Cabaret Voltaire

has anyone heard the Sandoz stuff? i listened briefly to the latest one (on SoulJazz) in the rekkid store and thought it was pretty hip (real dubbed out stuff). is it worth searching down?

the steven mallinder solo record is quite sparse and nice. i don't much like his stuff now (he lives in perth!)

ugh, more soon, i have to dress my kid...

covenant sword and the arm of the lord, the singles on rough trade, the bbc radio sessions, crackdown, micro-phonies, yashar (tho not the new mixes), sensoria, crepescule tracks, actually, there's loads of good uns

One of Richard H. Kirk's projects with DJ Parrot, under the name 'Sweet Exorcist', is quite special. A merging of two very unusual talents. Look hard for an ep called 'Clonk's Coming' on Warp.

I liked Hypnotised off Groovy Laidback and Nasty when it came out. I remember A Guy Called Gerald did a remix of it.

Going from Sheffield to Perth is kind of an extreme life change I would think.

Recordings not on Rough Trade or Some Bizzare, I don't care for. I can't dance, not in time with the music, anyway.

and colin: he was once a kind of hero of mine so i don't want to say to much about mallinder i'm just not excited by the records.

(NB this was a band whom I worshipped in high school, so the standard exceptions apply, etc)

I'm still on a CV trip. Got around to listening to the 3rd CD of the "Conform To Deform" 3-CD set, this one being an Edinburgh gig from 1990 and I was really impressed. Most live gigs are either a bit too rough or a bit too rote and controlled, I think, but they pulled it off with grace. And it's interesting how tuneful the vocals suddenly got on their material then.

"Seconds Too Late"

"Don't Argue" (Sherwood mix)

And a lot of Hai!.

I thought you knew your Cabaret Voltaire!

sorry.

favorites?

Is that the version of Don't Argue with the women singing "no no no no no, better watch yourself boy?" If so, put that on my list.

My faves:

Breathe Deep
Yashar (John Robie Re-production)
Invocation
Diskono
A Thousand Ways
Red Mask
Motion Rotation
Animation
Talk Over
The Set Up
Silent Command
Nag Nag Nag
Jazz The Glass
KNEEL TO THE BOSS!!!!
Sensoria
Trust in the Lord

for starters...

and I really love Richard H. Kirk's Virtual State, which doesn't get enough love.

I thought you knew your Cabaret Voltaire!

Uh, Ian was right. It's Eastern Mantra, not Easter. Looks like you and I both should brush up on our Cabs, Dan! :)

As for faves, I'd probably pick Code, Sex Money Freaks, Just Fascination, and Shakedown. But there are so damn many others, too!

the second time.

the first time was what we call a "typo".

The Living Legends is just a shit-hot compilation all around, even if I've heard half of it before. Much better collection of songs than that Original Sound of Sheffield 78-82 thing.

"Jazz The Glass" is about twice as good as I thought they were even capable of.

"A Thousand Ways" is also very good.

Anyone tried any Kirk stuff? Did he have solo stuff out then? I'm becoming such a fiend I'm even thinking of getting the silly Methodology mid-70's stuff, which I know I won't like most of, but that song "The Single" is so hilarious. I don't know how they even managed to record that without falling into fits of laughter in the process!

http://www.thegreedyeye.com/

His first release was Disposable Half Truths in 1980, was that on Industrial? Did Industrial still exist, I think he had something on Industrial. I've never heard this.

Then in 83 he put out Time High Fiction, which has similar art processing to the Crackdown but it more raw and experimental if I remember. It's supposed to come with a second record featuring 2 20 minutes songs but my copy had 2 copies of the LP! This is prob. the same time the Crackdown came out with the bonus ep(which, if you're unfortunate enough to have only found the single vinyl Crackdown, you need to get, because it is AWESOME.)

In 1986 he put out two records, one I have on vinyl, the other I downloaded. Ugly Spirit is raw, low-fi, industrial, perhaps closest to the Crepuscule period stuff. Black Jesus Voice however is a totally killer electro record. Great avant-hip-hop/breakdance stuff.

His next stuff would be the Sweet Exorcist records, which is listed on that site as a collaboration. I forget with home. Pretty essential early UK Bleep techno.

1993 I was a freshman in college and he started going crazy. First with 2 great techno CDs. I don't know which one was first. Sandoz was initially his "ethno-techno" project, songs built around african samples and such, and I remember loving the Digital Lifeforms CD, though I lost it ages ago. It's been reissued w/ bonus stuff. Then his first release as Kirk since 86 was his entry into the Warp Artificial Intelligence series, Virtual State. It fits in nicely with the surrounding records of the series, Aphex Twin as Polygon Window, Black Dog Productions, B12 etc. It's an exceptionally warm and beautiful techno record, when the idea of techno as music not made for dancing was an exciting idea. One of my favorite records of the period.

