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Nitzer Ebb is not what Wilbur's famous talking horse used to call himself when he had a cold. (Barn door swings open. Horse with blanket wrapped around its neck says: "Helllloooo ... I'm Nitzer Ebb.")
This Nitzer Ebb is a synthesizer-driven duo from north of London that has been making dance music with unusual lyrics the last seven years.
The name, pronounced NIGHT-zer ebb, has nothing to do with talking animals. It has little to do with anything.
"We made it up," said Bon Harris, the percussionist/vocalist who makes up half the group. "We didn't like the music scene in the U.K. at the time we started (1983). We wanted a name that was more ambiguous and European-sounding."
Nitzer Ebb fit the bill. Why not an ambiguous name for a group that was obsessed with rhythmic minimalism, and whose early work featured shouting, manic dancing and stark visual images?
Nitzer Ebb, which opens for Depeche Mode Saturday and Sunday at the Great Woods Center for Performing Arts in...