Europe Crosswise: A Litany

by Blixa Bargeld, Mark Kanak (Translator)

Rare book

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Germany

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Zeitwaise]

Eigentlich nur drei Sterne, da die Speisenfolgen der Gourmetrestaurants eher leidenschaftslos an mir vorbeigingen.
Aber die Beschreibung des Treffens mit dem großartigen Schamoni (von ihm geschrieben) hat das Buch mehr als nur aufgewertet. :'D

[Eirin]

I slowly chipped away on the English translation, picking it up occasionally and reading a few pages.

While not a tour diary, and not a complete fictional account, this book is the perfect blend of the two. I would recommend it to everyone who finds einstürzende Neubauten interesting, but also people who maybe don’t know them but would find a strange little book about going around Europe interesting.

[Richard Wagner]

I got a copy of this from the merch at their (E.Neubauten) concert at La Cigale (10/2024).
A venue of one of their few cancelled gigs, as is mentioned interestingly in the text (p.102).
They had it only in this bizarre englisch translation.

[Sheryl]

A super weird little book that appears to be one thing (tour diary) but is actually something else (meditation on the cyclical nature of time, maybe? just a guess)
Blixa's voice comes through clearly despite the translation in all it's cranky, funny brilliance. He complains about ailments and growing older and he reminiscences about the excesses of youth and mostly, most importantly, he talks about food and restaurants and art and museums and hotels and venues.
And at each stop, the litany---setlist for the tour, repeated with very few changes. It's meditative and cyclical, partly truth and partly fiction. A delightful little book.

[Robnrel]

‘𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥’

A fascinatingly structured book, written by a truly fascinating man, from one of the most fascinating bands to have ever existed. I can 1000% see why someone would find this tedious and trite, but I could talk to you for 1000 hours about why I loved it so.

[Leandro Bustince]

very thank,

[Peter]

A very enjoyable atypical tour diary. Shows how over the decades Blixa’s diet has moved from amphetamines to fine food and wine. Very entertaining observations of other diners and some of the banalities of being sat on a tour bus for weeks on end. As I’m in the process of learning German I’d love to read Kanak’s dual language Lügendetektor/Lie Detector also published by Ritter Verlag.

[CHILTONM]

Read the English translation from contra mundum which for some reason isnt on gr yet? Fascinating, very much like a neubauten song lol, circular (obviously) but fluid and pleasant to read. Thought the translation was exceptional actually too lol

[David Medina]

Me encanta la música de Blixa, pero este libro no es más que una exhibición de una vida pretenciosa y privilegiada. El libro es muy malo…

Hay que tener una cara muy dura para rellenar espacios repitiendo las mismas canciones de los conciertos página tras página. Menudo listo.

[Cristina Rodríguez]

Lo recomiendo. Blixa es un personaje fascinante y hay mucho que leer entre líneas en esta breve letanía. ¡Se hace muy corto!

[Gloomy]

"Mientras Ratzinger era proclamado papa yo estaba en una zapatería en Bolonia; el personal no se separaba de la radio, y yo me iba probando zapatos."

[Gregory Collins]

Industrial music icon eats in Michelin starred restaurants and recounts his tour’s set lists (they are all identical). Mercifully short.

[flix Krüge]

Blixa Bargeld is great at writing lyrics...