Industrial Poetry

December 1, 2005 9:38 PM

Blixa Bargeld reads the Hornbach Catalog. In a series of ads, finalists in 2004 for an EPICA award, the poet and musician Blixa Bargeld, known primarily as a leader of the industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten, read aloud descriptions of home improvement products. With hilarious results.
posted by jann (35 comments total)

(diese seiten sind ausgezeichnet)
posted by Rothko at 9:44 PM on December 1, 2005

Truly the best of the web. Thank you so very much.
posted by lumpenprole at 10:08 PM on December 1, 2005

This made me so very very happy. Thank you very much. Yippy yippy ya ya, yippy yippy YEAH!
posted by brundlefly at 10:09 PM on December 1, 2005

Awesome.
posted by kenko at 11:01 PM on December 1, 2005

That was great.

Also: I'd like industrial kids a lot more if they all dressed like that.
posted by Ian A.T. at 11:15 PM on December 1, 2005

Awe. Some.
posted by Sticherbeast at 11:26 PM on December 1, 2005

Fantastic!
posted by Eirixon at 11:54 PM on December 1, 2005

"Industrial" is loaded with so many limiting connotations these days, it's almost a shame to call them that, as valid as it is. They've always had a sense of humor--this pleases me to no end.
posted by hototogisu at 12:02 AM on December 2, 2005

That's a fun thing to watch.

I got this Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds little box set of B-sides and such, and one of my favorite songs is an early version of the hit "Where the Wild Roses Grow," but Blixa is singing the Kylie part. It's pretty great.

Blixa also sings half-lead vocals on stuff like "The Weeping Song" in the Bad Seeds. He is an ex-member now. He's a good reader of home improvement catalogs but a much better guitar abuser and composer and singer. The Einstürzende Neubauten stuff seems to get more soothing as the years go by. Maybe I'm just going deaf, but I like it more today.
posted by kenlayne at 12:33 AM on December 2, 2005

The Einstürzende Neubauten stuff seems to get more soothing as the years go by. Maybe I'm just going deaf, but I like it more today.

I think Neubauten is one of the few bands in the genre that just keep getting better, album after album.
posted by Jairus at 3:34 AM on December 2, 2005

I recommend loading all those video clips at once and letting the sound of them combine into one.

Now I want to see Einsturzende Neubauten in concert again.
posted by Hogshead at 4:41 AM on December 2, 2005

bohrwinkelkontrolle :D
posted by suni at 5:07 AM on December 2, 2005

tiefengrundbürste :D:D

thanks for this awesome find : )
posted by suni at 5:08 AM on December 2, 2005

Ehrfürchtiges! Danke.
posted by Fezboy! at 5:44 AM on December 2, 2005

genius.
posted by dabitch at 6:20 AM on December 2, 2005

wirklich, kein vergleich. danke schoen :)
posted by adzm at 6:27 AM on December 2, 2005

Also, in case anyone is wondering, the few seconds of intro music is 12305 (te Nacht), which you can find on Strategies Against Architecture III CD 1 (which is a great EN cd...)
posted by adzm at 6:30 AM on December 2, 2005

after seeing them on their last tour, I thought maybe Blixa needed to lay off the wurst a bit.

Aparently he's laughing all the way to the bank.

brilliant.
posted by djseafood at 6:44 AM on December 2, 2005

which you can find on Strategies Against Architecture III CD 1

Also on Tabula Rasa which is just fantastic all over.

I didn't like Perpetuum Mobile much though.
posted by Foosnark at 6:49 AM on December 2, 2005

Awesome stuff. Danke.
posted by klangklangston at 7:43 AM on December 2, 2005

BIG BRUSH!

Hey, what is the german for silicate paint?
posted by spicynuts at 8:17 AM on December 2, 2005

Back in the day, there was nothing quite so fun as blasting Halber Mensch at your Howard Jones-loving neighbors.
Danke, Herr Bargeld.
posted by cows of industry at 8:19 AM on December 2, 2005

..und, Danke Jann for the post.
posted by cows of industry at 8:19 AM on December 2, 2005

Hey, what is the german for silicate paint?

He's saying "Silikatfarbe".
posted by jann at 9:18 AM on December 2, 2005

lol. Das war schön. Ich habe ein Freund mit die gleichen Akzent (und ein sogar größer Bauch).

Some of Hornbach's actual ads are pretty funny:

(she will grow. With each new project)
posted by lastobelus at 10:15 AM on December 2, 2005

Yeah, I found Tabula Rasa to be much more soothing and kind of hated it for that. I think if you compare it to Strategies one, you'll see why you think the music has gotten more soothing. It broke my heart when I went to see them for the third time in the late 90's and I saw all the roadies unloading keyboards.

Bah.
posted by lumpenprole at 12:13 PM on December 2, 2005

(and for the record, the classic Bargeld/Cave vocals song is the cover of "Sand" from "Kicking Against the Pricks", IMHO)
posted by lumpenprole at 12:17 PM on December 2, 2005

fWrote that, ran out for a cup of coffee and realized I'm an idiot. Sand is on Strategies 2 and does not feature Nick Cave.

I blame the hangover.

(Still a great cover)
posted by lumpenprole at 12:28 PM on December 2, 2005

love his look.
posted by jcruelty at 12:35 PM on December 2, 2005

"Sand" is on Halber Mensch and the 12"s that preceeded it...the Strategies Against Architecture CDs are rarities and sampler compilations, not original albums.

I like them quite a lot still, even if they have mellowed out in the last decade; they've already done the "stealing shopping carts and putting microphones on them" thing, or "setting the stage on fire after the show" thing--they've earned the right to act like old guys. Their current material is suggestive and profound in ways gothed-out Blixa could never have imagined in 1979.

Plus, they dress better these days.
posted by hototogisu at 12:38 PM on December 2, 2005

Plus, they dress better these days.

Agreed. Doesn't make me enjoy the albums any more.
posted by lumpenprole at 1:39 PM on December 2, 2005

there was nothing quite so fun as blasting Halber Mensch at your Howard Jones-loving neighbors.

Good times.
posted by homunculus at 2:06 PM on December 2, 2005

"Sand" from "Kicking Against the Pricks", IMHO)

"Sand" is from Halber Mensch, no?
posted by kenko at 2:47 PM on December 2, 2005

A few more commercials.
posted by suckerpunch at 6:16 PM on December 2, 2005

Oh, you cannot possibly know how happy this made our entire household tonight...
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:32 PM on December 2, 2005