Halber Mensch - Einstürzende Neubauten (1985)
Besides blathering on about my own favorite music, I consume a ton of content about other people’s favorite music. This week, I’m taking some advice. This one was recommended in 50 Best Industrial Albums of All Time on Consequence Of Sound.
As I (and many people smarter than I) often say, you have to understand the rules in order to effectively break them.
German industrial pioneers Einstürzende Neubauten are an excellent example. Their early work involved straight up noise with an almost ridiculously rough edge. Industrial tools and materials showed up often as percussion instruments, and choruses were often repeated shouting.
But then they started making records like this one, and it became much more obvious that this was not just a bunch of people trying to break your ears. They started to move into more tradition instrumentation, but it really just revealed the underlying structure that had been there.
They group is very clever at creating structure from repetition and drone and occasional (and sometimes not so occasional) punctuations of noise. They play with dynamics to emphasize what they want to call attention to, and let the rest blend into the cacophony.
This was maybe the first record where they let slip that they were composers and sound designers rather than just a ruckus. It’s a powerful statement that isn’t exactly easy to listen to, but certainly easier than some of their work.
