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.

Agents with False Memories

For over 45 years, Richard H. Kirk made some of the most distinctive and idiosyncratic music in the so-called "electronic" genre, beginning in his teens with the embryonic Cabaret Voltaire, experimenting with primitive sequencers, processers, synthesizers, drum machines and tape along with guitar, wind instruments, bass and other more traditional instruments.  Over roughly twenty years, CV which originally included Christopher Watson, whose environmental recordings have been featured here, as well as Stephen Mallinder, who continues making great music today, evolved from harsh, uncompromising "industrial" sounds to more accessible recordings (including a brief major label period in the late 80s) to a final phase, in the first half of the Nineties, that was a balance between experimentation and accessibility.

After Mallinder moved to Australia by the mid-1990s, Kirk, who'd launched some great side projects like Sandoz and Sweet Exorcist, entered into an incredibly fertile period, including recordings under his own name and a dizzying array of aliases (Electronic Eye, Nitrogen, Orchestra Terrestrial, Dark Magus, Al-Jabr, Blacworld and a great many others that were generally one-offs for individual songs or on compilations like the fantastic Step, Write, Run double-disc of works under his Alphaphone label).

One of the more interesting of his releases during this era was 1996's Agents with False Memories, issued by Ash International, a label run by Mike Harding, co-owner, with Jon Wozencroft, of Touch, which put out many albums by Kirk and Watson.  The single, 53-minute long track might be considered a close kin to "Project 80," the mind-blowing long-form piece from Cabaret Voltaire's The Conversation (1994) that was the last album until Kirk resurrected the name and released the very strong Shadow of Fear in 2020.  In turn, they might well be descendants of his 1982 solo work, "Dead Relatives."

Agents with False Memories is a compelling wash of electronic programming and percussion accompanying a great many samples of found sounds, including an interview with Orson Welles, a visit to Kirk's hometown of Sheffield, England by an American evangelist calling forth the Holy Spirit, a quote from President George H.W. Bush, a discussion on the technical innovations of the racist 1915 film The Birth of a Nation, expositions by scientists and a great deal else.  On the heels of "Project 80," the piece is a standout in a very long career with a great deal of diversity in it.

While Ash International's description referenced the album as a soundtrack for a film of the same name by Oregon-based Guy van Stratten, this was a little joke by the label and Kirk as van Stratten was the name of a Welles character from the 1955 film, Mr. Arkadin.  Kirk was fascinated by Welles, as found, just with a couple of examples, Cabaret Voltaire's take on the theme from A Touch of Evil and Kirk's "Sons of Harry Lime" as rendered by Orchestra Terrestrial on his Intone label's Unreleased Projects, Volume 3.

Kirk's death in September 2021 at age 65 ended the incredible career of a phenomenally productive creator, who left, for those who enjoy his work, an amazing legacy spanning six decades.  The exhaustive discography concluded, just months before his passing, with the final Cabaret Voltaire albums, BN9Drone and Dekadrone, that were further explorations in long-form music.  For those with adventurous tastes in "electronic music," Kirk's many albums are worth pursuing and hearing, with Agents with False Memories a definite highlight.

Richard H. Kirk: Shadow of Fear/Dekadrone/BN9drone

This morning came the terrible news of the death, at age 65, of Richard H. Kirk, who I have listened to and admired deeply for thirty-five years.  This innovator of electronic music, beginning with Cabaret Voltaire in 1973 and including a staggeringly productive solo career, featuring many, many aliases, always put the music first and, for those who know, his body of work and his legacy is not just massive in scope and scale, but impressive in its diversity and ingenuity.

It had been planned to soon highlight on this blog Kirk's remarkable return as Cabaret Voltaire through the release through Mute Records in fall 2020 of the great album, Shadow of Fear, followed this past spring with the issuing of the drone recordings, Dekadrone and BN9drone.  This trio showed that there was no diminution of RHK's forward-thinking, yet past-respecting, talents with the recordings made, by virtue of the failure of (somewhat) newer recording equipment, with old-school technology, but sounding fresh and vital now.

For months after receiving Shadow of Fear, that album was being listened to very regularly and such tracks as "The Power (Of Their Knowledge)," "Night of the Jackal," and "Universal Energy" being particularly powerful and compelling, though the recording is strong from start to finish.  Whatever criticism Kirk received for reviving the name in 2010 without longtime collaborator Stephen Mallinder, whose tweet this morning expressed concisely that relationship between the two, he deserves eternal credit for releasing a record that built off the past while moving resolutely forward.

The Dekadrone and BN9drone albums are also really interesting offshoots of what he did in putting Shadow of Fear together and, in this pandemic environment with climate change making its visceral impact fully clear, these unsettling excursions into the netheworld of electronic manipulation are relevant soundtracks to the upheavals and uncertainties that are emblematic of these times.

Today is definitely a time to delve deeply into these sound worlds formed by a highly creative and particularly singular artist whose uncompromising devotion to his sonic architecture is deserving of so much more attention than he has received.  Since 1986, when I put CV's Drinking Gasoline EP on the turntable and then spent days trying to wrap my young head around what was being projected through the speakers, I've regularly listened, absorbed and enjoyed the unique musical vision of Richard H. Kirk, who was influenced by so many, including the masters of dub like the late Lee "Scratch" Perry, who will be featured in the next post.

Kirk lives on through his remarkable music spanning close to a half-century and let's hope that he will continue to be heard and appreciated in all his diversity, aliases, and prodigious output.

Cabaret Voltaire: Shadow of Fear

 As an admirer of this group for thirty-five years, I pre-ordered this album, the first under the name in over a quarter-century, from the great Mute Records as soon as it was announced last summer and received it just before Thanksgiving.  I wanted time to give the album several listens before highlighting it here, but Shadow of Fear has been a constant listen, especially in the last month or so.  Whatever qualms some fans have had about this being a Richard H. Kirk solo vehicle, his point that the other members, Christopher Watson and Stephen Mallinder, chose to leave and the fact that he has carefully, and very effectively, curated the band's output for many years is all that needs to be said.

