DVD: EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN
1/2 MENSCH (Cherry Red/Some Bizarre)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

---

For their mid-eighties opus 1/2 Mensch, metal and concrete noise makers, Einsturzende Neubauten decided to film a performance of said album. Good news for anyone wishing to see industrial art rock at its grinding zenith. A hair-shocked Blixa Bargeld mans centre stage with guitar assaults and German spews, and he does provide a tunnelling focal point (unlike his shadowy presence in Nick Cave's Bad Seeds), but it is the brutally primal percussion of his co-horts (on various found objects - the shopping cart, my personal fave) that is at the heart of the Neubauten experience. I believe this is the birth of the "fuck rock, let's art" movement. Shot in a cavernous warehouse in bleak black and white of course.

© 2005 - John Sekerka