Cabaret Voltaire

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78514287@N07/7029535761/

God damn it.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6106/7029535761_e9443685ef.jpg
Western Works by StephenMal

NAG NAG NAG

well, just ordered the emi/virgin era boxset from vice friendly hipster based charity shop.

f*ckers better be on board with their 'nearly new description.

back on track : how massive is the 12" version of 'crackdown' ?

for years now, people have loved/sampled human league/mode et al for their 80s thing, but no-one seems to have picked up on the brilliance of this era

xpost : u know for years my all time jim'll fix it wish was to visit 'western works', whereas now, i suspect its just some laptop in RHKs kitchen.

which means that i guess its too late for RHK to get his payday, which is a real shame as this is easily my fave era of CV.

humph-sulk-humph.

Are the early lps getting a remaster at any point? Or have I missed that happening over the last couple of years. Love the music but wish I could hear it better.
Think I kind of cut off somewhere around '83. But love the earlier 3 piece stuff. Not so fond of them when they went primarily dancey though I did enjoy some of the later solo stuff.

me and stevolende walk a different path.

as (s)he leaves, i enter the picture

i love all that early doors drum machine, synth + bass thing they had going on.

oh and re the early days material - as far as i know, mute have re-released it all on cd.

go a hunting ...

I was in a band called Sensoria, that's how much credence we gave to it. Fkn love the Cabs.

But dancing to NAG NAG NAG at another ILXor's wedding.. damn.

^^^

the first 12" i truly went 'oh my f*ckin' god, what is that ... ' to.

never heard it prior to buying it

.. just read the nme review while walking around, at the same time i bumped into record store guy as i read the review who asked if i wanted anything, i pointed to the review and said 'get me that in asap'

the rest is history.

if ever one review changed a life forever, then this was it.

no more indie loving c86 styled shyte for me .. twas all funked up juddering machine noise.

the fact that very little has ever come close to that 12" version of 'sensoria' means little, as the quest continues ..

f*ck. xpost.

just to clarify : my crappy diatribe relates to the sensoria 12", not nag nag nag.

man does anybody know where the dialogue sample in "Gut Level" comes from? Have wondered for years.

Agreed. What a record. xpost

ha, Sensoria for me & my friends was this HUGE embarrassment. We thought the Cabs were total genius, wrote that interlinking CV logo on desks & walls, and the guys at the record store weren't having it & then the new import single comes in and they condescend to playing it in the store for us. We got clowned. "Oh, yeah, you guys, this is fantastic, really deep shit." I like disco-era Cabs better now than I did then but to us at the time the rhythmic quasi-melodic non-ugly vocal style, the movement away from tight dubby atmospheres, was a betrayal of promise

i'm assuming 'gut level' is pre-virgn era ?

in which case, you're going to have to go deep and ask the mailing list nerds ..

actually, i can do that for you ... was just trying to add some euro-styled drama to the proceedings ..

xpopst : sensoria = embarrassmet.

the mind is well and truly boggled. i have put headphones on, and blast that mofo. its shits all over the lo-fi shit that ilm underlines as the 'proper' CV era.

'ok, tis time for me to cut out as the 12" version of 'i want you' has hit the 'phones, and its quite clear this stuff rules my world and i no longer care about my kids.

f*ck !

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Covenant-Sword-Arm-Lord/dp/B00004XNLC/ref=sr_1_17?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1336257799&sr=1-17

the mind is well and truly boggled. i have put headphones on, and blast that mofo. its shits all over the lo-fi shit that ilm underlines as the 'proper' CV era.

I don't think it's ilm that does that, just saddo Cabs fans like me - there are maybe 4 of us. General consensus on pre-Some Bizaree Cabs is that it hasn't aged well, I think, and that seems true some days and less true on others. I'm listening to the Nottingham live '82 tape that circulates now though...it's just...so much better than the banging dance tracks they ended up making. Which are fine, and banging, and if they hadn't made them, somebody else would have, because they're just not that distinctive, at least not next to the weird electro-dub stuff they got going around Red Mecca.

Wait - "Sensoria" was later. That seemed a little better. I'm thinking of the first single from the Some Bizarre era - Crackdown backed with This Fascination. There was a story in either NME or Melody Maker at the time that I read after that let's-listen in the record store, and the first line of it was "The Cabs fan was horrified." It was accurate in our small circle of 2.

fair enough.

u see i think in the mid-80s and onwards, richard-n-mal had a cool groove going on with their machines that i genuinely think no-one else had.

i listen to the early days stuff and to be honest, it does nothing for me.

i drop the 12" of 'crackdown' era and all becomes clear

1st single from virgin era = crackdown/fascination 12" in '83

and its rather good.

not sensoria 12" good, of course, but nothing is ....

Wait... what Virgin/EMI box set?

Oh, do you mean "Conform To Deform"?

All three of the Virgin albums and Code are supposed to be remastered and reissued this year though, right? So that pricing on the Covenant CD is probably nothing much to worry about...?

