Einstürzende Neubauten

Mort Garson, “Baroque No. 2”

Mort Garson is a synthesizer pioneer, one of the first people to record music with a Moog. Sacred Bones has been reissuing his work, both his records and various rarities from his estate’s archive. This is one of the latter, Music From Patch Cord Productions, and it’s just lovely stuff.

Basement Jaxx, “Cish Cash”

Talk about missing the boat. Basement Jaxx is best known for their debut album, Remedy, which was huge. I did not get it, nor their follow-up. But they put Siouxsie Sioux on this record (on this song, in fact), so sure, let’s give it a try. Sure, let’s not get the big record. Anyway, it’s fine. Not really my jam. Hard to really say anything bad about something this cheerful and energetic, though.

The Atlas Moth, “Smiling Knife”

I’ve just got this one record from the Atlas Moth, Coma Noir, their most recent. And I guess I like it just fine - this track is kind of fun, with the slippery movement between genres, sounding like noise rock at times, like sludge at times, a bit of post-metal or maybe metalcore here and there. The blend doesn’t quite hold up for the whole record, though, and it ends up being the sort of thing where you want a bit more evolution or edge or something. It wasn’t quite enough for me to hunt down their previous records.

Pink Floyd, “Eclipse”

I know that Pink Floyd is probably regarded as hopelessly stodgy and dad-ish by people today, avatars of the leaden excesses of 70s rock that sparked punk. And, yeah, this is some ornate shit and all. But dammit, I love it, I sincerely do, whether because it was largely inescapable growing up in Spokane or just because I am also stodgy and dad-ish.

Logh, “The Smoke Will Lead You Home”

I got this as part of a Hydra Head album grab bag, and it’s awfully different from the usual Hydra Head fare. This is really more on the emo side of the fence than anything else. It’s pleasant enough, I suppose.

Einstürzende Neubauten, “Stella Maris”

Ende Neu felt like a bit of a reset for the band, which makes some sense after one of the founding members departed. There’s a lot more things on here that you’d characterize as songs, even nice ones. That’s not to say that it’s conventional, just that the surface of it is pretty conventional. But as always, Neubauten is in the details, and it’s a good album after you dig in, although they’d get more comfortable in this new format on subsequent records.

Advertisement, “Pretty Money”

I’m a huge Seattle homer, so when I mention that this is a Seattle act, just deflate your ratings appropriately. But after a charming EP (on cassette!), they put out their first LP in 2020, and it’s quite good. Their lineup is pretty extensive (six people), resulting in some nice, full arrangements for their tunes. I don’t know that it’s surprising, but I just enjoy having some rock sometimes, especially from the Pacific Northwest. Listen local!

Einstürzende Neubauten, “Haus der Lüge”

As the wave of industrial dance started to crest in the late 80s, Einstürzende Neubauten’s 1989 record Haus der Lüge was released with a couple of songs on it that, if you squinted hard enough, kind of fit in. This song, while being far more interesting than a lot of stuff under that industrial dance umbrella, nevertheless shares some of the same groove and had some crossover potential. They even released “Feurio!” as a single with remixes. I have no idea if it succeeded, my little bubble found Neubauten and gleefully dove into the back catalog. But I like to think that maybe some Nitzer Ebb fans got Neubauten-pilled by this album.

Made it to May! Seemed like April lasted for double the usual days this year.

Minus the Bear, “Lotus”

I’m not sure I would have placed this in the past, but you know what? I’m getting some pretty heavy Yes vibes off of this.

The Bruce Lee Band, “Mr. Hanelei”

Sometimes, I wish I was enough of a professional to click onto my own tags and read what I’d already written about bands. But, I’m not, so I have to rely on my own crummy memory. I don’t want to repeat the same stories about bands, but I also don’t want to work any harder than I do for this thing. So here we are, I’m writing nonsense and you’re left with a meta comment here instead of something useful. Or even “useful”. Well, anyway, the song is over!

Run The Jewels, “Blockbuster Night, Pt. 1”

El-P and Killer Mike first got together on the latter’s R.A.P. Music, which is an amazing album. When they announced a full collab, the first Run the Jewels record, I was pumped. And it was excellent, some of El-P’s best production ever (to that point), and it was just a great time all around. And they stuck with it, and somehow Run the Jewels 2 found another level. It’s pissed off, righteously so, and funnels all that rage into focused, punishing tracks. One of the best hip hop records ever.

Albert King, “Crosscut Saw”

A repeat! I think we’ve actually had it at least twice before. Still smokes, though.

Einstürzende Neubauten, “Good Morning Everybody”

God, the opening of this song is so menacing. This is from Grundstück, the second supporter-only album that they released in 2005, back when crowdfunding was still something pretty far out of the mainstream. They successfully funded and released a series of albums, relying primarily on word of mouth to find folks and doing payments directly. The resulting albums were no compromise, they’re full-on Neubauten records and this one in particular is excellent.

Einstürzende Neubauten, “Sand”

Every now and again, Neubauten will make a song that’s relatively conventional. And you still end up with a creepy torch song like this one, complete with strangled half-falsetto and tribal drumming.

Built to Spill, “Revolution”

Before going on their tear with their last three albums in the 90s, Built to Spill released Ultimate Alternative Wavers. It forms the missing link between the Dinosaur Jr. tribute of the Treepeople to the extended twisted pop of their next few records. There are plenty of things to like on this record, and it’s easy to see how Martsch evolved from here, but it’s not their best work.