As for this record, with its reliance on old equipment after a computer crash, it is both redolent of a variety of hallmarks of CV from the past (the drum machine from "Nag, Nag, Nag," or certain keyboard touches and "electro" drums from the mid-Eighties, and electronic sounds from the first half the following decade, much less the ominous voice samples tuned lower for even more of a sense of dread and mystery.)  Yet, as Kirk was clear to say in interviews, this is also forward-looking in that is new and very strong material.

Favorites here include "The Power (Of Their Knowledge)," "Night of the Jackal," and "Universal Energy," though all the pieces are excellent in their own way and the sequencing is such that the album moves smoothly from one track to the next and the variety keeps the attention locked in.  There's been a lot of comment about how the recording is apt and fitting for our COVID-19 pandemic environment, though Kirk pointed out that most of the work was done well before the outbreak and that his tendencies toward paranoiac musical musings seem more timely.

In any case, Shadow of Fear is a great album and another monument to Kirk's admirable and relentless focus on forging ahead and not dwelling too much on the past, which acknowledging antecedents in Cabaret Voltaire's long history.  He has just released a three-track EP, Shadow of Funk, and announced a pair of upcoming drone projects, Dekadrone, out on 26 March, and BN9Drone, released on 26 April and both available by pre-order now.  So, we'll see how the obviously inspired Kirk continues the retooled CV project!

Cabaret Voltaire: Red Mecca

The release last week of Shadow of Fear, the first Cabaret Voltaire album since 1994's The Conversation, has led to much discussion about whether Richard H. Kirk's decision to reassume the moniker on his own without original bassist and vocalist Stephen Mallinder is fair or reasonable.  Given that Mallinder moved to Australia in the early 90s, it seems perfectly understandable that Kirk, who has also carefully curated a number of CV archival recordings, re-releases and re-imaginings, the remarkable 2011 Johnny YesNo set being most notable with the latter, and who built a staggering portfolio of diverse released under many monikers over that roughly quarter-century, decided about a decade ago to carry the mantle once again.  The new album, pre-ordered back in August, arrived just after the release date and has been listened to many times, so it'll be featured here at some point.

Meantime, this post concerns 1981's amazing Red Mecca, released by Rough Trade and the last full recording made with Christopher Watson, before he departed for a television sound engineering job and other projects, including field recordings covered here previously, though he did appear on half of the transitional and amazing 2x45, released in spring 1982.  This third full-length, after 1979's Mix-Up and 1980's Voice of America, along with other releases, such as the very interesting Three Mantras (also from 1980), reflected a crystallizing of what the early Cabaret Voltaire did so well.  The fantastic melange of electronic and acoustic sounds, with Watson handling the Vox Continental keyboard and tapes, Mallinder on vocals and bass, along with a bit of bongos, and Kirk on synths, guitar, clarinet and other horns and strings, is a better conceived, more ordered, better performed and more richly developed package of material than the previous albums.  Everything is strong here, with favorites being the too-short "Landslide," "Red Mask," and "Black Mask."  With Watson's subsequent departure, Kirk and Mallinder wisely decided to refocus and retool the CV sound, so Red Mecca stands as the high-water mark for the first phase of this remarkable group.

Richard H. Kirk: Dasein

Released at the end of June 2017 through his Intone Productions label, Dasein is a great Richard H. Kirk album in many ways.  Recorded at intervals over a three-year period from late 2012 to late 2015, while Kirk worked on other projects, it reintroduces voice (albeit heavily treated samples of his vocalizing) and, especially, guitar, which has not been heard on any of his recordings for a long time.  These add a level of depth and richness to the music and are welcome reintroductions to his work..

The pieces are uniformly excellent, filled with the dub-influenced electronic melange that Kirk has mastered over many decades.  The titles hint at some of his usual concerns, including "Nuclear Cloud," "Radioactive Water," "Invasion Pretext," and "Sub/Antarctic/H2O," the latter appearing to have some reference to climate change (maybe).

This is a strong release from someone whose electronic music has been challenging and invigorating this listener for over thirty years and is an indication that the creative spirit is far from diminishing in Kirk's monumental body of work. 

As a sidenote, just having finished the often-difficult reading of an anthology of German philosopher Martin Heidegger, a core concern of his was the nature of dasein, or being.  So, it seemed quite a coincidence that I bought the CD last year and then followed up, unintentionally, with the purchase of the Heidegger anthology.

Sandoz: Dark Continent

After the dissolution of Cabaret Voltaire in 1994, after twenty years of some of the most adventurous and compelling electronic music around, Richard H. Kirk threw himself into a prodigious period of work, releasing many recordings under a panoply of nom de plumes.

One that he'd started in CV's last phase of work and then expanded on afterward was Sandoz, launched in 1992 and named for the Swiss pharmaceutical laboratory where LSD was developed in the late 1930s.  There have been several Sandoz releases over the years and Dark Continent, which came out in 1996 on tJon Wonzencroft's great Touch label, is a particular favorite.  The album is culled from two sessions, starting with a six-song extended play that appeared in 1993 and then another quartet of pieces recorded three years later for the CD release.

Sandoz has strong elements of African rhythm and percussion, as well as reggae and dub touches (a Sandoz album, the excellent Chant to Jah, was devoted to the latter) layered in with often lush electronic sounds.  Dark Continent is a very consistent recording in terms of the quality of the pieces which always manage to provide distinctive aural touches among the steady repetition of rhythms and beats.

In late 2016, Mute Records issued a box set of Sandoz recordings from 1992-1994 including a remastered version of Dark Continent, the original of which has long been out of print and can be hard to find.  That set and a larger collection of Kirk solo work issued at the same time provide a great overview of the work of a prolific and diverse artist using electronic musical resources to always compelling effect.

Cabaret Voltaire: The Crackdown

Once Cabaret Voltaire became a duo of Stephen Mallinder and Richard H. Kirk, after Chris Watson's 1981 departure, a notable change in the group's sound was undertaken.  While still experimental, the music also became more accessible, a development first highlighted on the half of the 1982 release, 2x45, highlighted here before.

Then, when CV, which was under contract to Some Bizarre Records, signed a distribution deal with Virgin Records, and the group headed into the studio with noted producer and engineer Flood, who became qiuckly known in the late 1970s and early 1980s for his engineering talents, working on the debut records of New Order and Ministry, for example.  Later, he became well-known for his work with U2, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, PJ Harvey, The Killers and many others.

The result was 1983's The Crackdown, a great record, recorded at the end of the previous year, that retained that edge while moving a little closer to the mainstream (but, fortunately, just a little.)  To this listener, it isn't just that the sound is cleaner, but that the layering of sounds is better put together and Mallinder's whispered vocals are largely left unprocessed and more immediately compelling.  Kirk's use of guitar, horns, and a wide array of electronic instrumentation is also more effective with Flood's obvious input--yet, the distinctiveness of CV not just remains, but is greatly enhanced.

"24-24" opens the album very effectively, with its electronic hand-claps, washes of keyboards, steady electronic drum beat, sampled voices, and other layered synthesized sounds very cleverly combined with Mallinder's menacing vocalizations.

"In the Shadows" opens with something akin to a fog horn (via Kirk's use of the Japanese shakuhachi) to establish an ambiance, but the big twist is the ethnic percussive touches, and a compelling two-note element to complement the percussion.  Mallinder's simple and repetitive three-note bassline, embellished with some variations, holds down the tune nicely.  This song is one of several that amply shows the growth in the band.

"Talking Time" opens with an echoed voice calling out "5 minutes" and there is another great mix of sounds and a steady drum pattern to keep things moving smoothly while Mallinder delivers an impressionistic lyric quite effectively, with the mantra "It's just a dream to hold you down" almost meaning something specific, but not quite.

"Animation" moves into dance territory, though in CV's own idiosyncratic way and thanks to an assist from Soft Cell's Dave Ball.  Kirk's guitar establishes a simple melodic pattern along with keyboards and that steady drum beat, while Mallinder offers another well-delivered chanted vocal and another simple, but solid, bassline.

"Over and Over" had previously been released, but this reworking is leaner, cleaner and more efficient.  Mallinder's vocal is far clearer and comes out better, as well.  That background of Kirk's distinctive melodic element on guitar is enhanced by some nice percussive touches, as well.

"Just Fascination" was the first single and it has an interesting ambiance coming out of the gate, with a kind of "spreading" synth line and a four-note repetitive keyboard pattern to define the tune.  Mallinder's lyrics are interesting and deals with closed door sexual fantasizing in a detached, clinical way--with a bit of a startling line in "If they knew, you'd shoot yourself" to highlight the shame that results in being found out.  Not the kind of lyric to indicate a hit single necessarily!

Then follows a satirical, cynical and off-beat "Why Kill Time (When You Can Kill Yourself)?", though, again, it's hard to discern a literal meaning in Mallinder's chanted lyrics.  Musically, Kirk has another strong melodic line and there is a dominant repetituve drum pattern, as well.

Ambiance takes over on the compelling "Haiti," which also appears to include more of the found voices found on 2x45.  Discordant horns, echoed keyboards, splashes of piano, and a background wash of electronic sounds create a mood that makes this piece stand out from the others on the album.

The title piece is one of the more effective on the record, with another simple bass line working well with the array of percussion elements, dub like rhythm guitar, and keyboard effects (Ball is on this song, as well) to accompany Mallinder's low-key, but menacing vocals.  Towards the end, the tension building through the piece to the distinctive melodic line on the keyboard and then rises up to an intense finish and abrasive keyboard washes ending a remarkable album.

It should be noted that Alan Fish, who toured and recorded with Cabaret Voltaire a good deal in this period, had a hand in much of the percussive effectiveness of the album.

From the first CD release back in the early days of the medium in 1984 onward, The Crackdown was augmented by four pieces that were released in other formats and all of which show the hallmarks of the earlier Cabaret Voltaire sound.

"Diskono" has a strong percussive beat, almost foreshadowing, perhaps, the coming techno and house movement, but with its strange echoed effects, Kirk's simple melodic guitar line doubled by Mallinder's bass and the latter's very processed vocals like that found in previous work.  This is a very effective tune, pre-Flood.

"Theme from Doublevision" is a haunting statement, made for the group's own video and record label, Doublevision, which was one of the first such entities for a "rock" group--the cover photo of Kirk and Mallinder with early and bulky video equipment reflects their interest in mixing their distinctive music with video presentations in a "cut up" aesthetic influenced by William S. Burroughs and others.

"Moscow" is another ambient excursion--very dark and unnerving, especially heard through headphones.  A variety of processed and found sounds, distant percussive elements, disembodied voices, cymbal washes and other effects are strangely appealing.  The influence of avant-garde music is especially obvious in tracks like these last few add-ons.

Which leads to "Badge of Evil"--this last piece sounds like it might have come out of some of the earliest Cabaret Voltaire experiments from the mid-to-late 70s.  Kirk's eerie horn lines, another basic Mallinder bass lines, a subtle five-note rhythmic line, what sounds like struck bells from time to time, and a remarkable Mallinder vocal which sounds like it was recorded in a deep, dry well, make for one of the darker ambient tunes in the band's catalog.  But, for this listener, it is a highly compelling piece.