Around that time, he was using the Cabaret Voltaire name for mostly really long sample based ambient stuff that I never got that into. Then he started releasing stuff under a million names and I lost track. Recently he got more into some hard digital dub kinds of stuff, some of which sounded way cool. Nick Gutterbreakz writes about him a lot:

http://gutterbreakz.blogspot.com/

check the archives.

I have the 3CD cabs disk, but not the solo Kirk one, Earlier/Later.

And I was truly transported into an alternate reality. BEYOND anything Cabaret Voltaire have ever done. Beyond anything Cabaret Voltaire-related, even. I felt like I had been drafted into the movie "2001" and time was moving backwards at a very fast rate. This was NOT Kansas anymore, ladies and gentlemen.

I love that sped-up sample of the woman's voice, too where she keeps saying, in chipmunk fashion "no fucking chance at all...no fucking chance at all..." That is hilarious.

where are they hiding?

Love to know the origin of this sample - always puzzled me, as there aren't 70 billion people anywhere.

Oh, sorry, they're ants.

almost makes me regret getting rid of 'groovy laid back and nasty'. almost.

xpost : it has been years since i was in the mood for their funk, but today its not going to be anything else but - i just know it...

I think the good pre-crackdown stuff is the best stuff, but there's a lot of it that's far from easy listening. The Virgin era stuff sounds so great, but I hate to admit it that I think some of is kind of repetitions, I mean yeah we dig repetition, but sometimes it sounds like it should be a pop song...and the closest they get to pop in the Virgin years (Animation from Crackdown, Motion Rotation from Arm of the Lord) is some of my favorites.

Some of my least favorite stuff was the last few years where it seems like Kirk was saving his more interesting stuff from solo/Sandoz type projects, which were funky and dancey, while the Cab Voltaire albums were more ambient techno-y.

I don't care what anyone says, I will have "Partially Submerged" played at my funeral.

Where's the rest of this I wonder?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkL7bBE7azY

The best of the early Cabs is all their singles from 78-82. You can get a sampler of them on the "#7885 Electropunk to Technopop" comp or go deeper with "The Living Legends" and "The Golden Moments" which collect even more from the era.

Living Legends is great

I like all the eras I've heard which is up to about 87ish but Code was probably my least favourite album. not that hot on the really early stuff (74-76) that's on the Methodology comp either tbh

as an On-U fan,
i love the CODE era.
the 12" versions are fantastic.

as i said earlier, the whole CV thing is very convoluted.

Thanks for clarifying y'all.

"Seconds Too Late" b/w "Control Addict" is the only release I own (and love) but never really ventured too far from that. I remember some of the later 80s stuff not being to my tastes but as I admitted upthread, this is a bit of a blindspot for me. I'll start poking my head around.

Perhaps then The Living Legends and Red Mecca are be good starting points.

if you decide to get Red Mecca, then be careful re the pressing you pick up ..

Cabaret Voltaire (Taylor's Version) 🤘

Listen to Cabs: https://t.co/EyIIKp4i5N

Reference (and backstory of this little clip): https://t.co/0bP6im1Mta pic.twitter.com/Q5HOG9ymqQ

— Mute (@MuteUK) July 13, 2023

omg

I didn't realize it went both ways, lol

i would love this to be revealed as a massive viral thing cos TS has discovered the brilliance of the Cabs ..

cabertaytay voltaire

lol I did not spell that right AT ALL

In case you're wondering...

https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lw2kduusdT1qedb29o1_1280.jpg

i believe that tik tok with red mecca is what is called a 'joke'

tom d : yeah, sorry, i have no idea what thats referring to ..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Or_So_It_Seems

ta for the pointer.
never heard of that, life pre internet.

xxxp booooo I want to believe

as per earlier.
i loved the CODE era.
some of the 12" versions of that era were so good.
this is a perfect example where they got it spot on re major label big budget vs old school CV juddering synths + vocals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3CM2zaQMho

from the comments on that tweet someone has done a mashup of Nag Nag Nag + All Too Well by Taylor Swift https://www.dailyreckless.com/2023/07/12/cabaret-voltaylor/

thats rather good.

