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Der Gott Väter of German industry have explored an unexpected
route since their primal, chaotic Kollaps beginnings. In
the late 80's, they grafted tune to torture, while the current
crew has been forging those tunes into full-fledged songs since
1996's Ende Neu. Those people who can correctly spell,
pronounce and translate the band's name have been at times dumfounded
and again pleased with the transmogrification. Sure, it was exciting
and unnerving back then, but when honestly was the last time you
popped 2X4 into your kassettendeck? The post-Bad Seeds
Blixa Bargeld is creating something that will last. That will
bear repeating. Like some sort of...oh what's the word...a kind
of apparatus that goes forever. And like Mozart, he's intent
on portraying the Germanic tongue as a poetic thing of beauty,
rather than the course, guttural discourse with which it's perceived.
He's the warm, weathered grandfatherly storyteller. You love
him, but he's still a touch creepy with all the time he spends
secreted away in the shed working on his contraption that needs
no fuel. The rhythms have been perfected, the ever-present droning
is accepted as fact. Re-bar and elevator cables are now proper
instruments supporting a melody instead of the pushing destruction.
Air compressors feature prominently with more traditional guitar,
keyboards and car tires. But being more cabaret than cacophony,
it's Bargeld's pronunciation and timing that prevents sheet-metal
thunder from taking over the performance.
The English translations are unnecessary for the enjoyment,
but add an altogether different experience. Having bathed in
the sounds, the expectation is one of universal wisdom. Then
the liner notes reveal truths like, "Astronomy has discovered
the scnapps in space/someone he or she has hidden it behind
the intergalactic clouds/probably marked for safety by a creative
hand/so the space cleaning lady will not take delight in it."
The absurdity mixed with mundane matters concerning hotel mini-bars
is jarring, until a new appreciation washes over for making
it all sound so grand. In fairness, much of the content is ponderous
stuff for enlightened persons. Interpretation left wide open,
the parable "Youme & Meyou" is a utopian vision
that finds magic in the ordinary.
Some are certainly waiting out the time when Neubauten
begins a cleansing jet-driven collapse of all this structured
nonsense. Others will revel in the mature path they've adopted.
Perhaps entropy is the only perpetual motion machine.
-Ewan Wadharmi
Track List:
1. Ich Gehe Jetzt
2. Perpetuum Mobile
3. Ein Leichtes Leises Säuseln
4. Selbstportrait Mit Kater
5. Boreas
6. Ein Seltener Vogel
7. Ozean und Brandung
8. Paradiesseits
9. Youme & Meyou
10. Der Weg Ins Freie
11. Dead Friends
12. Grundstück
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