EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN - Kollaps 1981

Blixa Bargeld, F.M.Einheit & N.U.Unruh: this was the first line-up of the 'LÄRM' musicians called Einstürzende Neubauten from Berlin. I don't know if I've already told you, but at some point I heard their sounds on the TV, some eighties music show, and I stopped immediately and had to hear and see it: hammering, drilling, atonal bass noises, distorted guitars and a sudden loud & psychotic screaming voice. At first I didn't know what to think of them, but gradually I started to like the stuff and thought: "Wow, they're crazy but they're doing an excellent job with their homemade instruments. This is fucking innovation!" Well, dear readers, that was forty fucking years ago and do you know that? You see the past clearly in front of you and look at yourself now... that's absolute horror and I hate getting fucking old. Well, anyway, I became a fan of their artistic work and after a few years they finally became more melodic, and a little more commercial (but only a tiny bit). Finally, a good review from someone who can do it better than me:

"Einstürzende Neubauten's first album, as one might imagine, is their most primitive and radical effort, the purest expression of their original aesthetic. This makes the album both historically significant and conceptually intriguing, of course, but what's most interesting about this album is that it still sounds surprising decades after its release. Often, albums that are considered extreme art statements upon their debut sound almost quaint a few years later, but while Kollaps perhaps sounds less extreme to ears that heard industrial music turned into disco pabulum by the likes of Nine Inch Nails than it did before, songs like the eight-minute title track and the rumbling live closer, "Negativ Nein" are still a fascinating blend of rhythm and random bashing, tonality and atonality, with anguished vocals by Blixa Bargeld that often seem to have little connection with anything else in the piece. The brief tracks, like the 80-second "Sehnsucht," are even more extreme explorations of pure noise. Starting as early as the next album, Einstürzende Neubauten would begin slowly introducing more mainstream musical concepts into their aesthetic, making Kollaps as undiluted a listening experience as there is in the entire catalog." (Stewart Mason)

Released via ZickZack Records and the first edition included a sixteen-page DIN A4 black and white booklet with song lyrics + photos. A record for Die-Hards. Enjoy!

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