Last week I discussed the electronic music genre ‘industrial’, I spoke about bands such as Throbbing Gristle and Nine Inch Nails, both having left a huge stamp on how the genre has been shaped today. Yet another group that made a huge impact on industrial music ‘Nitzer Ebb’, founded by Bon Harris and Douglas Mccarthy in Essex, London circa 1982. Originally the duo listened to a lot of German groups such as “Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft, Die Krupps, and Malaria. And we were into groups like Bauhaus, Killing Joke, and the Birthday Party.” They played their first gig in 1983 when McCarthy was only 15, a year later their first single ‘Isn’t it funny how your body works’ was released which in my opinion still stand up to be one of their best pieces to date. Their emergence came at a strange time, in between the apparent decay of what the industrial era of the late 70s had left behind and what was to come in the late 80s and early 90s with the breakout of acid house and electronic music.
The duo was known for their use of synthesis and modulation of guitars, keys and of course analogue synths. Although I have been unable to find specific instances of where these tools were used, as a whole, they give a good idea of how the sounds of Nitzer Ebb came to be. Bon Harris has been cited in a number of articles to have been a user of Modular synthesisers, one of these being the Moog System 700. This device has an onboard sequencer which allowed Harris to get the percussive sine wave type tones which gave their music rhythm in many parts. The beefy analogue bass lines on much of their records may have been created using an Oberheim Xpander, with its thick oscillation characteristic and coarse low end.
‘Warsaw Ghetto’, off their debut full-length release contains instruments that are a staple in industrial music. Sequential synth bass lines, repetitive and aggressive drums, and angry vocals most likely about how upset they are with the government or something like that. This song is thorough in its use of synthesis to create sounds that rattle your cranium.
Nitzer Ebb's 'Warsaw Ghetto' - 1983
Interesting to read about this artist. They were certainly influential in developing the genre of industrial music through the 80s.