{"id":229,"date":"2009-12-10T04:20:10","date_gmt":"2009-12-10T04:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=229"},"modified":"2010-01-02T18:31:01","modified_gmt":"2010-01-02T18:31:01","slug":"nitzer-ebb-december-4-2009-gramercy-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=229","title":{"rendered":"Nitzer Ebb\/ December 4, 2009\/ Gramercy Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nDouglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A brisk and damp Friday night on Manhattan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s East 23rd Street saw a collection of die-hard industrial music fans gather outside the Blender Theater to worship one of the earliest and most eccentric pioneers in the style, the English band, Nitzer Ebb on tour to promote their new album named—what else?— \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Industrial Complex.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

Dating back to the genesis of the industrial scene around 1983, these boys present a theatrical image in keeping with their weirdly unique brand of music, complete with pseudo-Germanic and pseudo-militaristic affectations. In that sense they resemble another band from that era, Laibach, known also for counterfeit German and military affectations. One major difference is that while Laibach worked from revisionist versions of cover songs, Nitzer Ebb does mainly original material consisting of harsh, repetitive, mantra-like lyrics shouted over pitiless electronic percussion and the absence of melody. The very name, Nitzer Ebb is an enigma, evoking a kind of dismal, hard feeling, but with no particular meaning, and in fact, no consistent pronunciation.<\/p>\n

They have managed to maintain a surprisingly high profile, touring with such big names as Depeche Mode and contributing to the soundtrack of a recent horror flick, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Saw VI.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

In Nitzer Ebb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heyday, frontman Douglas McCarthy used to appear in military jodhpur pants and knee-high jackboots, but this night he greeted the New York crowd warmly in shades, a suit, white shirt and tie, and in stark contrast with the punkish bandanas, mohawks and construction-booted attire of the audience.<\/p>\n

The show opened with the rapidly paced, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Promises\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from the 1989 album \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Belief.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Next, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let Your Body Learn\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from 1987\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That Total Age,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d similar in style, followed. Dancing, gyrating and strutting around frenetically on stage seems to have kept McCarthy in superb shape.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Shame\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from the 2006 compilation \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Body of Work\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/strong> had a funkier rhythm but increased the brutality index. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lightning Man,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d too, had a sinister sound, emphasized by the hollow, deep, clangy bass-line heard on much of their music, and was livened up with a repeated jazz riff that sounded like it came from a robotic clarinet.<\/p>\n

McCarthy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s jacket came off as the performance intensified with song after song featuring their ruthlessly repetitious signature sound. The crowd seemed intoxicated with McCarthy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s angry, barking lyrics and the mesmerizing, motorized cadences. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Godhead\u00e2\u20ac\u009d had McCarthy growling to a rapid-fire swing beat.<\/p>\n

Gramercy Theater<\/strong> provided a spectacular light show throughout the hour-long concert of around 15 songs, through \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Murderous\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Control I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to the climactic closing piece, for which this band is best known, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Join In the Chant.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d After a brief intermission, they returned for two more songs climaxing with the finale, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I Give to You.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Nitzer Ebb<\/strong> certainly pleased the audience with their unique formula of maniacally repeating brutal lyrics (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lies, lies, lies, lies\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Guns, guns, guns, guns!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) over monotonous, thumping mechanical rhythms.<\/p>\n

\nAnd below is the same article as it appears in the 12-30-09 issue of The Aquarian<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Douglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb A brisk and damp Friday night on Manhattan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s East 23rd Street saw a collection of die-hard industrial music fans gather outside the Blender Theater to worship one of the earliest and most eccentric pioneers in the style, the English band, Nitzer Ebb on tour to promote their new album named—what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}