Customer Reviews

9-15-2000, Brussels

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The German band "Collapsing New Buildings" seems more timely than ever, after over twenty years in existence. I hesitate to call them an "industrial" band because I think they surpassed that genre many years ago; since "Tabula Rasa" Neubauten have been making sound art that manages to bridge the divide between high-concept and musical aggression. Their sound is like none other, and serves as a reminder in this age of ultra-sophisticated electronic synthesizers that the most beautiful, elegant--and also most frightening, dark, and foreboding--music can be made from the tools at hand: a shopping cart, a powerdrill, a bamboo stick, pipes, and electrical current. In the world of Neubauten, the powerlines sing.

"9-15-200, Brussels" captures a remarkable, inspiring performance. The sound quality is excellent, and more importantly, the songs are rendered with artistry and passion. Their rendition of "NNNAAAMMM" is spellbinding and worth the cost of the package alone.

I continue to be amazed that Neubauten is not as well known as the Velvet Underground or the Clash. They are truly the most awe-inducing musicians working today. Listening to them pulls you into a world where music is part of the exhilerating riskiness of life. Listening to Neubauten makes one feel as if the world itself hangs in the balance, as if it could all come crashing down in flame in an instant. And it can. It can.

I avoid live recordings like plague but this one is just amazing..So very well performed and recorded that some tracks are even better than their studio versions, "Beauty" for example..An absolute must for EN listeners and a good start point for those who are just finding out about them. I only wish I were there to see it live.

While no recording could ever truly capture the spontaneity and energy of an EN show, the quality here makes it very worthwhile. This is one of my favorite live albums ever. Blixa's onstage commentary reveals warmth, and humor that may surprise many of his American fans. Unlike many profound artists, you can hear in his voice just how much he enjoys his work. And the songs are astonishing live. We get used to assuming that everything is processed and coming out of some keyboard live, and very little actually is. Everything from compressed air, to a large metal tub is used as an instrument.

I loved this band years ago, when I only knew them for their noise, and metal objects used for brutal sounding percussion. I love them even more now, for the instruments they make are even weirder, but the music is hypnotic and beautiful. And though they may have matured with age, they can still scare you if they want to. This is more than industrial music. This is groundbreaking art that continues to inspire people.

Yeah I know that most of these songs are on albums and everywhere else but many of the songs ( particularly Silence Is Sexy ) allow to track to breathe a bit more. I still don't like it but it sounds a whole lot better than the studio version. Excellent sound quality and bizarre mutterings from Blixa when the song hasn't started at times. They even lost a couple of verses from Newtons Gravititlichkeit ( but I'm sure they have a copy of their album somewhere and will find the lyrics ). Otherwise all I have to say is that the crowd seem to enjoying the show. Perhaps a little too much when you consider that Jubel is 2 and a half minutes of live cheering after Redukt which leaves you wondering " Was that really necessary? Couldn't they just cut that out? " Nevertheless an excellent live show. Also if you've been doubtful over which albums you should get of Neubauten - this will come as a handy accessory

"Stunningly clear recording"--the official review certainly got that right! I can't stress enough how this might be the highest fidelity live album outside of the classical realm, and many of the older songs have a clarity and power that they couldn't achieve on the studio albums (not every engineer knows how to properly mic a suspended bass spring).

I recommend this both to longtime fans and anyone looking for their first EN album. You get an excellent overview of their body of work over a cohesive 2 hour experience, and it's only $10.

First, I was really delightfully surprised by the quality of the recording. It sounds great. & the songs on this cd do often sound different from studio recordings. There's even some really great new material on this cd that I don't know from anything else by Neubauten. Great cd, worthwhile, recommended.