Cabaret Voltaire

has anyone heard the Sandoz stuff? i listened briefly to the latest one (on SoulJazz) in the rekkid store and thought it was pretty hip (real dubbed out stuff). is it worth searching down?

the steven mallinder solo record is quite sparse and nice. i don't much like his stuff now (he lives in perth!)

ugh, more soon, i have to dress my kid...

covenant sword and the arm of the lord, the singles on rough trade, the bbc radio sessions, crackdown, micro-phonies, yashar (tho not the new mixes), sensoria, crepescule tracks, actually, there's loads of good uns

One of Richard H. Kirk's projects with DJ Parrot, under the name 'Sweet Exorcist', is quite special. A merging of two very unusual talents. Look hard for an ep called 'Clonk's Coming' on Warp.

I liked Hypnotised off Groovy Laidback and Nasty when it came out. I remember A Guy Called Gerald did a remix of it.

Going from Sheffield to Perth is kind of an extreme life change I would think.

Recordings not on Rough Trade or Some Bizzare, I don't care for. I can't dance, not in time with the music, anyway.

and colin: he was once a kind of hero of mine so i don't want to say to much about mallinder i'm just not excited by the records.

(NB this was a band whom I worshipped in high school, so the standard exceptions apply, etc)

I'm still on a CV trip. Got around to listening to the 3rd CD of the "Conform To Deform" 3-CD set, this one being an Edinburgh gig from 1990 and I was really impressed. Most live gigs are either a bit too rough or a bit too rote and controlled, I think, but they pulled it off with grace. And it's interesting how tuneful the vocals suddenly got on their material then.

"Seconds Too Late"

"Don't Argue" (Sherwood mix)

And a lot of Hai!.

I thought you knew your Cabaret Voltaire!

sorry.

favorites?

Is that the version of Don't Argue with the women singing "no no no no no, better watch yourself boy?" If so, put that on my list.

My faves:

Breathe Deep
Yashar (John Robie Re-production)
Invocation
Diskono
A Thousand Ways
Red Mask
Motion Rotation
Animation
Talk Over
The Set Up
Silent Command
Nag Nag Nag
Jazz The Glass
KNEEL TO THE BOSS!!!!
Sensoria
Trust in the Lord

for starters...

and I really love Richard H. Kirk's Virtual State, which doesn't get enough love.

I thought you knew your Cabaret Voltaire!

Uh, Ian was right. It's Eastern Mantra, not Easter. Looks like you and I both should brush up on our Cabs, Dan! :)

As for faves, I'd probably pick Code, Sex Money Freaks, Just Fascination, and Shakedown. But there are so damn many others, too!

the second time.

the first time was what we call a "typo".

The Living Legends is just a shit-hot compilation all around, even if I've heard half of it before. Much better collection of songs than that Original Sound of Sheffield 78-82 thing.

"Jazz The Glass" is about twice as good as I thought they were even capable of.

"A Thousand Ways" is also very good.

Anyone tried any Kirk stuff? Did he have solo stuff out then? I'm becoming such a fiend I'm even thinking of getting the silly Methodology mid-70's stuff, which I know I won't like most of, but that song "The Single" is so hilarious. I don't know how they even managed to record that without falling into fits of laughter in the process!

http://www.thegreedyeye.com/

His first release was Disposable Half Truths in 1980, was that on Industrial? Did Industrial still exist, I think he had something on Industrial. I've never heard this.

Then in 83 he put out Time High Fiction, which has similar art processing to the Crackdown but it more raw and experimental if I remember. It's supposed to come with a second record featuring 2 20 minutes songs but my copy had 2 copies of the LP! This is prob. the same time the Crackdown came out with the bonus ep(which, if you're unfortunate enough to have only found the single vinyl Crackdown, you need to get, because it is AWESOME.)

In 1986 he put out two records, one I have on vinyl, the other I downloaded. Ugly Spirit is raw, low-fi, industrial, perhaps closest to the Crepuscule period stuff. Black Jesus Voice however is a totally killer electro record. Great avant-hip-hop/breakdance stuff.

His next stuff would be the Sweet Exorcist records, which is listed on that site as a collaboration. I forget with home. Pretty essential early UK Bleep techno.

1993 I was a freshman in college and he started going crazy. First with 2 great techno CDs. I don't know which one was first. Sandoz was initially his "ethno-techno" project, songs built around african samples and such, and I remember loving the Digital Lifeforms CD, though I lost it ages ago. It's been reissued w/ bonus stuff. Then his first release as Kirk since 86 was his entry into the Warp Artificial Intelligence series, Virtual State. It fits in nicely with the surrounding records of the series, Aphex Twin as Polygon Window, Black Dog Productions, B12 etc. It's an exceptionally warm and beautiful techno record, when the idea of techno as music not made for dancing was an exciting idea. One of my favorite records of the period.

