Laibach (band)
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Laibach_album_cover.jpg
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Controversial style
Laibach are notorious for never stepping out of character. Their releases feature artwork by the anti-Nazi artist John Heartfield, and their concerts are held as political rallies. When interviewed, they answer in wry manifestos, showing a ridiculous lust for authority. [2] (http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/laibach/bio.jhtml)
Richard Wolfson wrote of them:
Laibach's method is extremely simple, effective and horribly open to misinterpretation. First of all, they absorb the mannerisms of the enemy, adopting all the seductive trappings and symbols of state power, and then they exaggerate everything to the edge of parody... Next they turn their focus to highly charged issues — the West's fear of immigrants from Eastern Europe, the power games of the EU, the analogies between Western democracy and totalitarianism. [Wolfson, 2003]
Subversive cover versions
Letitbe_album_cover.jpg
Other notable covers include the entirety of the Beatles album Let It Be and their album Sympathy for the Devil which deconstructs the Rolling Stones song of the same name with seven different covers of the song. Opus Dei also features a cover of Queen's "One Vision" with the lyrics translated into German under the title Geburt einer Nation, starkly revealing the ambuiguity of lines like "One race one hope/One real decision". In NATO, they also memorably rework Europe's fatuous hair-metal anthem "The Final Countdown" as a Wagnerian disco epic.
Visual art
Although primarily a musical group, Laibach have sometimes worked in other media. In their early years, especially before the founding of NSK, Laibach produced several works of visual art. Probably the most historically important was MB 84 Memorandum (1984) an image of a black cross that served as a way to advertise Laibach's appearances during a period in the 1980s when the government of Yugoslavia banned the name "Laibach".[3] (http://www.artmargins.com/content/review/griffin.html)
Slovene singer and radio announcer Anja Rupel has performed with the group.
Members
- Milan Fras, vocals
- Ivan Novak
- Dejan Knez
- Ervin Markosek
- Tomaz Hostnik (died 1982)
Selected discography
- Laibach (ŠKUC/Ropot, 1985),
- Nova akropola (Cherry Red, 1985),
- Baptism (1986)
- Opus Dei (Mute Records, 1987),
- Let It Be (Mute Records, 1988),
- Sympathy for the Devil (Mute Records, 1988),
- Macbeth (Mute Records, 1990),
- Kapital (Mute Records, 1992),
- Ljubljana-Zagreb-Beograd, (The Grey Area/Mute Records, 1993)
- NATO (Mute Records, 1994),
- Jesus Christ Superstars (The Grey Area/Mute Records, 1996),
- WAT (Mute Records, 2003),
- Anthems (Mute Records, 2004, compilation).
References
- Richard Wolfson, "Warriors of weirdness" (http://www.artprojectsnetwork.net/nskdublin2004/laibach.htm), The Daily Telegraph, 4 Sep 2003.
External links
- Official web site (http://www.laibach.nsk.si/)
- The Unofficial Laibach Site (http://www.gla.ac.uk/~dc4w/laibach/laibach.html)
- Laibachkunst (http://www.artmargins.com/content/review/griffin.html) includes images of early visual artworks by Laibach and also pieces by fellow NSK members Irwin.
- The NSKSTATE (http://www.nskstate.com/) The website of the NSK.de:Laibach (Musikgruppe)
fr:Laibach (groupe) nl:Laibach pl:Laibach ru:Laibach sl:Laibach sv:Laibach