Ende Neu

reissue of the seventh album from 1996 with reworked artwork and enhanced bonus material. emerging from berlin at the dawn of the '80s, einsturzende neubauten crafted a distinctive postpunk, proto-industrial sound that the group is still expanding on 18 years later. typically, a neubauten track combines abrasive machine sounds and the simplest of musical elements - spare bass lines, aggressive chants, thudding beats - to produce surprisingly atmospheric music. 'was ist ist' embodies the band's punk-plus-machine attack, while 'installation no 1' throbs with the pulse that spawned a thousand industrial groups. but the albums most striking tracks recall the work of dramatic artists like leonard cohen and serge gainsbourg more than raging power tools. not a surprise when you consider that singer-guitarist blixa bargeld has played with cabaret rockers the bad seeds and that neubauten members have scored numerous films and theater works. a highlight of the album is the exquisite 'stella maris' - a lovely duet sung by bargeld and actress meret becker, accompanied by strings.