Cabaret Voltaire

ooops - a story i told on this thread 9 years ago.
but hey, at least i am consistent.

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.

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.

umm what is this you are talking about ?

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.

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.

blimey - had no idea re that 12".
Rob Gordon involvement = bet it sounds amazing.

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!

i don't think i've ever seen that video before. so good!

Cabs vs Robert Gordon : the bassline on this is very widescreen.
love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7TCR6gQKoA

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.

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.

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

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

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".

thank you i am now going to acquire that set

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!

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

just bought both of those on DVD, tyvm, the Gasoline In Your Eye DVD is part of an LP reissue of Drinking Gasoline fortunately

huh i assumed these had been totally abandoned to the vhs format so now i too have purchased both of these on dvd...........

I gotta watch Gasoline... again. Echoing Brad's enthusiasm.

xp I was pretty thrilled to discover that Doublevision in particular was on NTSC DVD

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

certain disciplines suggest that enjoying cabaret voltaire for their hooks is almost certainly missing the point of cabaret voltaire but the hooks on that record are dynamite and i love how awkward and lopsided some of the synth and drum machine loops are

is there any good writing about the cabs, i would devour it

xp yeah really menacingly off, it felt like some secret transmission when I bought it based solely on the cover art aged 17

xp out of print dammit:

https://www.amazon.com/Cabaret-Voltaire-Art-Sixth-Sense/dp/0946719039

A chapter in RE Search's Industrial Culture Handbook which is WILDLY out of print I see now.

I'll have to dig up and post my freshman year electronic music class essay on the Cabs...it's pretty bad.

But quotes (at length), both those sources.

This as well: https://www.amazon.com/Tape-Delay-Confessions-Eighties-Underground/dp/0946719020

This is the best book I've read about CV, written as a memoir by the same guy who made the 'Art Of The Sixth Sense', it's not 100% Cabs related but is a great snapshot of that little corner of the Sheffield scene.

There is a kindle version, sadly the paperback cannot be gotten for less than about £40.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Industrial-Evolution-Through-Eighties-Voltaire-ebook/dp/B005FZ1MXO/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1622711444&sr=1-3

dan, please do!

also a chapter in Tape Delay

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22650645597&cm_mmc=ggl-_-UK_Shopp_RareStandard-_-product_id=bi%3A%2022650645597-_-keyword=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw--GFBhDeARIsACH_kdbZC9wZVJe0KcHoqgIhZ77PuBEQHmU3tVQC_25rDnxNN8rFbOW_HpYaAr_YEALw_wcB#&gid=1&pid=1

lmao holy shit groovy, laidback and nasty is AMAZING

probably my most listened to cabs album these days! cabs + marshall jefferson + mark brydon, so fucking good

soooo right.... feels like maaagic

the guitar work on the early cabs records is quite... beautiful? can't be the right word

the guitar work on the early cabs records is quite... beautiful? can't be the right word

Psychedelic.

Hey Brad, just want to thank you for your enthusiasm on this thread, it’s got me going back to records I’ve not listened to for ages with fresh ears. My favourite thing about ILX is people who are passionate about things communicating that passion. <3

you're welcome! i got my doublevision and gasoline in your eye dvds today and i'm fuckin psyched to watch them!!!

utterly primo live tracks here -- I would have believed they were from '83 but it's Richard H. Kirk getting it done in 2014. If that pre-Crackdown era of the Cabs, that zeroed in paranoid sound, is your thing, rush to this link

https://berlinatonal.bandcamp.com/album/berlin-atonal-vol-3

I thought I had that record, whatever Kirk's working off, the drum and pulsing synth sounds like an old space disco record I have. I checked Universal Energy, which is another space disco record, but I don't think that's it.

Eh, wish Kirk and Mallinder would get back together. I wish Kirk wouldn't use the CV name by himself.

I wish Kirk wouldn't use the CV name by himself.

100% agree.

same here

i kind of agree, but i don't mind that he has done it.
if that makes sense.
i mean, i have no issue buying anything made by RHK irrespective of the name he attaches to the project.

damn, RIP RHK

It is with great sadness that we confirm our great & dear friend, Richard H. Kirk has passed away.
Richard was a towering creative genius who led a singular & driven path throughout his life & musical career.
We will miss him so much.
We ask that his family are given space. pic.twitter.com/Ok8u3dNx3T

— Mute (@MuteUK) September 21, 2021

oh no