off-centre. In fact, it's so off-centre it has two holes in it." My problem was deciding whether this was a pressing error or a deliberate subservise act on the part of the band/record label. Two albums of "Einsturzende Neubauten" later I said to myself, voice all a-quiver, eyes bleary & blood-shot, "... this is the music I've been waiting for all my life ..." and then I played the records over again ... and again. I recall someone describing Einsturzende Neubauten as "noise" -- not as a value judgement, but purely as an objective, scientific evaluation of the experience. Euphonically transliterated, the name means "Collapsing Buildings" in German. More literally, it refers to the wanton demolition of recently-constructed buildings -- but what the hell; just try to translate Weltanschauung into English (or Canajun, *or* Amerricun!). If this band (?) *had* a guitarist or a bassist, they would put them to good use by pushing out of high windows and recording the noise they made when they hit the ground. A comparison? Why certainly, dearies. The closest I can think of are the sounds made by Throbbing Gristle and This Heat. No top-forty tunes here. In a slightly more familiar vein, Einsturzende Neubauten could be compared to Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft on a really *bad* acid trip. The albums? Two so far: "Strategies Against Architecture" (Strategien Gegen Arkitektur) and (und) "Drawings of Patient O.T." (Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T.). The former is a collection of noises compiled between 1980 and 1983 and the latter dates entirely from 1983. Lest I create too uncomprising an impression, the cuts on these albums are actually *SONGS* and even have *LYRICS*. Heck, the second album even supplies a *lyric sheet* (!). To the untrained ear, however, I doubt that the words "melody", "tune", "pleasant" or "Gosh, Martha, I think I'll just go out and chop us a few cords of firewood" would occur on the first spin of these discs. Yet others may (as did I) find themselves utterly captivated and hypnotized at the first sounds of breaking glass. For the pedants in the audience, Yes, there *is* an umlaut over the `u' in `Einsturz'. The problem is that `Einstuerz' and `Einstu^H"rz' both look like hell. By the way, the off-centre record *was* a mispressing. The next one was ok. If anyone can supply any more information on these wacky guys, I'd love to hear it. Oscar Nierstrasz