The next album, 1984's Micro-Phonies would prove to be the "most popular" album in the lengthy and diverse CV catalog, but The Crackdown might be more complex, varied and diverse, if not as accessible and danceable.  In any case, Kirk and Mallinder's controversial (to fans of the Rough Trade era) decision to recalibrate their sound was artistically as well as (somewhat) commercially successful--something that would be much harder to try to do in the EMI years later in the 80s.

Orchestra Terrestrial: Here and Everywhere

Recorded sporadically over 2000 and the early part of 2001, this ambient release on the small underground German label, Die Stadt, by Richard H. Kirk under his Orchestra Terrestrial guise is a beautiful and beguiling work.  Kirk has stated that inspiration from classical music led him to pursue this project, which includes a 2011 followup called Umladen.

The first track, "Low Definition Alpine Drift," is a haunting tune of multi-layered electronic sound moving rhythmically but without percussion as the piece, indeed, drifts in unsettled, yet beautiful atmospheres.

"Einflug" (German for "entry" in the sense of aircraft entering and leaving an airport or airfield) does, however, have a percussive element, an echoed electronic pulse over a higher-pitched drone and a legato series of tones before a darker, more sinister drone enters in on occasion.

"Kristall" ("Crystal") has another complex multi-layered series of grouped tones and simple percussive elements at various pitches.  The piece almost takes the listener on an uncharted journey.  There is a stronger, faster sense of rhythm here for most of the piece, though there is an interlude that mainly features drones.  A flute-like melodic theme gives more buyoancy to this track than others on the recording.

"Abends" ("Evenings") is a very muted and simple piece at the outset with a dreamy six-tone theme that is echoed by a sustained tone in another track, with these repeating until a very quiet series of tones and drones comes in at about 1:30.  At about 2:30 a more direct, louder drone enters, demonstrating Kirk's knack for carefully layering sound to broaden and deepen his pieces.  At around 3:50, there seems to be a processed snippet of a symphonic classical piece that lends an ominous element.  This track is a fine counterpoint to "Kristall."

"Glitzerstrahl" (which appears to mean something like a flittering ray of light) repeats a common thematic element, laid out in a repetitive three-toned manner, with a slow descending series of tones intermingled.  Later, there are a variety of disparate elements, some light percussive sounds, drones, clustered tones and more processed orchestral snippets to break up the repetition.

In "Near Earth Object," there is more of a percussive feel here, with cymbal-like sounds, scratchy paired snare-like "taps" and others to follow drones with varying textures.  There's even a bit of guitar-type sounds in the piece and more of what appears to be those processed recordings of orchestral performances.  A nifty seven-tone thematic element is added to the mix later in the piece.

"Senses and Functions" has a four-tone percussive theme with sharp but quiet cymbal washes and louder percussive components to create a compelling and rhythmical foundation.  A sustained wash of electronic sound comes in at about 1:20 and it rises and falls continuously until another recorded snippet of symphonic music comes in and out.  A two-toned element, followed by a louder single-tone repetition and a louder, sprouting drones enter in with some percussion, another stellar example of Kirk's way of developing complex, multi-layered soundscapes.

The last track, "Uniform Spaces," is mainly an example of the highly-arpeggiated work that he further developed years later on his Richard H. Kirk and the Arpeggio 13 recording, Anonymized, also from 2011.  The various themes, rhythmic and percussive elements, and recorded snippets found elsewhere on the album are processed through that arpeggiated mix.  While it might seem out of place, this track also reminds me of what Kirk did with the experimental Cabaret Voltaire remix "C.O.M.A." in the mid-Eighties, but with different tools.

Here and Everywhere is one of the most interesting, carefully-constructed and fully-developed ambient recordings this listener considers Richard H. Kirk has done in his long and varied career.  It has been a steady favorite for nearly fifteen years.  A word should also be said about the remarkable packaging by The Designers Republic, which includes a half-dozen postcards of digital art works by Naked Art.  In dark gray, with light gray lettering, the paper gatefold sleeve elegantly echoes the music and the cards are distinctive, reflecting the care and consideration put into this remarkable recording.

Cabaret Voltaire: 2x45

In 1981, Cabaret Voltaire was on the verge of a sea change.  For seven years, the trio of Chris Watson, Stephen Mallinder and Richard H. Kirk had honed their unusual sounds of manipulated and processed sound and developed something of a cult underground following from their signing to Rough Trade Records in 1978.  This yielded a series of EPs and albums that included such early classic pieces as "Nag Nag Nag," "Do The Mussolini (Headkick)," and other otherworldly electronic works that placed them in a category all their own.

Yet, there was a feeling among the members that new directions were needed.  For Watson, this had more to do with a change in occupation, as he was hired as a sound recordist for a British television network and then later went on to do notable work recording natural environments for the BBC, as well as working in the highly-esoteric band/project, The Hafler Trio.  In more recent years, Watson, as has been covered once her, has released a series of fascinating albums, largely based on his years of nature recordings, and which challenge established definitions of what music is.

As for Kirk and Mallinder, Watson's departure gave them an opportunity for reinvention of the Cabaret Voltaire sonic pallette.  To those fans who loved the early music, their move to strip down the sound, develop more defined melodic and rhythmic ideas, and engage in less manipulation and processing of instrumentation and vocals amounted to nothing less than a commercial sell-out.

On the other hand, asking creative artists to stop growing and challenging themselves is just not realistic.  Mallinder and Kirk clearly felt they had done what they could with their earlier sound and that it was time to chart different territory.  Their first efforts, however, were transitional and are documented in the remarkable 2x45, which title speaks for itself.

Six pieces originally released on two 45 rpm discs, hence the album title, include one set done with Watson and the other with Kirk and Mallinder joined by guest musicians.  On the first trio of tracks, recorded in October 1981, the group is augmented with drummer and percussionist Alan Fish, of the group "Hula" who also toured with Kirk and Mallinder when they became a duo in 1982.  These songs include "Breathe Deep," "Yashar," and "Protection." with familiar attributes like the harsh processed vocals of Mallinder, the vox continental of Watson and the processed horns and simple spiky guitar of Kirk joined by a stronger percussive presence from Fish.

"Yashar," which was remixed into something of an underground dance hit, is tamer and more subdued on the album version, but it does contain the memorable sample from a 1950s sci-fi film asking where the 70 billion people on Earth were hiding.  The metallic percussion, Middle Eastern synth lines, and catchy bass line from Mallinder are the hallmarks of this tune.

"Protection" puts an emphasis on Kirk's squawking clarinet work, interesting vocal samples, and Mallinder's trademark menacing echoed vocals, as well as a swirl of sound effects and steady percussion from Fish.

The big change comes with the second trio of tracks, which were cut in February 1982, and featured drummer Nort and guitarist Eric Random.  "War of Nerves (T.E.S.)" starts off with a sampled explanation of a horrific form of torture, complete with the nauseated reaction of the listener on the sample, before the band moves into a relaxed and, yes, even funky groove.  Then comes another of Mallinder's disembodied and processed vocals, as more vocal samples abound and Kirk and Random offer interesting guitar textures.  This is kind of a spooky, trippy tune for a band with lots of them.

"Wait and Shuffle" begins with a strange processed vocal sample and an echoed synth form before Mallinder's two forms of simple, repetitive bass are joined by Nort's effective drumming and washes of wild guitar lines, Kir's tortured horn work, and sampled sounds complete the interesting textures.

But, the album's most interesting track is the lengthy "Get Out of My Face,"which has a hypnotic synth intro with military-like sample shouting before Mallinder comes in with one of his better bass figures and the guitars again provide notable and varied expressive textures.  Mallinder's vocals are less menacing and more whispered, though offered with plenty of echo.  The opening synth undercurrent continues, with some of an arpeggio joining in early on and more sax wailing found throughout.

There is a complexity in layering sounds on this track and the other two from the early '82 session that provide a signpost for where CV would be going, albeit in a funkier, more groove-oriented direction by the time The Crackdown was recorded in 1983 after a new deal was signed with Virgin Records and the band left Rough Trade.

2x45 is clearly a transitional record for Cabaret Voltaire, but despite the shift in personnel and the expected variances in sound, it comes across rather well as a single listening experience and was an honest attempt by Kirk and Mallinder to confront the transformation after Watson's departure.  And, they lost no time, as they moved into a phase through 1985 that saw them release some of their most interesting music, albeit to the concern of the fans of their earlier, rougher sound.

But, a change had to come and, to this longtime listener, it was a necessary and successful one.

Richard H. Kirk: Step, Write, Run: Alphaphone, Vol. 1

From 1974 to 1994, Richard H. Kirk was a member of the great electronic group Cabaret Voltaire, but he also maintained a solo career from time to time, starting with the remarkable 1978 release Disposable Half-Truths to 1983's Time High Fiction, and a pair of 1986 albums, Black Jesus Voice and Ugly Spirit. 

After his CV partner, Stephen Mallinder decamped to Australia in 1993 and a last album, the phenomenal The Conversation was released, Kirk found himself truly solo and it seemed to liberate him.  Through the 90s, he worked at a prolific pace, though once when asked how he could release so many albums, he answered in typically modest and matter-of-fact fashion that the technology made it easier.

The 90s was also the peak of the electronica/techno scene and, though Kirk did not become nearly as commercially successful as such performers as Moby, The Orbital, The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and others, he created a body of work that was highly diverse (in a world that could be immersed in a numbing sameness) and utterly distinctive.

Kirk's desire to put the music forward first and his resistance to image meant, among other things, that he employed a dizzying array of monikers for his many projects.  The most well-known of these was his Sandoz project, which began in the early 90s, with others like Electronic Eye, Nitrogen, Orchestra Terrestrial, and many more being utilized during the decade.  There were a few releases under his own name, as well, including one already highlighted here, 1994's Virtual State.

During the first part of that decade, Kirk created a label called Alphaphone that released several 12" vinyl recordings under more noms de plume.  In 1996, the Touch label, which has put out a number of Kirk-related albums over the years, issued a compilation double-disc recording titled Step, Write, Run: Alphaphone, Vol. 1.  While there haven't been subsequent volumes, this amazing album, characteristically devoid of any overt references to Kirk, reflects someone at the peak of their powers utilizing digital technology to create fascinating music.

The five aliases employed here include Papadoctrine, Multiple Transmission, International Organisation, Cold Warrior and Robots + Humanoids.  There are three tracks from the first, two for the second, one from the third, four from the fourth and three from the fifth.  Sequencing appears to have been directed towards a more techno oriented sound for the first disc and material on the second that moved in a more ambient direction.

The variety is compelling, with the Papadoctrine and Multiple Transmission material featuring the fastest material and highest bpm, somewhat akin to the 2-disc Nitrogen album, Intoxica, that also came out in 1996.  "Hybrid Energy" kicks things off with a bracing rhythm and lots of great electronic touches, including some percussive elements that keep things moving.  "Dreamreader" slows things down a bit, though there is a steady bongo and cymbal rhythm throughout most of the 10 1/2 minute piece and some recorded voices that break up the material.  "Red Menace" under the International Organisation moniker is somewhat slower and brings in some R&B touches.  A continuing Kirk motif dealing with religious preachers is emphasized in "Antichrist," a Multiple Transmission track that closes the first disc.

