Gelb: Alien Pop Music

1. Wie lange noch? - Gelb part one - Alles schon gesungen
2. Ist Ist - Gelb part two - Coming Soon...
3. Pestalozzi - Gelb part three - Coming Soon...
4. Es könnte sein - Gelb part four - Coming Soon...
5. Before I Go - Gelb part five -  Coming Soon...
6. Isso Isso - Gelb part six - Coming Soon...
7. Besser Isses - Gelb part seven - Coming Soon...
8. Everything will be fine - Gelb part eight - Coming Soon...
9. The Pit of Language - Gelb part nine - Coming Soon...
10. Planet Umbra - Gelb part ten - Coming Soon...
11. Tar & Feathers - Gelb part eleven - Coming Soon...
12. Aus den Zeiten - Gelb part twelve - Coming Soon...
13. Ick wees nich (Noch nich) - Gelb part thirteen - Coming Soon...
14. Trilobiten - Gelb part fourteen - Coming Soon...
15. Gesundbrunnen - Gelb part fifteen - Coming Soon...

A photo of the author as a young Neubauten fan, May 2005

I have been a fan of Einstürzende Neubauten since discovering them on the AP Presents: Industrial Strength Machine Music compilation shortly after it was released in 1999. It didn’t take long before I tracked down a used copy of the 1998 Mute CD release of Ende Neu and by the time Silence Is Sexy was released in May 2000 I was devoted enough that I made sure to pre-order the special edition with the bonus disc from my local Best Buy. 

E.N. have remained for all that time, more than half of my life now, my absolutely favorite band. They consistently top my most listened to artists each year on Last.fm and currently remain at the top of my all time artist scrobbles at 14,617 scrobbles, barely edging out the Legendary Pink Dots, the other immensely prolific band I have been obsessed with since discovering them.

Following along as a supporter while Neubauten put together 2024’s Rampen (apm: alien pop music) album, I knew I’d love the music—I definitely enjoyed the previews and the live rampen or improvisations they were sharing from the last tour that would form the basis of the new tracks, but when the final title was announced I was a little underwhelmed… The subtitle “ (apm: alien pop music),” it rang to my American ears as a little shticky and didn’t settle well for me until I read the interview in the Quietus after I’d listened to the album a few times.

“At first I wasn’t sure if calling the new album RAMPEN was such a good idea,” says Bargeld, “Which is why I gave it that subtitle, "Alien Pop Music", inventing a new genre, APM. Don’t let pop music be given popularism by the majority – there is a minority pop music. Pop music for the different girls, pop music for the different boys, pop music for the aliens.” 

Wesley Doyle. “Loving The Alien: Einstürzende Neubauten Interviewed.” The Quietus, https://thequietus.com/interviews/einsturzende-neubauten-blixa-bargeld-interview-2/

Sometime over the summer of 2024 those words were still rattling around in my skull and I started to note down when a song reminded me of a track off Rampen (apm: alien pop music). Sometimes it would be some sonic quality, some quirk in the instrumentation or tone—sometimes it was a lyrical connection, or a connection in subject matter, but other times, most times perhaps, it was simply a gut feeling that there was some connection, a spider-web thread tying the tracks together in some ineffable manner.

In that spirit I am in the process of putting together 15 mixes, one for each track from Rampen (apm: alien pop music) to create a personal oeuvre of Alien Pop Music. Each mix will start with the track off Rampen and end with another track from Einstürzende Neubauten, drawn from the entire range of their career, that fits to me as of a piece with the song from Rampen. In between will be eleven songs by other artists, sometimes featuring members of E.N., that fill out the volume of Alien Pop Music.

Hopefully there will be surprises, even for other fans of Einstürzende Neubauten, and I can draw enough from the wide breadth of my musical collection to avoid anything too obvious. I am aware that there is a distinct possibility that I am the only person on the planet who will find this endeavor at all interesting, but still, I will see it through, posting a new mix every other Monday until I have exhausted the tracks. Much like my series on Nurse With Wound's Shipwreck Radio, this is something I do for myself first.