Category: Everyday Life

Our boom

We were able to rent Neubauten DVDs starting 7 March! The band’s full name is Einstürzende Neubauten. They started to perform in 1980 in West Germany as an industrial and noise band. The band leader Blixa Bargeld has been one of Chris’ heroes for a long time. (Hmm. Blixa’s given name is also Chris! Chris is Christopher, but he is Christian.)

In my case, a long time ago I subscribed to a monthly cassette tape magazine. (At the time, it was very cool!) So I knew about Neubauten from the issue that featured German music. And I read an article about them in a magazine that featured Berlin, and thought Blixa was a scary nice looking man. When Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds came to Japan on tour, I saw him. However, Neubauten’s music at that time was very difficult to listen to for me, who basically prefers melodious and dramatic tunes.

Anyway, the DVD we rented this time is Liebeslieder (98 minutes).
It’s a music documentary that contains performances and interviews from 1980 to 1993. Indeed their earlier songs consisted of mainly noise without melodies, but we can hear some melodies in their later music. Unexpectedly their performances are listenable, and I was surprised.

Currently Blixa is forty-nine years old, well known as a performer, talkative, and his weight could be double what it was compared to his younger time. Neubauten made their own company and kept active performing. Their web clip calling for new supporters is fun to watch!

Well, well: our next rented DVD will be Listen With Pain.

– YS, 11 March 2008

11 March 2008