Einstürzende Neubauten

Imagine that all the paintings you'd ever seen were portraits. And then imagine what it would be like if someone took you to see the works by Rothko or Pollock. Would you be moved by their originality and beauty? Or might you just think "What the hell is this?"

Whilst it is, obvs, a different medium, you might have a similar experience when you first hear Einstürzende Neubauten. It's not so much evaluating the artistic value and technical ability that has gone into the sound that they create as trying to get your head around it in the first place.

I first came across them when they collaborated on Fad Gadget's 'Collapsing New People' (Einstürznde Neubauten translates as "collapsing new buildings.) At that point in my life I'd not yet come to grips with Fad Gadget so whilst the song presented a relatively digestible introduction to EN, I wasn't particularly enticed.

Many years later, I read a review of EN's then new album, 'Tabula Rasa'. It sounded interesting and so I bought it. It was, however, impenetrable, at least to me. But I stuck with it and slowly I fell in love with one particular track called 'Wüste". As is often the way - at least for me - finding one track that I really enjoyed opened up the door to the rest of the album. And whilst I've never really gone back and embraced their earlier catalogue, I've hugely enjoyed the albums they've done since, plus frontman Blixa Bargeld's stint as a Bad Seed.

This year, they've released an album called 'Lament', concerned with the first world war and they're also performing it live. As is so often the way, the only date was in London, which meant travel plans for the Minx and I, so that we could meet up with Ash and go to the gig at Koko (the woefully renamed Camden Palace).

As is typical of EN, the album veers from pure noise to moments of aching melodic beauty, and I was really looking forward to seeing them play it live. So, after a drink in the upstairs bar, right by the terrace, which must be a wonderful place to stand and drink in the summer, we took our places in the circle. In hindsight, we'd have been better off downstairs, and I could only see by standing on the stairs and leaning to one side. (Indeed, the gig was slightly marred by a nagging worry that the Minx couldn't see anything.)

The physical inconveniences of gig attendance to one side, though, the show was excellent. It was largely faithful to the album itself although with the added buzz that comes from a good live performance. Stagehands brought on and removed the various bespoke instruments that EN use, including the long pipes, which I love. The band delivered pretty much the whole album (as far as I could tell) from the percussive 'Kriegsmaschinerie', through the darkly humourous 'Hymnen', and melodic 'The Willy - Nicky Telegrams', to the conceptual (and excellent) 'Der 1. Weltkrieg (Percussion Version)' and bierkeller singalong 'On Patrol In No Man's Land'.

Augmented by a string section, the performance contrasted the percussive elements with the slow, haunting sections such as 'Lament: 1. Lament', which I particularly enjoy. And I must say that there is something that I love about the band that made me happy just to be in the same room as them. (I've also loved all their photos in the new album booklet. Maybe it's selfish (or aspirational) that I like seeing all the people I admire growing old gracefully.)

I'm not sure I can recommend 'Lament' to you, or seeing the band live, or, indeed, Einstürzende Neubauten, themselves. But I love them and if you ever want to listen to something a little less conventional but that still has a its own beauty, then go on, give them a try. You could maybe start here (but probably not here).