Blixa Bargeld
March 4, 2011 6:00 PM   Subscribe

Blixa Bargeld - Mein Leben (My Life), part 2, part 3, part 4. A 2008 documentary about Blixa Bargeld, founder and singer of Einstürzende Neubauten and former guitarist for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. English subtitles are kindly supplied by the YouTuber who uploaded it. [Via]
posted by homunculus (23 comments total) 36 users marked this as a favorite
 
We should come up with some symbol or word or something to alert us when a post is actually an obit.
posted by cropshy at 6:13 PM on March 4, 2011


I thought it was going to be about Castle Wolfenstein.
posted by DU at 6:16 PM on March 4, 2011 [4 favorites]


I love Blixa.

I love to listen to Einstürzende Neubauten when I work. I find the music really inspiring - at times it's harsh and terrifying, at times haunting and beautiful, sometimes all of those things, but always inventive and intriguing.

And Blixa is a character. Really expressive and fun to watch, whether he's performing or speaking. (I mean, who could forget this awesomeness?)

Thank you. This pleases me.
posted by louche mustachio at 6:23 PM on March 4, 2011


He's half of ANBB. Listen to one of their songs.
posted by spork at 6:28 PM on March 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


Blixa's awesome. I've seen Neubauten several times and also got to see The Bad Seeds play when he was still in the band. He sang lead on "The Weeping Song," and you know that moment of silence right when the band finishes a song before the crowd starts to applaud, that second or so of almost eerie stillness? Well, right then some crazy person just got so overwhelmed that he shrieked "I LOVE YOU, BLIXA!" at the top of his lungs. That crazy person was me.
posted by infinitywaltz at 6:29 PM on March 4, 2011 [6 favorites]


Also, I love his version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
posted by infinitywaltz at 6:31 PM on March 4, 2011 [2 favorites]


I, too, feared I would come to this thread to submit my dot. Happily, it is otherwise.
posted by jimfl at 6:36 PM on March 4, 2011


I thought it was an obit, too. Though, when he does go, I expect something awesome. Like an air compressor hooked up to his corpse so he can screech in the gorgeous way that does, forever. You can bet that his bones would be the most amazing percussion kit ever.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 7:04 PM on March 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


For the most part, I find Einstürzende Neubauten a bit much, but I really love Stella Maris.

Further, whoever came up with the idea that they play in the Palast der Republik was very clever, given the name.

I shall have to watch this when I have more time.
posted by hoyland at 7:11 PM on March 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


For the most part, I find Einstürzende Neubauten a bit much, but I really love Stella Maris

For me it was always Blume
posted by Hoopo at 7:49 PM on March 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


I love Einstürzende Neubauten, but I never request them at clubs because I can't write the name out after gins, let alone pronounce it.

You hear that, DJs? More Einstürzende Neubauten!
posted by Jilder at 8:11 PM on March 4, 2011


Pronouncing their name is hard.
Once at intermission of a Belle & Sebastian show a crazy girl I know called me up to play them over the phone.
There's also a documentary coming out about Rowland S Howard
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:38 PM on March 4, 2011


Blixa meets Gibby
posted by mintcake! at 9:34 PM on March 4, 2011


Pronouncing their name is hard.

That's how come they got the logo with the little man
posted by Hoopo at 12:40 AM on March 5, 2011


He sang lead on "The Weeping Song,"

This just led me.. OK, well, first I had to watch the video for Weeping Song, then this version.


Then, the double speed version.

And then the Etta James.....uh... Lady Gaga...

And somewhere in there it came to my attention (and I am sure I knew it had to be out there but it's not the same as seeing it) there is Nick Cave/ Blixa Bargeld, "Nixa" slash out there and no I am not linking it you can click your own damn self into the heart of darkness.

Sometimes I hate you so much, Internet.
posted by louche mustachio at 2:22 AM on March 5, 2011 [2 favorites]


Thanks for this.

Seeing the EN 'Halber Mensch" documentary on SBS TV in 1990 blew my mind. I couldn't believe how stunningly good the music was. Music was never the same for me after that. I always find the dangerous posing of metal bands (all genres) slightly ludicrous when I think that the band that can create the most abrasive and the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard are a bunch of guys from Berlin. Overdriven amps and detuned guitars are kind of lame by comparison.

I'm only halfway through Part 2 - hope there's some discussion of why he left the Bad Seeds.
posted by awfurby at 2:45 AM on March 5, 2011


OK now I'm at Part 4 and I have to say - modern consumerist Blixa hanging out at a restaurant in San Francisco is slightly depressing.
posted by awfurby at 3:22 AM on March 5, 2011


I love Blixa. I got to see EN in Prague last year on their anniversary tour and they're still marvellous. They've certainly changed a lot since the early years. It would be sad if they hadn't changed. And Blixa can still scream like he could 30 years ago.
posted by _Lasar at 3:34 AM on March 5, 2011


I love Blixa Bargeld. He can even make Ads for hardware stores pretty awesome.
posted by mhoye at 4:45 AM on March 5, 2011


Perhaps we expect at the minimum one obt per day posted here. Seems that people die on a fairly regular basis, and I am told by my Bride that so long as I can read an obit I am probably still alive, though some would argue otherwise.
posted by Postroad at 9:43 AM on March 5, 2011


I've seen EN live in every one of their visits to London in the last few years. Three cherished memories of their gigs at the Kentish Town Forum:
  • Seeing them live for the first time, without ever having listened to their old stuff, and witnessing a rendition of "Redukt": Meine Hände, meine Arme, meine Beine, meine Körper, mein Kopf und ich...
  • Years later, seeing each band member pick one random piece of paper out of a bag, and using the single word written on each piece as the key to improvise one last encore.
  • Last October, Blixa smoking on stage to perform "Silence Is Sexy" in a clear two-fingered salute to nanny and her smoking ban.
posted by jgbustos at 9:46 AM on March 5, 2011


I love EN posts nearly as much as I love EN and Blixa themselves. So grateful this wasn't an obit post. I fully expect Blixa to continue rocking my world for years to come.
posted by msali at 9:40 PM on March 5, 2011


Enjoyed this. Thanks for posting...
posted by interrupt at 10:18 AM on March 6, 2011


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