nitzer ebb Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Nitzer Ebb “That Total Age”

sfilzen — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 19:54:40 +0000

Nitzer Ebb “That Total Age” 1987. I am in a *mood* today and I finally have this on vinyl (and I’m pretty sure an original issue) – I first got a copy in ’87 on cassette (which I still have), and then on CD sometime in the 90’s. It remains one of my favorite releases from that era. It is relentless, dark and angry EBM industrial dance. That Total Age was Nitzer Ebb’s debut album. I’m not sure if the LP charted but the single “Join in the Chant” went to #9 on the US dance chart in ’87; it’s one of my favorites on the album – the lyric “muscle and hate” floats into my brain more often than you’d think. Another lyrical line “To the left! To the left!” leads off the track “Violent Playground,” another top pick though not released as a single. The other singles that were released, “Let Your Body Learn” and “Murderous” are also fantastic. The tracks are repetitive but they are supposed to be – that’s the nature of EBM: throbbing, hardcore and hypnotic, a way to turn off the brain but absolutely not fall asleep or go comatose, rather a heightened awareness but dulling of the senses. When we saw them perform in 2021 I danced about 3 miles worth of steps, emerging a blissed-out sweaty mess. I also saw them play back in the summer of ’90 when they toured with Depeche Mode but I didn’t have a fitness tracker then (they literally didn’t exist) but I’m guessing it was a similar experience.

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Nitzer Ebb “That Total Age”

sfilzen — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 19:03:08 +0000

Nitzer Ebb “That Total Age” 1987. Not on vinyl, but on ALL the other formats: I bought the cassette in ‘87 (and listened to it incessantly that year), picked up the CD sometime in the 90′s or early 2000′s, and am currently streaming it on Spotify (my tape player will probably munch the cassette and I don’t have a CD player readily accessible). Last night we got to see Nitzer Ebb play at Turner Hall here in Milwaukee – it was insane!! I danced non-stop for almost 2 hours (logging in over 10,000 steps and 2 cardio workouts on my FitBit 😅). The last time I saw them was over 30 years ago, in the summer of ‘90 when they toured with Depeche Mode – the bands are/were good friends and continued to work together on tours and recording for years after. Nitzer Ebb’s Bon Harris and Douglas McCarthy look older; I suppose I do, too.

Relentlessly pounding EBM/industrial dance, That Total Age was Nitzer Ebb’s debut album. The single “Join in the Chant” hit #9 on the US dance charts and the crowd went insane last night when they performed it.

Join in the Chant

Join in the Chant (2)

They also played “Murderous” and “Let Your Body Learn” (two of my favorites and both also released as singles ), plus a hilarious ballad version of “Violent Playground” and “Alarm” as part of the encore. While not on That Total Age, Nitzer Ebb also played “Hearts and Minds” (we have that 12″ single on vinyl). Another top pick from the album is the opener “Fitness to Purpose.” My original cassette has the track “Warsaw Ghetto” which was not included on the originally released CD’s (mine doesn’t have it) but that track does appear on the 2018 reissue.

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Die Krupps with Nitzer Ebb “The Machineries of Joy”

sfilzen — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 16:38:06 +0000

Die Krupps with Nitzer Ebb “The Machineries of Joy” 1989. 12″ EP/Maxi-Single. Side A has two mixes of “The Machineries of Joy” – the Wahre-Arbeit Mix and the Die Krupps Mix. Side B has a third mix, the True Work Mix, and “Join the Rhythm of Machines,” which is pretty much yet another mix of “The Machineries of Joy.”

Industrial dance, synth and metallic percussion, mashed up by the German industrial metal band Die Krupps and the gothy British electro-industrial EBM group Nitzer Ebb (whose founders initially clicked by their shared interest in “witchcraft, talking to trees and collecting runestones”). The mixes of “The Machineries of Joy” are themselves covers of Die Krupps’ 1981 single “Wahre Arbeit Wahrer Lohn;” my favorite mix is the “True Work Mix.” All highly hypnotic and violently danceable.

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Nitzer Ebb “Hearts & Minds (Limited Edition, Mix Subsonic)”

sfilzen — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 15:09:51 +0000

Nitzer Ebb “Hearts & Minds (Limited Edition, Mix Subsonic)” 1988/1989. 12″ single. Mute Records. B-side “For Fun (LP version)” and “Time Slips By (PK Mix).”

“Hearts and Minds” and “For Fun” appear on Nitzer Ebb’s second LP “Belief.” The remix of “Time Slips By” feels cold and Bauhaus-esque, the rhythm an unrelenting beat of the clock, counting down the minutes left in your miserable life. Cold and aggressive, Nitzer Ebb are masters of industrial dance music. Find the reason for your bleak and desperate existence on the dance floor.

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