Who are BLITZKIDS mvt.? To answer this we'll need to throw a glance back in time to New York at the end of the seventies. Do you remember the time, when people fell in love with an extra-terrestrial?His name was Klaus Nomi.
A gay, german opera singer who, vested like a character from The Wizard of Oz, bedazzled the world with avant-garde strangeness. People were amazed, as if he came from another world - from Planet Nomi.
He was someone who had travelled down to earth to entertain the children of the night. It is then no coincidence that BLITZKIDS mvt´s singer also carries the name "Nomi". A homage? A toehold. An inspiration.
Her face also dons the same white make-up, her posture is straight, her countenance proud. She could be his sister. Notice her eyes - pretty alien! And what about a little smile? Nope, we'll leave that to Lady What's-Her-Name.
For Nomi, BLITZKIDS mvt. isn't about posing, it's about composure. And if Nomi fell from the same star as Klaus then BLITZKIDS mvt. is her cultural stomping ground. The home of the extra-terrestrials!Whereas elsewhere in the pop world it seems paramount to incessantly flash one's bleached hair and white teeth, the Blitzkids have sworn to disperse of the knick-knacks - this is not a place for disguises.
Quite the opposite, in fact. The masks are to make the essence even more visible. You what? Another example: Ever heard of the fashion designer, Gareth Pugh? The guy with the inflatable latex arms? Another one of these aliens from Planet Nomi… Through intense contrasts and ingenious ideas he achieves a form of fashion which isn't just an outfit, it is a performance.
A perfect parallel to how BLITZKIDS mvt. music isn't about following a trend or copying what is currently in vogue, but rather about achieving something new and fascinating, something magical. Both use stark contrasts, be it in fashion or music.
Black and white. Like a beat, which pulses and pushes the music forwards with electrical surges. It's not only about design. It's not only about music. It's about a battle between light and shadow. And that, that is the essence.
The idea of melting pop music, performance and attitude has survived the eighties and is still to be found here.Kraftwerk, Spandau Ballett, Steve Strange, Boy George, Vivienne Westwood – these were the first generation of the Blitzkids.
These were a bunch of then young kids who found their musical home in a London club called Blitz. Some named them the "New Romantics", a counter-movement to the punk scene. But whilst punk was out to destroy the system, the "New Romantics" aimed to re-shape it, to alter the shapes which already stood.
BLITZKIDS mvt. are out for the kill in 2011. One of their songs, "Blinded", gives us an insight into the inner-workings of the alien's minds. Maybe it's intentional that this song isn't about seeing, but rather about being blind.
Maybe we need to re-learn how to see and hear. Or maybe the time has simply come to fall in love with extra-terrestrials, and to finally dance once more, as if nobody was watching. Klaus Nomi once said: "It really is beautiful to be magical!" And who knows, maybe he'd have found some of his relatives in BLITZKIDS mvt.
, who, just like he, came down from another planet to entertain the children of the night.