John Robie is the main man to blame/praise for CV going dance in '83, btw. Although, I'm sure he would think the dance era of CV would be crap too.

Code was my intro to Cabaret Voltaire, so the '84-'87 CV is distinctive to me. But nobody was doing the '74-'83 CV at all. It was the transitional "2 X 45" that's the best CV in retrospect.

boxset = conform to deform

and yes, i've heard that they are to remaster the whole virgin set this year as well.

But what of the Rough Trade material? Surely the truly classic stuff, the more other the better. Think the Mute cds are early 90s aren't they?

I don't know whether I'm grooving hard to this because I'm pinin' for them days ov my youth or w/e, it's not like these are really the freshest beats in the whole world, in fact they sound quite dated to me but anyway if you love Stephen Mallinder you might get something out of this. BTW old dudes wtf with the clown costumes.

http://www.cityclouds.de/2012/10/hey-rube-can-you-hear-me-mutha/

I played a show last week with Mal's other band Wrangler..Much more musically in common with CV than Hey Rube..

They played Crackdown and Sensoria as well as this version of Nag Nag Nag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcTpbf7Om-Q

We played a cover of Seconds Too Late..

wow.
that was ace.
ta for the pointer.

So the details on the Virgin years boxset are finally available. Gotta say, I'm a bit disappointed that the video-only Gasoline In Your Eye tracks aren't included on the CD itself. Also missing is "Empty Walls", the b-side of "Just Fascination".

CD
1. Micro-Phonies
Do Right
The Operative
Digital Rasta
Spies In The Wires
Theme From Earthshaker
James Brown
Slammer
Blue Heat
Sensoria

2. Drinking Gasoline
Kino
Sleepwalking
Big Funk
Ghost Talk

3. The Crackdown + EP
24-24
In The Shadows
Talking Time
Animation
Over And Over
Just Fascination
Why Kill Time (When You Can Kill Yourself)
Haiti
Crackdown
Diskono
Theme From Doublevision
Moscow
Badge Of Evil

4. The Covenant, The Sword And The Arm Of The Lord
L21ST
I Want You
Hells Home
Kickback
The Arm Of The Lord
Warm
Golden Halos
Motion Rotation
Whip Blow
The Web

5. Cabaret Voltaire 83-85 12" As and Bs
Just Fascination (12'' Version)
Crackdown (12)
The Dream Ticket (12'' Version)
Sensoria (12'' Version)
James Brown (12'' Version)
I Want You (12'' Version)
Safety Zone (12'' Version)
Cut The Damn Camera (12'' Version)
Bad Self Pt.1 (12'' Version)
Drink Your Poison (12'' Version)
COMA (12'' Version)

6. Earthshaker
Earthshaker 5
Earthshaker 1
Theme From Earthshaker (Sheffield Mix)
Digital Rasta (Dub Version)
Earthshaker 3
Whip Blow (Instrumental Dub)
James Brown (Instrumental)
Golden Halos (Instrumental Dub)
Earthshaker 2
Cut The Damn Camera (Sheffield Mix)
Do Right (Cut Up Mix)
Earthshaker 4

DVD
7. DVD1
Bedford Boys Club 18.08.84
Intro
Crackdown
Sensoria
Just Fascination
Safety Zone
Ghost Talk
Digital Rasta
Kino
Do right
Hammersmith Palais 02.12.84
Mao Intro
Animation
Big Funk
Sensoria
Digital Rasta
Japno
Ghost Talk
Sleepwalking
Kino
Do Right

8. DVD2.
Gasoline In Your Eye
Introduction
Crackdown
Diffusion
Sleepwalking
Slow Boat To Thassos
Sensoria
Automotivation
Big Funk
Kino
Ghostalk
Fadeout

DVD Extras
Just Fascination 7” Mix
Sensoria 7” Mix
I Want You 7” Mix
I Want You 12” Mix

think i may skip this.

i have the cds (and vinyl) , the original sound of sheffield comp, the deform boxset (which i have yet to dive into actually !)

which just about covers the virgin era.

ok, there is matter of the remastering, but to be honest, i have no problem with the virgin era cds.

there is of course 'earthshaker' and 'gasoline' ep, lets just hope that gets a separate release at some point.

You haven't spun the Conform box you ordered over a year ago? Get to it, man!

You're also missing the "Listen Up" odds and sods comp of the Virgin years. Definitely the least of the material but the high points are excellent.

playing live again http://incubate.org/2015/line-up/368/cabaret-voltaire

Still no news on the early material getting a similar treatment to Red Mecca or at least a remaster of some kind?

can't get behind the notion that Kirk solo = CV personally.

for those that remember, Fon Records bloke, Amrik Rai is behind the release, and getting RHK back in line with the use of the CV name.
the use of cut-up vocals and synths is very much in line with mid-80s CV, but the overall production is a lot more current sounding.
naturally, i love it

r.i.p. amrik.
you genuinely changed my listening groove.
oh, and KRUSH was one of the best pop songs ever.

many years back i actually had an email exchange with amrik.
it was one of those WTF moments given how massive FON were for me.

I'm intrigued. Youtube link(s)?

intrigued re what, Amriks death or FON records ?

https://www.discogs.com/label/4664-Fon-Records

STEPHEN MALLINDER, CO-FOUNDER & FRONTMAN OF CABARET VOLTAIRE
ANNOUNCES UM DADA
HIS FIRST SOLO ALBUM IN OVER 35 YEARS
OUT OCTOBER 11 ON DAIS RECORDS

LISTEN TO 'WORKING (YOU ARE)'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jRabUCfE9M

http://gallery.mailchimp.com/a088e1e7fb68010cf6ad8ff4a/images/b6e6d1b8-8944-4e67-8a9d-269ce6015897.jpg

Stephen Mallinder, co-founder and frontman of the iconic Cabaret Voltaire, has returned with his first solo album in over 35 years: Um Dada. Laced with leftfield house and cut-up sound collages, Um Dada is a melding of energies that are an exercise in simplicity and motion. Sincere, playful realism that beckons your body to move, always reminding you to never take yourself too seriously without forfeiting your agency.

While steering Cabaret Voltaire through the 1980’s, Mallinder was already busy piecing together his first solo album entitled “Pow Wow”, which would help define Mallinder’s interest in the more leftfield electro sounds shaping England at the time. It was this diverse and abstract hybrid that helped inspire generations of artists and musicians through steeping raw machine funk within the whimsical and absurdist ideology.

Since the release of “Pow Wow” in 1982, Mallinder continued his pioneering work with Cabaret Voltaire, as well as recording and touring with his electro projects Wrangler, Creep Show, Hey Rube, Kula, and Cobby & Mallinder. In addition to his non-stop schedule in electronic music, his professional life as a journalist, broadcaster, producer and now a professor of Digital Music & Sound Art at the University of Brighton, has lead Mallinder to a unique point in his career. Most in his position would be caught up in rosy retrospection, but Mallinder himself says, “There’s too much digital finger-licking right now; every thought and desire at the turn of a dial… well a click of the mouse. And there’s a giddy, false nostalgia about the analogue past. Sorry to burst your bubble but the truth of history is more mundane: practical, pragmatic...Um Dada is about ‘play’ – cut and paste, lost words, twisted presets, voice collage, simple sounds – things that have been lost to technology’s current determinism. Let the machines talk to each other, let them dance .. they lead, we follow.”

Um Dada opens up with the exact machine-led surrealism that Mallinder recommends in “Working (You Are)”. A thick, stripped back dance floor groove provides the ideal foundation for Mallinder’s eccentric vocal cuts. The frisky chops present an almost twisted irony, subtly bringing to mind the role we’re all forced to play as just another cog in the ever grinding capitalist machine of life. Yet, somehow, the listener is left feeling optimistic. A prime example of simplicity at work.

Tracks such as “Satellite” give a skillful illustration of Mallinder’s adeptness with his musical expertise while preserving his core historical context as only simple reference. The underlying bassline and percussion, coupled with the floating melodies and airy vocal refrain disclose the vulnerabilities of love and loss without a hint of irony or nostalgia.

Um Dada is mischievously idealist, however never loses touch with reality. Offering structure while simultaneously dismantling any and all preconceptions. The spirit of sincerity that sustained Cabaret Voltaire’s lengthy career is abundantly present within founder Stephen Mallinder’s journey through his own whimsical utopian consciousness and staking claim to an identity that is solely his own.

http://gallery.mailchimp.com/a088e1e7fb68010cf6ad8ff4a/_compresseds/79a11e0e-e3f2-4b5a-9ade-bbac6cf1a27a.jpg-

Stephen Mallinder
Um Dada
Dais Records
October 11, 2019

Working (You Are)
Prefix Repeat Rewind
It’s Not Me
Um Dada
Satellite
Colour
Flashback
Robber*
Hollow*

*CD & Digital bonus tracks

"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, January 22, 2006

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

i like that track a lot.

I love Stephen's work with Wrangler and Creep Show, and I think most fans of the Cab's Virgin period will, too. His solo album, "Pow Wow", was unknown to me for eons until I picked it up a couple of years ago. It fits in perfectly with the "2x45" era material.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZSg4dHHibQ

noice.

I have really warmed to their 1993 album International Languagewhich to me feels like their delayed reaction to Chill Out -- it's pretty distinctive in their catalogue, with soft, plush sounds and pillowy textures on e.g. the drums -- not so different that you don't recognize them, but audibly in a different place -- kind of a more inward version of a band who'd been writing for the clubs a couple years earlier. I've spent a fair bit of time with this album over the past year and become fascinated by it -- tons of really engaging space in it, the tracks are leisurely and unhurried, sprawling almost.

I never gave that one a chance. Will relisten!

I’ll give it a re listen too. In my mind it’s a lesser version of The Conversation but the Chill Out comparison intrigues me

never seen a copy, so not got around to getting that album yet.

as much as i enjoyed last years album and the follow on ep, i have to admit the 2 recent drone releases didn't exactly do much for me.