Cabaret Voltaire

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Yeah, actually Dan I was just about to bring up the Mallinder album "Pow Wow" (or "Pow Wow Plus" on CD) which I recently got after seeing it in record shops for eons. I can't see any reason why it can't stand beside most Cabs stuff from the same era.

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!

The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Sunday, 26 June 2005 19:29 (eighteen years ago) link

richard kirk's solo output is VAST, esp considering half of the Cabs output is essentially Richard Kirk solo! I tried to keep up for a while but lost track. Here's my understanding, following the discographies at his site

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.

Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Sunday, 26 June 2005 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link

ok, Disposable Half Truths came out in 78, on Industrial. The 1980 date may have been for a later vinyl pressing?

Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Sunday, 26 June 2005 21:27 (eighteen years ago) link

one month passes...
Okay, so I finally got the Richard H. Kirk album that one on Industrial Records, from 1978, which I realize now you already stated on this thread. The one called "Disposable Half-Truths".

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.

The Spiderwebbed Wilderness (Bimble...), Saturday, 6 August 2005 07:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Also, it's a great album for people who want to scare the shit out of themselves in the dark at 4 am.

The Spiderwebbed Wilderness (Bimble...), Saturday, 6 August 2005 07:25 (eighteen years ago) link

five months pass...
There's 70 billion people in there ...

where are they hiding?

Duke Dubuque (Duke Dubuque), Saturday, 21 January 2006 16:54 (eighteen years ago) link

one of my faves is 'Invocation' from a Crepuscule Xmas compilation (?), and yes--Jazz the Glass!

nerve pylon (flat_of_angles), Saturday, 21 January 2006 19:52 (eighteen years ago) link

God I love it when people post to Cabaret Voltaire threads besides me. Nerve Pylon makes a good point - I haven't dug out that Crepuscule Xmas comp since I went on my big Cabs phase this past year. I should get that out right now.

Bimble drinks silver coffee when you're fast asleep (Bimble...), Sunday, 22 January 2006 06:53 (eighteen years ago) link

great comp, there's 2 slightly different versions of it. Said track, one of the the Cabs most haunting and beautiful, is also on the Cabaret Voltaire "Eight Crepuscule Tracks" CD.

Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Sunday, 22 January 2006 15:24 (eighteen years ago) link

"There's 70 billion people in there ..."

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

soukesian, Sunday, 22 January 2006 17:57 (eighteen years ago) link

Sure there are, dude, come to my house.

Oh, sorry, they're ants.

Duke Dubuque (Duke Dubuque), Sunday, 22 January 2006 18:16 (eighteen years ago) link

I actually have the 8 Crepusucle tracks CD, too, but honestly didn't listen very carefully because by that point I had been obsessed with Cabaret Voltaire for so long that I finally found a will to go on to other things.

Bimble brings a lawn chair to antartica so he can sit and drink silver coff (Bim, Sunday, 22 January 2006 18:18 (eighteen years ago) link

thanks to this thread i am rediscovering the cabs. the far away guitar line in 'animation' is pure perfection. could be a while before i shift away from this particular groove, and i haven't even got to the Sensoria 12" (one of my faves of all time). lovely lovely.

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

mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 10:46 (eighteen years ago) link

it always amazes me that 'red mecca' doesn't get more love.

stirmonster (stirmonster), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:24 (eighteen years ago) link

I haven't listened to Cabaret Voltaire in years and once upon a time it was virtually all I ever listened to!

Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:30 (eighteen years ago) link

i started at the crackdown period and didn't really go back in time other than 'voice of america' which i just didn't like at all (still dont), so i didn't dare to tread into their other historical releases. i am fully aware i like their so called 'commercial' period .. with this in mind, should i still try 'red mecca' then ?

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...

mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:32 (eighteen years ago) link

"Red Mecca" is kind of somewhere between the early stuff and the later stuff (I prefer the early records) - it's probably a bit closer to the early music. And "Western Mantra" basically is Hawkwind, isn't it?

Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:34 (eighteen years ago) link

'red mecca' is definitely in their early period sound but at the same time sounds almost nothing like 'voice of america'. i think it has aged better than any of their other albums. richard h kirk was / is a big hawkwind fan which maybe explains 'western mantra' sounding 'windish.

stirmonster (stirmonster), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Boy, I used to love Richard H. Kirk's guitar sound - he was one of my first guitar heroes!

Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:40 (eighteen years ago) link

Red Mecca doesn't sound like anything else, it's like their rock album. I used to listen to A Thousand Ways on headphones in high school over and over again.

Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 14:16 (eighteen years ago) link

Red Mecca doesn't sound like anything else, it's like their rock album. I used to listen to A Thousand Ways on headphones in high school over and over again. It and it's follow-up 2x45 have the most acoustic drumming of any Cabs releases.

Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 14:16 (eighteen years ago) link

i like the electronic drums/echoed handclaps .. tis essential to the CV sound methinks

mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 14:28 (eighteen years ago) link

after all this CV love - today i receive advise that i will be getting to hear this :

http://www.dustscience.com/FrontPage/RichardHKirk-FearProject.php

yummy yummy

mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 16:49 (eighteen years ago) link

two years pass...

look carefully at the proposed line up :

http://www.thestar.co.uk/rotherham/Antiracism-rock-festival.4279091.jp

steve mallinder has been back in the uk now for a while so obviously things are back on track.

mark e, Thursday, 17 July 2008 08:50 (fifteen years ago) link

!!!

J0hn D., Thursday, 17 July 2008 10:23 (fifteen years ago) link

i have been advised that this is not confirmed, and that in the past promoters have advertised a solo set by RHK as being a CV show.
still, seeing as Stephen is uk based there is at least a possiblilty that this is ferreal.

mark e, Thursday, 17 July 2008 10:35 (fifteen years ago) link

One of the top 5 best bands ever? I mean who the fuck cares about Kraftwerk when you've got Sensoria? Even as it is, only a tiny miniscule of their brilliance, and yet it's still probably the best music video ever made:

(The Mind Boggles)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkfzXq0tA3c

Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Saturday, 19 July 2008 08:38 (fifteen years ago) link

did I mention I'm more goth than you?

Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Saturday, 19 July 2008 08:39 (fifteen years ago) link

Well, I reckon I'm goth enough . . anyway, forgotten just how great 'Sensoria' sounds - played the 12" for weeks after it came out. It's a disgrace that I don't own all of the Cabs work on any modern format.

Consider me agog for any news on a reunion.

Soukesian, Saturday, 19 July 2008 10:27 (fifteen years ago) link

Re Disposable Half-Truths: Someone at the Princeton Record Exchange talked me into buying that cassette when I was 15. I had heard "Nag3" on Wanna Buy A Bridge? but had no conception of "industrial" music beyond that.

Fuck. Scariest music I ever heard up to that point (excluding "Revolution 9"). I remember listening to it on my Walkman as my parents drove us home through the Mercer County burbs, all the while that chant of "no fucking chance at all...no fucking chance at all..." echoing in my brain.

mike a, Sunday, 20 July 2008 01:35 (fifteen years ago) link

Bimble is most assuredly not more goth than me as real goths were disgusted with sell-out Sensoria and won't suffer any Cabs later than the Fools Game/Eddie's Out 12".

J0hn D., Sunday, 20 July 2008 04:08 (fifteen years ago) link

basically, if you can understand what Mallinder's saying and you still like it, you gotta turn in yr goth card

J0hn D., Sunday, 20 July 2008 04:09 (fifteen years ago) link

I like the early-middle period Cabaret Voltaire. Still dark and weird, but getting a little pop. Kinda like the UK electronic version of Chrome. For some reason I put them along the same lines.

burt_stanton, Sunday, 20 July 2008 04:13 (fifteen years ago) link

I can definitely hear parallels with Chrome

Soukesian, Sunday, 20 July 2008 10:18 (fifteen years ago) link

Aw yeah. Kiss my assz bitchez.

Cheers to Mike A. for mentioning "Disposable Half Truths".
You're going to make me pull that out now. And add it to my iPod.

Burt, I sent you an email the other day. Check yer spam folder if you don't see it.

Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Sunday, 20 July 2008 11:22 (fifteen years ago) link

i like three mantras and red mecca and that's all i ever felt the need for (except for 24x5 but I listen to that less, in fact, never)

akm, Sunday, 20 July 2008 14:58 (fifteen years ago) link

I think I had a problem with looped matter-of-fact phrases over noisy backup. Something about the repetition seemed ominous and creepy to me.

mike a, Sunday, 20 July 2008 17:35 (fifteen years ago) link

Love this band.

latebloomer, Sunday, 20 July 2008 23:43 (fifteen years ago) link

Has any band ever spawned more imitators, all of whom are not remembered now?

Mark G, Monday, 21 July 2008 08:14 (fifteen years ago) link

Photo finish with Throbbing Gristle

Tom D., Monday, 21 July 2008 09:12 (fifteen years ago) link

three months pass...

well following that gig i posted about a few months ago (did anyone here go along ?) it looks like the 'band' are back.
just heard that they have remixed NZ band Koras.
well, it's not really 'they', as Mal is still remaining a silent partner, it's Kirk doing the work, a la Conversation era.
i've also heard that there are to be a couple of shows with a lot of emphasis on the visuals.

mark e, Wednesday, 19 November 2008 18:20 (fifteen years ago) link

loving this declaration on the cd-r label : "forged in sheffield"

mark e, Monday, 24 November 2008 11:27 (fifteen years ago) link

is there any way one can get said cd-r

J0hn D., Monday, 24 November 2008 11:38 (fifteen years ago) link

attention any Cabs fans past or present btw, this is incredible: http://goatsend.blogspot.com/2008/08/cabaret-voltaire-rock-city-nottingham.html

J0hn D., Monday, 24 November 2008 14:21 (fifteen years ago) link

one month passes...

What in god's name is better than this? WHAT?
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OBFvNPckqSE&hl=en&fs=1";></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OBFvNPckqSE&hl=en&fs=1"; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

With Oatmeal Sauce (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Thursday, 1 January 2009 22:03 (fifteen years ago) link

With Oatmeal Sauce (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Thursday, 1 January 2009 22:03 (fifteen years ago) link

"Over And Over" is the name of the song. What in the hell in this world is better than that? Please let me know.

With Oatmeal Sauce (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Thursday, 1 January 2009 22:04 (fifteen years ago) link

dan selzer, Thursday, 1 January 2009 23:27 (fifteen years ago) link

DAN! Thank you!!!

With Oatmeal Sauce (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Thursday, 1 January 2009 23:33 (fifteen years ago) link

It's all about the drummer's mullet, btw.

With Oatmeal Sauce (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Friday, 2 January 2009 02:50 (fifteen years ago) link

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.

mark e, Friday, 14 July 2023 18:00 (nine months ago) link

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”

dan selzer, Friday, 14 July 2023 18:21 (nine months ago) link

Cabaret Voltaire's Postcode: NG7 7EW

Gerard Grisey Funk (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 14 July 2023 18:28 (nine months ago) link

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 £££.

mark e, Friday, 14 July 2023 18:32 (nine months ago) link

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

mark e, Friday, 14 July 2023 18:34 (nine months ago) link

Cabaret Voltaire's Postcode: NG7 7EW

lol.

Here's the mix with the sample:

ah! memory mix-up!

stirmonster, Saturday, 15 July 2023 07:45 (nine months ago) link

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

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

out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Saturday, 15 July 2023 23:45 (nine months ago) link

that set is so good!

J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 16 July 2023 02:23 (nine months ago) link

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), Sunday, 16 July 2023 03:45 (nine months ago) link

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

I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 16 July 2023 03:46 (nine months ago) link

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.

mark e, Sunday, 16 July 2023 11:03 (nine months ago) link

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

SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Sunday, 16 July 2023 12:15 (nine months ago) link

Dasein is great.

dan selzer, Sunday, 16 July 2023 12:44 (nine months ago) link

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?

Gerard Grisey Funk (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 16 July 2023 15:10 (nine months ago) link

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

stirmonster, Sunday, 16 July 2023 16:37 (nine months ago) link

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

mark e, Sunday, 16 July 2023 21:41 (nine months ago) link


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