This year represents the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One.
It’s a humbling occasion, one that is helping to stir memories of how this conflict – bloody, often cruelly senseless – shaped the modern world.
Legendary industrial collective Einstürzende Neubauten were asked by the Flemish city of Diksmuide, Belgium to take part in a new project.
The resulting live performance and installation is now set to be distilled on a new album, titled ‘LAMENT’.
It seems to be a powerful work. It is leader Blixa Bargeld’s contention that the First World War never ended, it simply paused from time to time before erupting once again on the continent: “War is not something that appears and disappears. War is something that is always there. It sometimes moves and it sometimes doesn’t move. It doesn’t break out like the plague. It’s there.”
In a fascinating press note, Einstürzende Neubauten outline the enormous array of influences filtering through their work.
Operating with self-built metal constructions, inventive technology, samples and more, the group somehow span ragtime jazz, the mysterious Belgian writer Paul van den Broeck, a Joseph Plaut cabaret piece and even Marlene Dietrich’s interpretation of Pete Seeger’s anti-war hymn ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone’.
Out on November 24th, ‘LAMENT’ will be accompanied by a full European tour. Catch Einstürzende Neubauten at London’s KOKO venue on November 19th.
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