Beate Bartel

With a career built on decades of pushing -- and sometimes breaking -- the boundaries of punk, electronic, and industrial music, Beate Bartel is one of Germany's most dynamic and enduring experimental artists. Born in West Berlin, Bartel worked as a sound engineer for the city's public broadcasting service, Sender Freies Berlin, before forming the all-female punk band Mania D in 1979 with Karin Luner, Eva Gössling, Bettina Köster, and <a href="spotify:artist:1T48eW2iZNOo834wEdlopV">Gudrun Gut</a>. She was also a founding member of <a href="spotify:artist:7KomCxZv6D5qCVvefwMnwB">Einstürzende Neubauten</a>, and played bass at the group's first show in 1980. When Luner and Gössling settled in America, the remaining members of Mania D splintered: in 1981, <a href="spotify:artist:1T48eW2iZNOo834wEdlopV">Gut</a> and Köster formed <a href="spotify:artist:1QrqFxy3w6rk4IlVyoycI6">Malaria!</a>, while Bartel collaborated with former <a href="spotify:artist:4KtyUYo9zaM9YggIVc7uxx">Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft</a> member Chrislo Haas. The duo released a series of limited C-10 cassettes as CHBB and then added vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:4jjg465IkKz5YcMCdf4ora">Krishna Goineau</a> to become <a href="spotify:artist:67Ae8At3iU8xCN9nw5ozwN">Liaisons Dangereuses</a>. Though they only released a self-titled album and the 1982 single "Los Niños del Parque," their electronic post-punk experiments had a major influence on Berlin's music scene for years to come. Later in the decade, Bartel collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:1T48eW2iZNOo834wEdlopV">Gut</a> and her <a href="spotify:artist:1QrqFxy3w6rk4IlVyoycI6">Malaria!</a> bandmate Manon P. Duursma as the experimental audio-visual band Matador, who ultimately released a trio of albums (1987's A Touch Beyond Canned Love, 1990's Sun, and 1991's Ecoute). Bartel continued to expand her horizons and roster of collaborators as time went on, working with <a href="spotify:artist:4UXJsSlnKd7ltsrHebV79Q">Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds</a> drummer <a href="spotify:artist:2QhTLWaElWhSCXfpSduTan">Thomas Wydler</a> on 2007's Soulsheriff and 2012's On the Mat and Off, and remixing artists such as <a href="spotify:artist:40iKYyFmPPLIR03JnqBGq5">S.Y.P.H.</a> and Fatal Casualties. She also appeared on albums by spoken word artist <a href="spotify:artist:1Hyu4UbL6dXI1DptxCjWQD">Myra Davies</a>, including 2008's Cities and Girls and 2017's Sirens. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi