STEPHEN MALLINDER, CO-FOUNDER & FRONTMAN OF CABARET VOLTAIREANNOUNCES UM DADAHIS FIRST SOLO ALBUM IN OVER 35 YEARSOUT OCTOBER 11 ON DAIS RECORDS
LISTEN TO 'WORKING (YOU ARE)'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jRabUCfE9M
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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.
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Stephen MallinderUm DadaDais RecordsOctober 11, 2019
Working (You Are)Prefix Repeat RewindIt’s Not MeUm DadaSatelliteColourFlashbackRobber*Hollow*
*CD & Digital bonus tracks
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Tuesday, 6 August 2019 15:00 (four 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, January 22, 2006
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_with_a_Glass_Hand
― sleeve, Tuesday, 6 August 2019 15:09 (four years ago) link
i like that track a lot.
― mark e, Tuesday, 6 August 2019 16:30 (four years ago) link
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.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 6 August 2019 17:24 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZSg4dHHibQ
― Maresn3st, Sunday, 23 May 2021 23:47 (two years ago) link
noice.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 24 May 2021 07:31 (two years ago) link
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.
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, 24 May 2021 10:30 (two years ago) link
I never gave that one a chance. Will relisten!
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 24 May 2021 11:14 (two years ago) link
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
― I am using your worlds, Monday, 24 May 2021 15:32 (two years ago) link
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.
― mark e, Monday, 24 May 2021 16:26 (two years ago) link
Oof yeah. This one's a real beauty. A sublime blend of CV's love for Chicago House with their own sensibilities. Much closer to Kirk's solo dance stuff but restrained, almost mystical. Looking forward to giving "The Conversation" a renewed listen next.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 07:37 (two years ago) link
“The Conversation” is another unsung ( by me! I guess I stopped my youthful Cabs love around the time I saw them open for Suicide c. 90/91) beauty. It heads back and deeper into the paranoid, gritty aspect of their sound. Again sans Mal vox but what a gorgeous and intense and sprawling album.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 11:10 (two years ago) link
Really glad I gave International Language another spin. Beautiful stuff. Plasticity had been released the year before and I was never keen on the dialogue samples on the first track (which according to a comment on Discogs is from 'My Crazy Life' Jean-Pierre Godin's 1992 documentary on the lives of Samoan street gang members in Los Angeles). The Conversation is still my go to CV listen, and Virtual State the pinnacle of Kirk’s solo work
― I am using your worlds, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 14:33 (two years ago) link
Chris Watson did an interesting talk last week.Hadn't realised he'd gone onto doing sound for a lot of David Attenborough documentaries & apparently Chernobyl which I think was the Jared Harris series. Seems like he was doing environmental recordings from pretty early on.
Do far prefer the band with him in so i tend to give up before the stuff that was really popular.
Did quite enjoy some of the solo clonk stuff by the other 2 but has been quite a while since I dug it out. think I was mainly picking up the cds from sales in Dublin which shows how long ago that was.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 26 May 2021 16:16 (two years ago) link
thanks for this revive y'all, i've been cranking early '90s CV and related kirk solo stuff all week and this is pretty much my favorite music of all time
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Thursday, 27 May 2021 12:47 (two years ago) link
Huh, International Language is on US Spotify but not Plasticity, although both were on the same label in the US, so doesn't make much sense.
― Van Halen dot Senate dot flashlight (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 27 May 2021 15:43 (two years ago) link
yeah the state of the catalogue is a mess.
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Thursday, 27 May 2021 21:50 (two years ago) link
Anyhoo I stopped listening after Code but International Language is quite good and I think I even like Groovy, Laidback and Nasty now.
― Van Halen dot Senate dot flashlight (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 28 May 2021 01:06 (two years ago) link
and I think I even like Groovy, Laidback and Nasty now.
yeah, i recently revisited this album, and loved it a lot more than i ever did at the time.and in case you don't know, the vinyl edition came with an extra 12" of CV remixes of several tracks, all of which are included on the 'Remixed' compilation.
https://www.discogs.com/Cabaret-Voltaire-Remixed/master/134525
― mark e, Friday, 28 May 2021 09:16 (two years ago) link
apropos of nothing other than i just saw it for the first time, wow "sensoria" has an amazing music video
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 28 May 2021 14:53 (two years ago) link
"sensoria" video is all time. it still looks amazing but on release was truly mindblowing. i have a vague feeling it won some award. i also remember lots of "how did they do that?" conversations, which it seems still take place - https://ask.metafilter.com/235026/How-did-they-do-the-camera-move-in-this-old-Cabaret-Voiltaire-video
i revisited Groovy, Laidback and Nasty yesterday. The bonus 12" that came with it has really stood up & there are some great remixes of the singles off it, and ace b-sides too.
i saw them on that tour. the majority of the audience were still from the long mac brigade era and when Mal bounced onto stage in a shell suit, blowing a whistle there was a palpable sense of horror from most of them. by half way through a good % had left. i loved every minute.
― stirmonster, Friday, 28 May 2021 15:04 (two years ago) link
the final disc in the 'Conform To Deform' boxset is a live recording from that tour i believe.
― mark e, Friday, 28 May 2021 15:10 (two years ago) link
oh, it's from that very gig - Liveform 8 June '90 Edinburgh. Archive 3
3-1 Intro / Runaway 3-2 Keep On 3-3 Sex, Money, Freaks 3-4 Sensoria 3-5 Thank You America 3-6 Positive ID 3-7 Whole World 3-8 Easy Life 3-9 Ride Baby Ride (Acid) 3-10 Searching 3-11 Hypnotised / Outro
i must overcome my CD aversion and check it out. I took some very strong acid that night so it is a little hazy but i do remember losing my mind (even more than i already had) to "Thank You America" and "Sensoria". i stayed up all night and then went straight back to Glasgow to sit an Economics exam and got the highest marks i ever got for an exam at univertsity. Perhaps if i'd taken loads more acid and gone to several more CV gigs i'd have ended up being an economist? ;-)
― stirmonster, Friday, 28 May 2021 15:33 (two years ago) link
haha.the mind boggles (literally in your case).and that's excellent re it being the same gig.
― mark e, Friday, 28 May 2021 16:32 (two years ago) link
An old friend and I were talking about the Sensoria video not long ago and he brought back to me that it was on the UK's Max Headroom video show, which is where I would have first become aware of CV, I'm guessing it did the same for others of a similar age. I dutifully bought Microphonies and was smitten.
Then I worked back through the more recent records until that first reissue campaign happened in the early 90s which was great because some of the older records could be pretty tough to find, and I bought Mix Up and Live YMCA (iirc) on one cassette and boy, that took a long old time to sink in.
― Maresn3st, Friday, 28 May 2021 16:44 (two years ago) link
yeah, i saw the video on Max Headroom as well, but i had already got the 12" version.Sensoria was my first introduction to them though.i was walking around my hometown when i randomly bumped into the record shop owner that i used to hang out in, he asked if there was anything I wanted him to order in.i opened that weeks NME, pointed to the Single Of the Week review of Sensoria, and asked him to get it in for me.i had no idea what it was going to sound like, but the review made me want to hear it.turned out to be one of the best randoms ever.
― mark e, Friday, 28 May 2021 16:50 (two years ago) link
ooops - a story i told on this thread 9 years ago.but hey, at least i am consistent.
― mark e, Friday, 28 May 2021 16:52 (two years ago) link
Stirmonster...how did people respond to that Mal fronted War Galaxy cover? Only discovered that recently...if they thought house era Cabs was a pop sell out that video must've given them a fit. I should include myself in "them" of course because even as young as I was in 1990 or so, I was still firmly in the "industrial cool, techno is for fools" camp.
― dan selzer, Friday, 28 May 2021 17:07 (two years ago) link
it made almost zero impact here despite getting a really big marketing push. there were big posters around city centres and lots of music press adverts. i bought mine in a chart return shop for 99p (usual price for a 12" then was probably £3-4) as the EMI sales reps were trying to hype it into the charts by offloading lots of very cheap copies. i was in the "industrial cool, acid house rules" camp so was out at loads of house clubs at that time and am pretty sure i never, ever heard it played. i can't remember there being much talk about it at all. i like it more now than i did then.
― stirmonster, Friday, 28 May 2021 17:45 (two years ago) link
umm what is this you are talking about ?
― mark e, Friday, 28 May 2021 17:46 (two years ago) link
Sensoria was my first introduction too, via that video, though i had danced to Nag Nag Nag & Just Fascination loads of times not knowing who they were by. 'Microphonies' was my first CV LP.
― stirmonster, Friday, 28 May 2021 17:49 (two years ago) link
talking about this, mark
https://www.discogs.com/Love-Street-Galaxy/master/160070
oh, and I had danced to Yashar too which was HUGE in the mid 80s discotheques.
― stirmonster, Friday, 28 May 2021 17:51 (two years ago) link
blimey - had no idea re that 12".Rob Gordon involvement = bet it sounds amazing.
― mark e, Friday, 28 May 2021 17:52 (two years ago) link
I only discovered Love Street a couple of months ago! Only seen the video and the song sounds great, seems like a great time, and yet I can't help but to giggle at the look of Mal in that video!
― dan selzer, Friday, 28 May 2021 17:58 (two years ago) link
i don't think i've ever seen that video before. so good!
― stirmonster, Friday, 28 May 2021 18:03 (two years ago) link
Cabs vs Robert Gordon : the bassline on this is very widescreen.love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7TCR6gQKoA
― mark e, Friday, 28 May 2021 18:12 (two years ago) link
They also had that New order thing of mostly having very attractive (and, therefore, easier to buy on spec) record covers esp once Brody got involved. I really liked looking at the aesthetics of photographing and manipulating video images, it was very 80s but it was really smart looking.
― Maresn3st, Friday, 28 May 2021 18:12 (two years ago) link
yeah, the Brody covers were absolutely perfect.and then it was over to tDR for a while, which again totally suited the music.the new releases may look tDR, but they are not.
― mark e, Friday, 28 May 2021 18:19 (two years ago) link
watching the gasoline in your eye tape on youtube rn. one day i want to write something that has a similar effect to what these image loops have on me, grimy, polluted inside, unearthed from a basement with thousands of other unmarked tapes, garbled transmissions, more noise than signal
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 23:08 (two years ago) link
if the drinking gasoline ep included "automotivation," "diffusion," and "slow boat to thassos" it would pretty easily be my favorite cabs release of all time.... lol..... frustrating
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 2 June 2021 00:36 (two years ago) link
Those can be found on the "Corform To Deform" set, pity it's not on Spotify. I was surprised when they put out the Virgin Years box that they didn't include the entire soundtrack on "Drinking Gasoline".
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 2 June 2021 01:09 (two years ago) link
thank you i am now going to acquire that set
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 2 June 2021 01:36 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRwaSWyfl3s
i am now watching this which is fucking goddamn amazing. they were so visually on-point. peter care! that guy did the "drive" video!
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 2 June 2021 01:40 (two years ago) link
albeit i don't think peter care did much of the doublevision vhs but he certainly directed all of gasoline in your eye and it's a visual marvel
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 2 June 2021 02:27 (two years ago) link
just bought both of those on DVD, tyvm, the Gasoline In Your Eye DVD is part of an LP reissue of Drinking Gasoline fortunately
― sleeve, Wednesday, 2 June 2021 04:30 (two years ago) link
huh i assumed these had been totally abandoned to the vhs format so now i too have purchased both of these on dvd...........
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 2 June 2021 05:05 (two years ago) link
I gotta watch Gasoline... again. Echoing Brad's enthusiasm.
― Van Halen dot Senate dot flashlight (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 2 June 2021 16:33 (two years ago) link
xp I was pretty thrilled to discover that Doublevision in particular was on NTSC DVD
― sleeve, Wednesday, 2 June 2021 16:36 (two years ago) link
oh also i've been really taken with the covenant, the sword and the arm of the lord lately. feels like their best attempt overall at that particular sound
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Thursday, 3 June 2021 03:27 (two years ago) link