Cabaret Voltaire: Plasticity

This one, a 2-LP vinyl set, was bought just after its October 1992 release at a Portland, Oregon record store and, a few years removed from Groovy, Laid-Back and Nasty, with the 44-minute EP Colours and Body and Soul as precursors that found CV trying to rebound from that strange 1990 relic, Plasticity was a welcome move into a new (and final) phase for Cabaret Voltaire. 

Released on the Plastex label set up by Stephen Mallinder and Richard H. Kirk after their EMI debacle, the recording was the first of three releases, followed by International Language (1993) and a personal favorite, The Conversation (1994), in which the music was all-instrumental.  While it has been said that Mallinder still had an active role, it sounds like Kirk exercised more control over these albums.  They can also be compared to such projects as Sandoz and Electronic Eye from that era.

In any case, a favorite CV track, "Low Cool," opens the record with a sample of Los Angeles gang members casually talking about the violence and nihilism of their world. "Soul Vine (70 Billion People)" took found sound from the 1981 underground dance floor hit, "Yashar," while "Inside the Electronic Revolution" is a highlight, as is "Neuron Factory."  More ambient tunes like "Resonator" and "Deep Time" nicely provide alternates to the flow of the album, while "Soulenoid (Scream at the Right Time)" hits the sample peak with an eerie and unsettling series of female screams to end a fascinating record.

The CD version omits "Brazilia" and "UFO" erasing almost 13 minutes from the double vinyl version and a planned 60-minute video was shelved because of financial concerns, but, despite this, Plasticity rates high among the mammoth CV catalog and showed the Kirk and Mallinder were able to find redemption and relevancy after a significant bump in the long road of their 20-year career.  The duo managed to stay abreast of changes in electronic music, while keeping the core of what made them so great going back nearly two decades, including abundant sampling, unnerving ambience and potent up-tempo elements.