Einsturzende Neubaten anyone?

buck65

Listened to Ende Neu this morning and remembered how much I love this record, also own Tabula Rasa which is great. Went online and ordered their last album "Alles wieder offen". Anyone else a fan?

rottenhat

Absolutely. It looks like most of what you've heard is from the middle of their career which is generally considered a bit of a fallow period for them, with Blixa mainly occupied with the Bad Seeds to the point where the band more or less disintegrated with FM Einheit and Marc Chung leaving. The last couple of albums, the recording of which was funded by fan subscriptions, have been a bit of a return to form, but really I'd encourage you to check out their early work, especially Halber Mensch, Haus Der Luge and (depending on how noisy you like it) Kollaps.

Also, never, ever, ever miss a chance to see them live.

John

Great advice there rottenhat. I'm a HUGE Neubauten fan and have to agree that Tabula Rasa and Ende Neu, although great albums, are not the peak of EN's brilliance. I liked Alles Wieder Offen but thought it was a bit weak compared to the previous album (Perpetuum Mobile). Halber Mensch and Haus der Luege are both amazing, definitely defining albums of my musical taste.

They have shed loads of stuff out there (especially from recent times with them releasing over a dozen regular albums and well over 50 live albums since 2003!) so it is a daunting discopgraphy but if you focus on the main albums, you can't go wrong.

The early, noisy releases are great for their primal energy but take a little getting used to:
Kalte Sterne: Early Recordings (compilation of early material, i.e. tapes and 7" singles)
Kollaps (their first proper album, raw and extremely powerful)
2x4 (crushing live album)
Strategies Against Architecture I (another compilation of early material)

Then they moved on to their classic 80s period where they seemed to go from strength to strength, building on the noise and creating far more complex and satisfying music:
Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T. (very noisy but the beginnings of song structure and more concept driven songs)
Halber Mensch (a masterpiece, the perfect Neubauten sound)
Fuenf auf der Nach Oben Offenen Richterskala (a clear move towards songs but still containing the clamour of the previous albums)
Haus der Luege (banned by the Pope and probably my favourite album, great mix of songs and noise, similar to Tabula Rasa but superior)
Strategies Against Architecture II (compilation)

In the 90s and early 00s they became more arty (in a good way) and seemed to learn how to play their instruments properly as well as being able to pull large amounts of noise from scrap metal and power tools. They worked with theatre groups and did some radio soundtracks before nearly breaking up (two key members left during the recording of Ende Neu):
Tabula Rasa (another near perfect album)
Die Hamletmaschine and Faustmusik are radio plays with Neubauten doing soundtrack and performing as actors. I don't understand German so can't really rate the plays but the music is interesting considering all the instruments are based on the contexts of the plays.
Ende Neu (a kind of crummy album of individually great songs but they don't fit together for me on record)
Silence is Sexy (a return to form, new line up and some really wonderful songs, "Sonnenbarke" is one of their best)
Berlin Babylon (soundtrack to a German movie about architecture in Berlin, this album sounds like the city if the city was made of music)
Strategies Against Architecture III (a compilation but mainly unreleased and alternative versions, a good investment if you like Tabula Rasa and Ende Neu)

Again, the band nearly split up only for the idea of doing something online. They set up a website and instead of getting a record company to pay for recording, they asked fans to pay a subscription in return for a copy of the album, a chance to watch the recording sessions as webcasts and other bonuses. It took a couple of attempts to get it right but the model worked really well for them in the end (as Alles Wieder Offen was released without any record label internationally).
Supporter Album #1 and Perpetuum Mobile (two albums from the same sessions, the former was to subscribers only and is pretty good and the latter was released by Mute and is better. There is some overlap between the two discs but together they make a very strong whole)
Musterhaus series (8 subscription only releases that were very different from each other and the main EN catalogue, a lot of debate as to which ones are the best amongst fans. Interesting if not always great)
Grunstueck (this only got out to subscribers and it's a shame because it's the best thing they've done in a long time, on a par with Halber Mensch for sure)
Jewels (studio improvisations that are absolutely great fun, a really different side to the group and thankfully now available on CD)
Alles Wieder Offen (their most recent album, good but not a patch on the previous ones)

taram

Listening to 'Silence Is Sexy' and 'NNNAAAMMM' with big studio headphones in the middle of the night for the first time was a far too exciting moment in my life

Not a big fan of Kollaps, but Halber Mensch is great, as is the recent stuff, but could listen to Ende Neu from here to the end of time

Undergod

I only have Silence is Sexy, but will use this thread to discover more.

jiminynuggets

I think all the key early and more recent albums have already been mentioned, just wanted to say Einsturzende Neubaten are fantastic, don't often get a chance to say that around here