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Einstürzende Neubauten — Rampen (APM: Alien Pop Music)
(no#, 2024, DL)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2024-10-24

Rampen (APM: Alien Pop Music) Cover art

The last new Einstürzende Neubauten album I heard was Silence Is Sexy, 24 years ago. I did not realize that this German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980, was still active. Their musical evolution that began with their debut album Kollaps in 1981 continues today with the release of their new double album Rampen (apm: alien pop music) on which Blixa Bargeld, N.U. Unruh, Alexander Hacke, Jochen Arbeit, Rudolph Moser, and Felix Gebhard present their most unpredictable and unconventional sides. The fifteen tracks are true alien pop music. Minimalistic lyrics and melodies collide with metallic percussion and electronics, similar to their musical forebears Faust. Since the band started on April 1, 1980 (an auspicious day indeed), Einstürzende Neubauten has been shifting the parameters of mainstream and subculture to make the inaudible audible. This experimental field research, spanning more than four decades, is now entering the next stage. In its 44th year of existence, they are going back to its roots while redefining themselves. It is a change in self-image, for which the Berlin quintet plus one has now created its own musical genre in 2024 (apm: alien pop music). Given my 24 year gap in keeping up with Einstürzende Neubauten, I must have missed the band’s sonic evolution as I see a lot of similarities with Silence Is Sexy. Similar use of sonic space, similar English or German lyrics, similar vocals, similar metallic textures, etc. But please don’t get me wrong, the album is really good. Songs that resonate with me include the atmospheric and amorphous “Pestalozzi,” the throbbing and percussive bass and scraping electronics of “Besser Isses,” the surreal “The Pit of Language” that also hints at Dr. John’s “I Walk on Gilded Splinters,” and the floating abstract spookiness and subliminal “Tar and Feathers.”   Rampen (apm: alien pop music) is pop music for parallel universes with which Einstürzende Neubauten enters a stylistic no man's land between the past and future.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Einstürzende Neubauten

More info
http://neubauten.bandcamp.com/album/rampen-apm-alien-pop-music

 

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