The second disc has more of the atmospheric sounds, samples and slower rhythms and beats mentioned above and somewhat reminiscent of Kirk's Electronic Eye work of the period.  An air of mystery pervades the opening to "Yellow Square," the first of four Cold Warrior tracks, before a repeated guitar-like riff enters and a steady drum pattern emerges, followed by another tribal percussive groove.  Another haunting opening brings in "Walk East" which, with its Indian vocal and tabla samples, takes to a stronger ambient path though supplied with a steady electronic bass drum rhythm.  The 11 1/2 minute "Witch Hunt" has a muted snare beat followed by a variety of interesting electronic sounds, some imbued with echo, and a catchy repetitive theme takes over highlighted by a bass-like element.  "Modern Art" has a flute-like opening interspersed with more spaced-out echoey electronic sounds, some of which sounds like it belongs with Cabaret Voltaire's 1992 album Plasticity.  The fastest rhythms of the disc are here, as well, with more cool percussive touches and a five-note pattern overlaid on a three-note figure on keyboards.

The Robots + Humanoids material includes "Indigo Octagon" which has a dripping water like sound and a single-note echoed figure, with a string-like background and other notable sounds over a steady snare.  Guitar-like riffs including a cool three-note one that stands out, nifty cymbal-like sounds, and more sampled singing voices make this a standout track.  "Paranoia" is probably named for its trippy opening with more echoed sounds deep in the mix and an eerie keyboard riff leading to a eight-note bass figure that sets the tone for the piece.  The closer "Moment of Truth" has a four-note opening figure that ends in silence before repeating and then joining with a higher-toned snare and an echoed three-note pattern and a three-note percussive accompaniment.  Later in the track more standout electronic figures, including that one that sounds like a higher toned violin bring the piece to a fade out.  Kirk's way of layering sounds is as well-developed on this piece as anywhere on the record.

This album probably encapsulates the diversity and variety of material that Kirk began to develop from the early 90s with Sandoz and which has largely continued to today, though he is not quite as prolific as he was in the years after Cabaret Voltaire quietly ceased working.  There are a number of great albums from his busy mid-90s period, including the aforementioned Nitrogen release, Virtual State, the Electronic Eye album, Closed Circuit, and the amazing Sandoz release, Dark Continent.

Step, Write, Run: Alphaphone, Vol. 1 is one of the great recordings in the 40-year career of a greatly underappreciated sound sculptor (Kirk has, many times, downplayed being a musician, so perhaps "sound sculptor" is more apt?)  Electronic music is often thought of as being one-dimensional, cold, and artificial, but Kirk manages in an album like this to show many facets of a form of music that can be more diverse and sensory than if often assumed with processed sound.  Let's hope he has much more to contribute from the evolving electronic palette from his Western Works Studio.

Richard H. Kirk:  Step, Write, Run: Alphaphone, Vol. 1 (Touch, 1996)

Disc One:  Papadoctrine
1.  Hybrid Energy  8:09
2.  Dreamreader  10:34
3.  Flesh Hunter  9:24

Multiple Transmission
4.  Low Load  8:22

International Organisation
5.  Red Menace  8:24

Multiple Transmission
6.   Antichrist  5:44

Disc Two:  Cold Warrior
1.  Yellow Square  7:06
2.  Walk East  9:35
3.  Witch Hunt 11:30
4.  Modern Art  8:37

Robots + Humanoids
5.  Indigo Octagon  8:10
6.  Paranoia  4:52
7.  Moment of Truth  8:50

Cabaret Voltaire: The Conversation

While such albums as Micro-Phonies, The Crackdown, and Red Mecca are usually the more acclaimed recordings from Cabaret Voltaire, YHB has always found the last album from the duo of Richard H. Kirk and Stephen Mallinder, 1994's The Conversation, to be a favorite.

Maybe this is partially because, after the debacle that was the short tenure with conglomerate EMI, CV was able to pick up the pieces and move back into an experimental stance while also going forward with a sound that looked ahead to what electronica was heading toward in the early 90s.

This was no small feat, given the Cabs were able to reinvent themselves at least three times during their lengthy career and to do so generally successfully (with the later EMI years being a notable exception.)  It does have to be noted, though, that Mallinder's involvement in the last three albums, under the duo's Plastex imprint, was considerably less than previously and The Conversation appears to be almost completely, if not entirely, Kirk's doing as there are no vocals from Mallinder, who last performed them a few albums back, though he may have had a hand in the pieces that was more subtle than previous contributions.

The double disc album is solid all the way through, from the bookmarked intro and outro of Exterminating Angel to the sharp grooves of Brutal But Clean to the smooth machine funk of Let's Start and the unusual The Message (An Original Hollywood Theme).

But, the centerpiece of this great album is the mind-blowing sound collage piece Project 80, which spans 53 minutes, but almost operates like a electronic concerto or symphony with several movements.  Washes of sound, often heavily treated with echo and other effects, sampled voices, and other sources are densely layered into a compelling mix that doesn't drag or peter out, but transforms into another "movement" and changes the dynamic of the piece.  It's hard to believe that it's been almost 20 years since this record comes out, but Project 80 never fails to impress and stands as an apt culmination to two decades of remarkable work from a truly remarkable group.

Richard Kirk's solo work really began to accelerate in the early 90s and Mallinder's move to Australia marked the end of CV or at least its suspension, though there were some unrealized plans for a 1998 return to recording and live performance. 

While Mallinder did some recording "down under" and continues to make music now in England after completing a PhD, using his music background as his field of research and writing, Kirk has made dozens of fascinating recordings under a slew of monikers, showing that he remains a highly productive and imaginative manipulator of sound.

