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.
