Nitzer Ebb

Live at The EchoPlex

in Los Angeles, CA

November 9th, 2010

Nitzer Ebb are one of the bands that I hold most responsible for my love of electronic music in general. They pioneered the EBM movement when I was still in High School and was listening to lots of different genres but after encountering these guys, my entire outlook on music and the genres I delved into changed.

Nitzer Ebb are legends in the underground music scene and fittingly so. Combining a minimalistic yet powerful electronic music style with a unique vocal delivery and a post-punk attitude filled with aggression and social commentary, they immediately became a force to be reckoned with in the mid-eighties music scene.

Necessarily put on a level with other founders of the world of modern industrial music such as Ministry, Skinny Puppy, and KMFDM, they also stand out from these other acts in many ways, most notably the vocal talent of Douglas McCarthy, the voice behind Nitzer Ebb.

The pounding percussion and synths that are their other notable trademark, thanks to Bon Harris, put them into dance clubs that didn't even play this style of underground music at that time, solely due to the irresistible urge to move the body to those beats.

Anthems such as "Murderous" and especially "Join In The Chant" rallied the youth of that time and gave them a war chant to sing along with. Albums since their debut cemented that even further with "Control, I'm Here", "Without Belief", and "Blood Money" taking on corruption and religion.

They covered yet more unexplored territory with songs that went beyond commentary but told stories that strangely gripped the listener while they visualized a wide assortment of scenarios in songs such as "Lightning Man".

It has been at least fifteen years since I saw Nitzer Ebb last here in Los Angeles and that was an enormous affair at the House of Blues. I was really surprised when I found out Nitzer Ebb was playing just two days before this show and also surprised by the venue.

I have never been to the EchoPlex and it turned out to be a small and intimate place with a difficult to find entrance. The crowd was small, even for this size venue and I wondered why such legends were choosing to play smaller venues like this with limited publicity for the event.

Regardless of the venue or size of crowd, Nitzer Ebb were simply awesome live. Douglas absolutely still has it in terms of vocal talent and stage presence. A lot of the songs take on different meaning watching him make expressions or hand motions to emphasize the words. In fact, for a few older songs, I think I finally figured out what he was talking about for the first time.

Bon Harris handled percussion duties, split between typical drum pads and also a more complex looking percussive synth that he used large padded mallets for. They also had an additional drummer, Jason Payne, who played a hybrid kit consisting of conventional drums, digital drum pads, and sample triggers.

Nitzer Ebb released their first album in fifteen years on this very day called "Industrial Complex" so the set also comprised a number of new songs which were really good live. All the new material stood up to the old stuff in quality and consistency and mixed in perfectly.

One new song that really stood out was "On The Road", the chorus was really impressive and the audience bonded with it instantly despite it being unfamiliar to most of the crowd. There were several other songs off the new album that were also instant classics.

The set was awesomely packed with songs but even so, when the time came for them to end the set (with "Control, I'm Here") no one was ready to go home. The crowd chanted "Join In The Chant" until they came out and treated the audience to their request.

They immediately went into my favorite song of the set, "I Give To You". This song was so well done, the chorus so powerful.  I was really not ready to go even when the DJ came back on and the lights came up. This was a really good show.

Despite them not focusing on stage show or on costumes, this was even better because the attention was solely on the awesome music. A good portion of the set was enjoyable nostalgia but the other part was exciting new material so I was really impressed.

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