Blixa Bargeld
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| Blixa Bargeld | |
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 Bargeld performing live as part of Einstürzende Neubauten
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Hans Christian Emmerich |
| Born | January 12, 1959 |
| Origin | West Berlin, Germany |
| Genre(s) | Rock, industrial, dark ambient, experimental |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, band leader, solo artist, spoken word artist, actor |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Label(s) | Mute, EGO, Some Bizzare, Our Choice, Rough Trade |
| Associated acts | Einstürzende Neubauten Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds |
| Website | www.blixa-bargeld.com |
Blixa Bargeld (born Hans Christian Emmerich on January 12, 1959) is a composer, author, actor, singer, musician, performer and lecturer in a number of artistic fields. He is best known for his studio work and tours with the groups Einstürzende Neubauten and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
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[edit] Artistic career
In 1980, he founded the music group Einstürzende Neubauten, which has released numerous albums and singles, performed all over the world, and still exists to this day. His stage name comes from Blixa, a German brand of blue felt pen, and Bargeld, German for cash. Bargeld also refers to German Dada artist Johannes Theodor Baargeld.
From 1983 to 2003, Blixa Bargeld was a long-time guitarist and backing vocalist in Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Bargeld also sang several "co-vocals" with Cave, such as on "The Carny" and "The Weeping Song." Nick Cave first saw Bargeld performing with Einstürzende Neubauten on TV while The Birthday Party (Cave's band at the time) were touring in Amsterdam. He described the music as "mournful," Bargeld as looking "destroyed," and his screams as "a sound you would expect to hear from strangled cats or dying children."[1]
He is credited with playing guitar on the Gun Club song, "Yellow Eyes", off the 1987 album Mother Juno.[2]
Since the middle of the 90s Bargeld has appeared live with his solo Rede/Speech Performances. During these performances, usually supported by Neubauten's sound engineer Boris Wilsdorf, he works with microphones, sound effects, overdubbing with the help of sampler loops, and speaks English or German. The performed pieces include such curiosities as a vocal creation of the DNA of an angel and a parody of a techno song.
His current guitars of choice are a Fender Jaguar and a Fender Mustang, as seen on the concert DVD God Is In The House, the partner documentary No More Shall We Part, and various other media appearances. Although initially he used a highly battered Hofner Model 173 and a red Hofner Colorama II until they "broke down." After his effect pedals were stolen in the early eighties he then exclusively relied on the Fender floating/dynamic tremolo (like the Hofner units) which raise the pitch up as well as down, Fender Twin amplifiers, metal slide, and changing his amp settings for each individual song to create his unique guitar sound. [3]
[edit] Personal life
Blixa is a school dropout and he left his parents' home in the late 1970s. A 2008 documentary featured him visiting his mother and talking to her about his childhood and the relationship he had with his parents.[4]
Blixa Bargeld had a short romance with Cinema of Transgression's Lung Leg, documented in Nick Zedd's Totem of the Depraved.
He is married to Erin Zhu who is also the webmaster of http://neubauten.org and lives in San Francisco, Beijing and Berlin.[4]
[edit] Solo discography
- 1995 "Commissioned Music"
- 1996 "Die Sonne" (with Gudrun Gut and Members of the Ocean Club, album and single)
- 2000 "Recycled" (Soundtrack composed by Blixa Bargeld, arranged and directed by Tim Isfort and performed by his orchestra)
- 2001 "Elementarteilchen": Audioplay based on Michel Houellebecq's novel Les Particules élémentaires.
- 2006 "Blixa Bargeld liest Bertolt Brecht Erotische Gedichte" spoken voice recording in German of Bertolt Brecht's erotic poems
[edit] Other recordings
- 1993 "Radio Inferno" (see also: Inferno)
[edit] Filmography
- Recycled
- The Mummy (in which his only role was to make the characteristic growl of the mummy itself [5])
- Die Totale Therapie
- Die Terroristen!
- Wings of Desire (as himself, during the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds performance)
- Nihil oder Alle Zeit der Welt
- Dandy (1987, directed by Peter Sempel)
- Kalt wie Eis
- Liebeslieder (1995)
- Palast der Republik (2004)
- Halber Mensch (2005)
- On Tour with Neubauten.org (2006)
- Listen With Pain (2006)
- Blixa Bargeld: Rede / Speech DVD (2006)
[edit] References
- ^ EN: 20 ans de Nostalgie
- ^ Mother Juno album sleeve.
- ^ http://www.bendecho.de/deb9a62ce9-einstuerzende-neubauten-interview-2
- ^ a b "Mein Leben - Blixa Bargeld" (Documentary Film directed by Birgit Herdlitschke, ZDF / ARTE, Germany 2008)
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120616/trivia IMDb movie trivia
[edit] External links
- Blixa Bargeld website
- Einstürzende Neubauten official website
- Blixa Bargeld received the Qwartz d'Honneur
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