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Molecules · 10-07-2009, 10:03 AM

Kollaps (1981)

For our interests this is the first album proper.
Kollaps is where I started and it's perhaps the best starting point in that it's a manifesto of sorts, it's the purest expression of the Neubauten philosophy. Unlike later albums there are hardly any electronics underlying F.M. Einheit's infamous custom-built percussion. And it's Einheit's racket that obviously hits you first; whether or not you were aware of 'industrial' music and the work of pioneers like Throbbing Gristle beforehand, nothing prepares you for the avant-garde onslaught and the harsh sounds of Kollaps have not diminished as much as other once-'extreme' genres. Part of the fun is trying to guess just what is being thumped or manipulated... Road drills, hollow things, flat things, radiator grills... The singer's toes?

You shouldn't let the 'avant-garde' part scare you off though, Blixa Bargeld's throat-shredding screams are quite mantra-like, and it certainly has a hip-swingin' beat... Albeit a predominantly plodding, oppressive and minimalist one. Also the mantras are not mantras because they are about things like greed, wounds, bombs, disgust and the decline of civilization. One short interlude, 'Vorm Krieg', samples some scratchy old jazz a la the Caretaker, perhaps highlighting Neubauten's obsession with the dehumanizing wartime production of the time and a new industrial boom era. This isn't metal fetish, it's the world we live in and the mass-produced materials we depend on, and it's great for clearing a room at parties!

When not enjoying the illusion that this was recorded on the spot after breaking into a car parts factory, you realize there are many strings to Neubauten's bow, even at this early stage... If contemporaries and buddies the Birthday Party were dismembering rockabilly, bringing it's inherent perversions to their natural conclusion and shoving them in your face, Neubauten were doing the same with technology whilst completely eschewing the American 'rock' part. Very much in keeping with the dark/coldwave, Gothic underground of the time.
It's not all totally unpop and European though! When synthesizer does surface on tracks like 'Jet'm' and the intro to the masterfully sinister 'Kollaps', it sounds like a distilled/amped end-product of one album that is just too easy to namecheck: David Bowie's Low. A guitar and an electric bass feature on two tracks but are used unconventionally (See below).

This album is uncomfortable, but you soon come to understand its ways. It sounds nothing like a Trent Reznor pop song, although you might hear a familiar clank somewhere. Kollaps is a literal take on heavy metal, and whilst on the face of it it is the most abrasive EN album, I think many of the others are just as confrontational/challenging in different ways. Alles klar?

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10-07-2009, 10:03 AM	#4 (permalink)
Molecules daddy don't Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: the Wastes Posts: 2,577	Kollaps (1981) For our interests this is the first album proper. Kollaps is where I started and it's perhaps the best starting point in that it's a manifesto of sorts, it's the purest expression of the Neubauten philosophy. Unlike later albums there are hardly any electronics underlying F.M. Einheit's infamous custom-built percussion. And it's Einheit's racket that obviously hits you first; whether or not you were aware of 'industrial' music and the work of pioneers like Throbbing Gristle beforehand, nothing prepares you for the avant-garde onslaught and the harsh sounds of Kollaps have not diminished as much as other once-'extreme' genres. Part of the fun is trying to guess just what is being thumped or manipulated... Road drills, hollow things, flat things, radiator grills... The singer's toes? You shouldn't let the 'avant-garde' part scare you off though, Blixa Bargeld's throat-shredding screams are quite mantra-like, and it certainly has a hip-swingin' beat... Albeit a predominantly plodding, oppressive and minimalist one. Also the mantras are not mantras because they are about things like greed, wounds, bombs, disgust and the decline of civilization. One short interlude, 'Vorm Krieg', samples some scratchy old jazz a la the Caretaker, perhaps highlighting Neubauten's obsession with the dehumanizing wartime production of the time and a new industrial boom era. This isn't metal fetish, it's the world we live in and the mass-produced materials we depend on, and it's great for clearing a room at parties! When not enjoying the illusion that this was recorded on the spot after breaking into a car parts factory, you realize there are many strings to Neubauten's bow, even at this early stage... If contemporaries and buddies the Birthday Party were dismembering rockabilly, bringing it's inherent perversions to their natural conclusion and shoving them in your face, Neubauten were doing the same with technology whilst completely eschewing the American 'rock' part. Very much in keeping with the dark/coldwave, Gothic underground of the time. It's not all totally unpop and European though! When synthesizer does surface on tracks like 'Jet'm' and the intro to the masterfully sinister 'Kollaps', it sounds like a distilled/amped end-product of one album that is just too easy to namecheck: David Bowie's Low. A guitar and an electric bass feature on two tracks but are used unconventionally (See below). This album is uncomfortable, but you soon come to understand its ways. It sounds nothing like a Trent Reznor pop song, although you might hear a familiar clank somewhere. Kollaps is a literal take on heavy metal, and whilst on the face of it it is the most abrasive EN album, I think many of the others are just as confrontational/challenging in different ways. Alles klar? ++- __________________ [SIZE="1"]Eff em tumble her Last edited by Molecules; 10-11-2009 at 09:26 AM.