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Jan 12, 2011 Einstürzende Neubauten By Hays Davis

Considering Einstürzende Neubauten’s early intense, confrontational recordings, they might not have seemed like a creative unit that was built to last. Thirty years from their early days of playing custom-built instruments and lots of banging on metal, the group has collected two discs’ worth of considerably more varied and nuanced recordings, made over the past eight years for the fourth in their Strategies Against Architecture archival compilation series.
The tracks here spring from a wide range of sources, including the band’s appearance at Berlin’s Palast der Republik and other live recordings, material from their limited-edition Musterhaus album series, and “Bertolt Brecht Und Der Weltempfänger,” which amusingly presents “a roll of gaffer tape descending a staircase.” To Neubauten’s credit, the two-disc compilation generally plays more like a darkly entrancing soundtrack than an odds and sods collection.
If the band doesn’t quite consistently mine the extremes of their formative years, they are no less open these days to other areas of experimentation. “Insomnia” takes a simple, core theme and strafes it with noise, while “Party in Meck-Pomm” is pure rhythmic assault. On the lighter side, the engaging “GS1 & GS2” sets up a bouncing, metallic beat that plays a bit like a slightly dangerous version of The Bangles’ “Walk Like An Egyptian.” And then, for good measure, “Palast der Republik” features good, old-fashioned clanging and chanting. (www.neubauten.org)

Author rating: 6/10