There have been a couple of projects in which Kirk has resurrected the Cabaret Voltaire name on his own, these being remix albums for young groups, including Kora and The Tivoli, though it has been a few years since the last of these and there hasn't been any indication of new recordings utilizing the CV name.

In any case, The Conversation is an album that holds up as well to this listener as any in Cabaret Voltaire's extensive discography, even if not as well recognized as its early to mid-1980s "classics."

Cabaret Voltaire:  The Conversation (Plastex/Instinct, 1994)

Disc One:
1.  Exterminating Angel (Intro)  5:47
2.  Brutal But Clean  11:05
3.  The Message (An Original Hollywood Theme)  8:16
4.  Let's Start  8:11
5.  Night Rider  9:54
6.  I Think  8:56
7.  The Heat  7:52
8.  Harmonic Parallel  10:52

Disc Two:
1.  Project 80  53:05
2.  Exterminating Angel (Outro)  8:01

Cabaret Voltaire: Eight Crespuscule Tracks

In the long, interesting career of Cabaret Voltaire, there have been arguably several phases in the band's history.  The first, from their founding about 1973 until about 1982, has variously been labeled as "industrial," employing harsh, dissonant sounds from electronic equipment, clarinets and saxophones, bass, electric guitar, drum machines (and, occasionally, live drums), and others.  Barked or whispered vocals, often highly processed, vaguely referred to terrorist groups or mind control or authoritarianism or religious hypocrisy.  To those inclined to this claustrophobic (in a good way) presentation of a wide array of sound, these were the glory years of CV, when they were at their most experimental, confrontational, bracing and challenging.

YHB does not disagree, but also does not hold the other phases as inferior—merely different.  And, while many might argue, persuasively, that the 1981 album Red Mecca was the highlight of the era and that the 1982 record 2x45 was another high point that showed the band in transition in sound as well as lineup, as founding member Chris Watson departed, leaving Richard H. Kirk and Stephen Mallinder to carry on as a duo, there is another recording that has struck this blogger as an essential document of the so-called "early" Cabs.

This is Eight Crepuscule Tracks, a compilation released on Giant Records in the U. S. by license with the groundbreaking independent Belgian label, Les Disques du Crépuscule.  Actually, the latter company had released an EP called Three Crepuscule Tracks in 1981 and this later release takes those works and adds five others.

The centerpiece of the record are those first three pieces, known as "Sluggin' Fer Jesus (Parts One, Two and Three)."  The backbone of these recordings are radio broadcasts of evangelical preachers, most notably the late Gene Scott, who did his "work" in Los Angeles and, in later use, had his church in the old United Artists Theatre at the south end of the Broadway Theater District.  Scott's exhortations, laced with crude humor, sarcasm, threats, paranoia, and lots of other interesting psychological touchstones, are interestingly musically corollated by CV's menacing and disturbing, as well as highly appropriate, sounds.  The most memorable of Scott's meanderings might well be: "I don't want gifts tonight, I want sacrifice."

Following is a rendering of a tune that is one of the "early" Cabs' most notable, this being "Yashar."  A club version, remixed by Arthur Baker, became an underground dance hit, but this earlier rendering is pretty cool, if lesser known.

"Your Agent Man" has a simple, but catchy bass line from Mallinder, who chants his vocals as if a robot while Kirk and Watson apply various sound effects from guitar, synthesizer and other devices.

To this listener, the highlight of Eight Crepuscule Tracks is "Gut Level," which is a nine-minute workout with a funky bass line, propulsive percussion, a scratchy guitar line, echoed sax lines and other cool effects, carried along with recorded film dialogue in which one man castigates another for selling drugs to youngsters.  Someone undoubtedly knows the film from which this pinched dialogue emanates and might want to leave a clarifying comment.

"Invocation" has a haunting, repetitive theme with a muted drum machine beat, vague "found sound" voice samples, and a great synthsizer sound, as well.

Then comes the "out of left field" closer, a cover of Isaac Hayes' number one tune, "Theme from 'Shaft'," the classic blaxploitation film from 1971 starring Richard Roundtree that later spawned such sequels as "Shaft in Africa." Hearing two white English electronic artists covering a song with the lyric: "he's a black private dick / who's a sex machine / to all the chicks" and other choice lyrical offerings is hilarious and probably intentionally so, though the Cabs were avowed lovers of funk and soul.

Eight Crepuscule Tracks has been a consistent item on this blogger's CV playlist since the cassette version was acquired on the album's 1988 release and a fond recollection is of playing the "Sluggin' Fer Jesus" trilogy to a friend and coworker who was a religion major in school and did some ministry for his church in New York.  It spawned some interesting discussions in a parked car of a restaurant parking lot in 1988 and the record still resonates with this listener today.

Cabaret Voltaire:  Eight Crespuscule Tracks (Giant Records, 1988)

1.  Sluggin' Fer Jesus (Part One)  4:44
2.  Sluggin' Fer Jesus (Part Two)  3:55
3.  Fools Game—Sluggin' Fer Jesus (Part Three)  6:49
4.  Yashar  5:02
5.  Your Agent Man  2:49
6.  Gut Level  9:08
7.  Invocation  6:04
8.  Theme from "Shaft"  4:02

Richard H. Kirk: Virtual State

Kirk, a founder and main sound manipulator for the industrial/electro/techno/whatever British group, Cabaret Voltaire, has had a phenomenally active solo career, though, rather modestly, when asked how he could produce so many albums, he merely replied that the technology of computers, processors, synthsizers, and so on made it easier.

If working with electronics isn't "playing" music (though the rock musicians could easily look down on the techno guys, and the jazz people could look down on the rock dudes, and the classical performers could look down on the jazzbos, ad infinitum), there is certainly a skill involved in laying down compelling tracks of samples, keyboard riffs, drum machine rhythms, and et cetera to make a notable piece of electronic music. 

