Comments on: Einstürzende Neubauten's "Blume" video (1993)

By: Michael Cate

Michael Cate — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:55:00 +0000

Blixa did some commercials for Hornbach, which I believe is a German hardware store chain. They’re commercials are pretty awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj95bNoPyrY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgo4uWVykoo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gRQAZ93ihY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH0wkTHcVXw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INeVnqTEmsI

Silikatfarbe!

By: Christopher Lindley

Christopher Lindley — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:51:00 +0000

Yeah – their industrial stuff. If you like this sort of thing, then you might enjoy “Strategies Against Architecture”. Here’s my pick: ‘Armenia’ from their great video Halber Mench (1985?), stuck against Zeichnungen Des Patienten O T: http://youtu.be/7IL__IAyBuE

Einstürzende Neubauten: The reason I can’t be bothered with “Green Day”.

By: TheMudshark

TheMudshark — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:05:00 +0000

I would actually translate it as “collapsing new buildings” just like you wrote first. I.m.o., neither “demolishing skyscrapers” nor “slipshod construction” would be accurate. The name to me has always conveyed a general lust for the act of destruction, be it the destruction of buildings, systems, societal standards or whatever else.

See for example lyrics such as the ones for “Krieg in den Städten:

Aufstehn/Hinlegen
Verbrannte Erde
Ich steh auf Viren
Ich steh auf Chemie
Aufstehn
Abstürzen
Einstürzen
In die Luft sprengen
Krieg unter Autos
Ich steh auf Feuer
Ich steh auf Rauch
Ich steh auf Drogen
Ich steh auf Krach
und ich steh auf Steine
Ich hol dich nicht raus
Ich steh auf Zermalmen
Ich steh auf Krankheit
Ich steh auf Niedergang
Ich steh auf Ende
Ich steh auf Schluß
Ich steh auf Aus
Ich steh auf Hölle

Standing up/lying down
Scorched earth
I´m into Viruses
I´m into chemicals
Standing up
Falling down
Collapsing
Blowing up
War under cars
I´m into fire
I´m into smoke
I´m into drugs
I´m into noise
and I´m into stones
I´m not getting you out
I´m into crushing
I´m into sickness
I´m into demise
I´m into ending
I´m into finish
I´m into “off”
I´m into hell

By: TheMudshark

TheMudshark — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:53:00 +0000

Quintessential Neubauten to me will always be their industrial noise stuff:

Krieg in den Städten:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdZKT4RhSGo&feature=plcp

Schmerzen Hören:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd6luAaojSs

Negativ Nein:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDwY92R8WAw

Even though all of this should objectively be unpleasant to listen to, for some reason to me it never was. Love it in fact.

By: Noctilucent Studios

Noctilucent Studios — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Haunting….bet this is the kind of thing David Lynch sees in his nightmares.

By: paulcarcosa

paulcarcosa — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 07:54:00 +0000

That’s a bingo.

(And “demolishing skyscrapers” is quite off the mark.)

By: Jack Orenstein

Jack Orenstein — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:03:00 +0000

0:46-0:48. Is that Richard Lewis?

By: Noddy Ninetythree

Noddy Ninetythree — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 23:29:00 +0000

all this translation talk is doing is making me want to listen to Fad Gadget

By: David Pescovitz

David Pescovitz — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:56:00 +0000

If we’re lucky.

By: SunShine_K

SunShine_K — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:31:00 +0000

Faints at the sight of Blixa….THANK YOU a million times.

By: swlabr

swlabr — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:42:00 +0000

Wikipedia: “The band name is usually translated into English as “Collapsing New Buildings”. Neubauten (“new buildings” in English) is a general term referring to buildings constructed in Germany after 1945. These are often regarded as cheaper, flimsier, and less aesthetically attractive than Altbauten, or pre-1945, especially pre-modernist buildings. Due to the extensive destruction throughout Germany during the Second World War, and the extensive rebuilding thereafter, Neubauten constitute a very familiar element of German cities.”

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:16:00 +0000

Einstürzende Neubauten’s “Blume” video, presented by State Farm! What the hell…?
What will they think of next, Throbbing Gristle’s “Discipline (Berlin)”, presented by Pfizer?

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:14:00 +0000

I was under the impression that it should be idiomatically translated as ‘slipshod construction’.

By: Gyrofrog

Gyrofrog — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:02:00 +0000

[EDIT: You are] Not misreading anything, just that those neubauten could probably (not) take care of themselves. (Trying to remember old grammar lessons – I think it’s transitive vs. intransitive? “She’s running the show” vs. “She’s running away.”) OTOH I recall an interview in which either Blixa or N.U. Unruh, when asked if or how they set a building ablaze as part of a background image, said something to the effect of “it’s really simple, just set it ablaze.” Though that may have been an altbauten.

I didn’t really keep up with them after Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala, but at one point something “clicked” for me and those albums following Kollaps no longer sounded noisy (nor extreme) at all. I started thinking about their earlier material (especially the live recording 2 x 4) more as “world music” than anything else (although I know that term makes some cringe) – moreso when I found the recording that “Armenia” excerpts (it’s an Ocora disc, called, simply, Armenie IIRC).

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 20:44:00 +0000

Der morgige Tag ist mein He looks like the love child of Wolverine and end-stage Judy Garland.

By: swlabr

swlabr — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 20:40:00 +0000

I just love this video. I could watch it repeatedly. The understated and haunting music, mixed with that odd Germanic sense of humour. The little cabinet that Blixa keeps retreating into, and the Chrysanthemum described as an “urgent star”… it comes together in an unusual way.

By: Flugfrei Jones

Flugfrei Jones — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 20:31:00 +0000

great track. their “faustmusik” is a mainstay in my cd changer (not that the old bastard gets much use anymore)

By: dexitroboper

dexitroboper — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 20:28:00 +0000

And the vocal is by Anita Lane http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9jiio_anita-lane-jesus-almost-got-me_music

By: mindysan33

mindysan33 — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 20:13:00 +0000

I’m not a German expert (by ANY stretch of the imagination), but I’ve always seen it translated into English as “collapsing new buildings”. Would someone who is a native speaker of the language translate it as “demolishing skyscrapers”? I don’t know…

Either way, I’ve always taken it as a conceptual idea – fundamentally questioning what we mean by the modern – so both translations could apply here. I thought the Neubauten part was a reference to bauhaus modernism, more than a physical building – more what a modern building means about the modern world.

Maybe I’m wrong… I’ve been a fan since the 90s, but I’m not a fan girl who knows all the ins and outs of the band…

By: Partario Flynn

Partario Flynn — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:57:00 +0000

true, but the band had already been formed and named before that happened, didn’t it? it is entirely possible i’m reading more anti-modernity into their stuff than i should.

By: Gyrofrog

Gyrofrog — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:27:00 +0000

I'm not sure that's quite right; compare "The buildings collapsed." vs. "The buildings demolished." For example, the former Berlin Congress Hall, which was indeed a collapsing new (i.e. post-war) building.

By: Partario Flynn

Partario Flynn — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:12:00 +0000

a better translation of this tremendous band’s name might be “demolishing skyscrapers”.

By: awjt

awjt — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:38:00 +0000

The Boing Boing Music page is GREAT! Can you make it so that you don’t have to click through to listen to a song? (i.e. make the teaser graphics the active links)