my fave CODE era remix is this one where François Kevorkian and Adrian Sherwood collide and head off into outer space xtc (around the 4 minute mark is where it really takes off, or rather spaces right out). The original promo had an added sample from 'Blue Velvet' of Dennis Hopper shouting Don't You Fucking Look At Me! but i guess EMI's legal dept made them drop that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fax2gN6ADP0

Cabaret Voltayre

xp daaaaaaamn

my fave CODE era remix is this one where François Kevorkian and Adrian Sherwood collide and head off into outer space xtc (around the 4 minute mark is where it really takes off, or rather spaces right out). The original promo had an added sample from 'Blue Velvet' of Dennis Hopper shouting Don't You Fucking Look At Me! but i guess EMI's legal dept made them drop that.

i knew it was going to be that mix.
of course it's £££ on discogs via the cd single, and unavailable via digital outlets.
there have been rumours re a proper reissue of CODE.
i'm hoping for a proper expanded edition with all the remixes ..

That's a great mix! I'm one of the "Virgin era is prime" fans (Drinking Gasoline!), but I've never spent the time on the post Arm of the Lord era that I really should.

CODE is great of course (biassed me !? surely not),
Groovy Laid Back is different, and not a CV album that gets a lot of love, however, the CV remixes of the GLB&N tracks that came with the extra 12" are much better (all of them are included on the brilliant 'Remixed' compilation).
The Conversation is ambient-techno with very little involvement from SM, but very good if you like that kind of thing.
And that's where i stepped away until the recent 'revival' of the name, which was effectively RHK in solo mode.

Here's the mix with the sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLtA1R2DUfU

yeah, i thought i had a mix with the sample on it.
that mix is also included on the Remixed compilation.
'Remixed' + 'The Original Sound of Sheffield 83-87' : both are brilliant entry points to this era.

I really like some of the post code pre ambient club tracks that really just sound like solo sandoz sweet exorcist Kirk tracks with the occasional interjection from Mal saying something like “Colours…colors”

Cabaret Voltaire's Postcode: NG7 7EW

dont get me wrong, i absolutely love RHK 'solo' stuff.
but for some reason i gave up re CV after 'The Conversation'.
suspect it was mainly due to the scarcity of finding the cd editions, and now they are £££.

i did manage to find this in the bins once though, which is basically an album and includes his SE cohort Parrot :

https://www.discogs.com/release/34719-Cabaret-Voltaire-Percussion-Force

Cabaret Voltaire's Postcode: NG7 7EW

lol.

Here's the mix with the sample:

ah! memory mix-up!

by the way noted poster JCLC posted this amazing Crackdown-era Dutch radio set on FB:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCJGRGQ8uq0

that set is so good!

but for some reason i gave up re CV after 'The Conversation'.
suspect it was mainly due to the scarcity of finding the cd editions, and now they are £££.

the only ones after that are the modern albums, are those actually OOP? I see them on vinyl all the time

(those albuums don't do a whole lot for me, I think I gave shadow of fear and dekadrone each one listen)

but for some reason i gave up re CV after 'The Conversation'.
suspect it was mainly due to the scarcity of finding the cd editions, and now they are £££.

the only ones after that are the modern albums, are those actually OOP? I see them on vinyl all the time

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm)

ooops. i got the chronology incorrect.

i missed out on 'body and soul', 'plasticity', and 'international language' as i never saw them out in the real world, but i did pick up 'the conversation'.

as for the recent albums, i really loved 'shadow of fear', and the 'shadow of funk' ep.
i got the two drone albums of course, but its not often i'm in the mood for them.
actually the best CV like release for me by RHK, was his last 'solo' album, Dasein.

Mallinder's recent solo album (not Wrangler) is really excellent.

Dasein is great.

Am i correct in thinking those early 90s albums (which are not that compelling) are more or less Kirk solo albums? If so, was there some falling out between Mallinder and Kirk?

i think Plasticity is pretty good but does feel more like a RHK solo album, despite some Mallinder involvement.

suspect i would love all of the RHK/CV releases now given how much i have succumbed to the RHK solo thing.
also, there are the 2 CV releases that seem to have been forgotten about.
once RHK had the name, he made 2 remix albums using the CV brand.
tDR did the art, and amrik 'fon records' rai sorted out the logistics.
personally, i love both remix albums as they definitely have the CV sound via the juddering synths.

https://www.discogs.com/master/244139-Kora-Cabaret-Voltaire-Kora-Kora-Kora-The-Cabaret-Voltaire-Versions

https://www.discogs.com/release/2306312-The-Tivoli-Vs-Cabaret-Voltaire-National-Service-Rewind