Does proficiency trump ideas? Is a studio musician as "artistically important" as someone who comes up with a great melody and/or lyric?  Is a gimmick as good as a well-structured and performed song?  Or can we apply one sensible definition of art--it's what the viewer/listener believes it is?

In any case, Kirk made his first solo record, Disposable Half-Truths for Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records label back in 1980, and followed that with several more solo records and one collaboration with vocalist Peter Hope during the ensuing decade.

By the time Cabaret Voltaire went on what appeared to be a permanent hiatus in 1994, however, Kirk had found an enormous wellspring of inspiration in the burgeoning techno/electronica/whatever scene(s) that burst forth in the later 1980s and early 1990s, spearheaded by his excellent work under the Sandoz (read: lysergic acid scientist) moniker.  With collaborator DJ Parrot, he worked on the Sweet Exorcist (read: classic Curtis Mayfield album of the early Seventies) project that issued the first full-length recording on the hometown Sheffield label, Warp, which became legendary in the electronic world.  This album also had American distribution via the eminent Chicago label Wax Trax! and the New York label TVT.

It is hard to imagine anything that Kirk has ever done, with all of his recording under innumerable aliases, that is better than 1994's "Virtual State."  From the ambient opener "November X Ray Mexico" which takes a military pilot's transmissions and leads it into an unintentional jeremiad to "fight the radio," to the sleek African percussion-driven funk of "Come," to the cooled out head trip of "The Feeling (Of Warmth and Beauty)," to the soothing and dreamlike closer, "Lagoon West," this is a record that, for those attuned to electronic music, is well-sequenced, clearly produced, and highly evocative in its use of found sound, basic synthesized instrumentation, bleeps and blurps, and the odd disembodied voice.  Plus, the artwork by the remarkable Designers Republic, championed by Cabaret Voltaire and others, is perfectly complementary to the sounds adduced by the record.

For a man with enough humility, candor and self-confidence to declare that he is not a musician but can come up with something so truly musical and enticing, Virtual State may be the best introduction to a vast catalogue that runs the gamut of electronica/techno/whatever.  Many more RHK recordings will be featured on this site and this album marks a high point among many in a 30+ year career.  It is also more commonly available than virtually (!) any other Kirk album.

Richard H. Kirk:  Virtual State (Warp, 1994)

1.  November X Ray Mexico
2.  Frequency Band
3.  Come
4.  Freezone
5.  Clandestine Transmission
6.  The Feeling (Of Warmth and Beauty)
7.  Velodrome
8.  Soul Catcher
9.  World War Three
10.  Lagoon West

Cabaret Voltaire: Drinking Gasoline/The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord

Top: the 1985 EP, Drinking Gasoline and, bottom, the album,
The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, also from 1985.

It might seem surprising to follow a post on John Coltrane with one on the electronic group Cabaret Voltaire, but, for this listener, these (and CVs Richard H. Kirk and his solo work) have been the reliable mainstays on his playlist over the last 20 years (and in the Cabs' case, 25 years.) 

The common link is a total commitment to the vision embodied in the music.  This will hold true for all of the great musicians and bands discussed in this blog, whether commercial success came or not.

The Cabs started as a true DIY trio (Kirk on guitar and wind instruments, vocalist and bassist Stephen Mallinder, and Chris Watson on a variety of electronics) in 1973 concocting dense layered processed sound, "found sound" from television, radio and other audio and video sources and barked, shouted and whispered vocals with topical references to religion, authoritarian organizations, and other modern concerns from a primitive loft studio in the decaying British steel town of Sheffield that led to a Rough Trade Records contract and several intriguing albums after 1978.  After Watson's 1981 departure, Kirk and Mallinder stripped down and cleaned up the sound into a more accessible, even danceable, one, albeit with the edge intact through a trio of albums and an EP on Virgin Records to 1985.  A brief, largely unhappy stint with a major label (EMI) in the late 1980s (though 1987s Code was played almost non-stop by YHB) was followed by a return to the earlier aesthetic, though updated in approach during the early 1990s "golden age" of IDM (so-called Intelligent Dance Music) and other forms of electronic music.

After 1994's impressive The Conversation, the group went into hiatus, while Kirk continued a staggeringly productive solo career, under his own name and an inexhaustible supply of aliases and nom-de-plumes.  Watson is a sound recordist for television and has made fascinating field recordings for Touch Records, while Mallinder occasionally made music in Australia before returning to England for a PhD and an academic career in popular culture while also continuing involvement in recording.  In the last few years, Kirk has revived Cabaret Voltaire by working, so far, with remix projects (for the New Zealand band Kora and England's The Tivoli), though he intends to do some original work, as well.

A concert review from late 1985 stirred an interest in exploring CV and led to the purchase of the 33-minute EP, Drinking Gasoline, recorded in late 1984  It took several weeks and listenings to finally "get" what the Cabs were doing, but the emphasis on the dynamics of sound over song did finally get through.  The subsequent album, The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord, from 1985, deepened the interest in the work of this influential group and its long, diverse catalog of releases, including longform videos that were among the first of their kind when they appeared in the early and mid-Eighties.

From there, CV became a clear favorite and has remained such for a quarter century.  More will be included in this blog about the Cabs and Richard H. Kirk's work.  Here is a site that probably has the most online information on CV.  The Wikipedia entry can be found here.

Drinking Gasoline

1.  Kino
2.  Sleepwalking
3.  Big Funk
4.  Ghostalk

The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord

1.  L21st
2.  I Want You
3.  Hells Home
4.  Kickback
5.  The Arm of the Lord
6.  Warm
7.  Golden Halos
8.  Motion Rotation
9.  Whip Blow
10. The Web
11. Sleepwalking (Bonus track, CD version)
12. Big Funk (Bonus track, CD version)