Around that time, he was using the Cabaret Voltaire name for mostly really long sample based ambient stuff that I never got that into. Then he started releasing stuff under a million names and I lost track. Recently he got more into some hard digital dub kinds of stuff, some of which sounded way cool. Nick Gutterbreakz writes about him a lot:

http://gutterbreakz.blogspot.com/

check the archives.

I have the 3CD cabs disk, but not the solo Kirk one, Earlier/Later.

And I was truly transported into an alternate reality. BEYOND anything Cabaret Voltaire have ever done. Beyond anything Cabaret Voltaire-related, even. I felt like I had been drafted into the movie "2001" and time was moving backwards at a very fast rate. This was NOT Kansas anymore, ladies and gentlemen.

I love that sped-up sample of the woman's voice, too where she keeps saying, in chipmunk fashion "no fucking chance at all...no fucking chance at all..." That is hilarious.

where are they hiding?

Love to know the origin of this sample - always puzzled me, as there aren't 70 billion people anywhere.

Oh, sorry, they're ants.

almost makes me regret getting rid of 'groovy laid back and nasty'. almost.

xpost : it has been years since i was in the mood for their funk, but today its not going to be anything else but - i just know it...

Dasein is great.

Am i correct in thinking those early 90s albums (which are not that compelling) are more or less Kirk solo albums? If so, was there some falling out between Mallinder and Kirk?

i think Plasticity is pretty good but does feel more like a RHK solo album, despite some Mallinder involvement.

suspect i would love all of the RHK/CV releases now given how much i have succumbed to the RHK solo thing.
also, there are the 2 CV releases that seem to have been forgotten about.
once RHK had the name, he made 2 remix albums using the CV brand.
tDR did the art, and amrik 'fon records' rai sorted out the logistics.
personally, i love both remix albums as they definitely have the CV sound via the juddering synths.

https://www.discogs.com/master/244139-Kora-Cabaret-Voltaire-Kora-Kora-Kora-The-Cabaret-Voltaire-Versions

https://www.discogs.com/release/2306312-The-Tivoli-Vs-Cabaret-Voltaire-National-Service-Rewind

‘Yes, there was a riot, but it was great’: Cabaret Voltaire on violent gigs, nuclear noise – and returning to mark 50 years

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/02/cabaret-voltaire-riot-returning-attenborough-chernobyl

Cabaret Voltaire play at Forge Warehouse, Sheffield, 25 October, then tour the UK from 17 to 21 November. Tickets on sale 10am 6 June

Thank you random Guardian article for introducing me to the wonder that is Groovy, Laidback and Nasty

Cabs doing full-on Detroit acid house is something I didn't realise how much I needed in my life

that was def them immersing themselves in the american house of the time, but they had deeper stuff more relevant to the UK bleep techno that's even better, the Colours EP but more significantly all of Richard H Kirk's pioneering stuff as Sweet Exorcist and Sandoz.

Even more fun Mal's Love Street collaboration covering War's Galaxy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUbLuL3oGAs

If you ever wanted to see Mal in long shorts, here's your chance.

Coincidentally once tried to segue from the original into "Seconds Too Late," stitching together the android vox in both songs, and it didn't turn out well (but was at least amusing).

Wow that video is so specifically 1988 that it just abseiled into the BBC to protest Section 28

Two comments. Where's the rest of this show and what's with Chris Watson's tie?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkL7bBE7azY

one comment. WHERE'S THE REST OF THIS SHOW.

wowww

Note Chris Watson using an EMS Synthi Hi-Fli to process the keyboards. Dave Gilmour had one of those too.

https://whatgear-pictures.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/occurrences/david_gilmour_uses_ems_synthi_hi_fli_1_f8e0343ad9.jpg

a minute fourteen ha wow that is just cruel and also very true to the version of Cabaret Voltaire I still keep in my head & heart, the unknowable fragmentary Cabaret Voltaire

Sonic Boom was a fan of those as well. I imagine he would be no matter what it sounded like.

A Certain Ratio!

Cabaret Voltaire Takeover
6 Music's Forever Dark

Stephen Mallinder from Cabaret Voltaire guest curates an hour of his Forever Dark favourites. Expect a chilling hour with music from Coil, Gazelle Twin, Nico and Penelope Trappes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002j6w0

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002k59b

Freak Zone Playlist this time. no crossover that i can see.

Jesus, I could have made that playlist!

Anyone going to the shows?

yes

Enjoy!

Me too

Please report back!

this guy has a few videos from they're gig in Sheffield last night, here's a couple:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuBp841Hco8
Do Right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcAuRTKqySk
Nag Nag Nag

they're their ffs

I know someone who was at the gig, said it was fabulous.

wow he's bringing out the pre-Some Bizarre "Nag Nag Nag"! fantastic

whooshing headlong through space, pure hawkwind vibes

but what kind of drum machine did they use for it? ;)

haha indeed!

but what kind of drum machine did they use for it? ;)

― sleeve,

proper lol'd.
my FB timeline when i woke up this morning was full of clips from the gig from various folks i am connected to.
which was both brilliant and really f$cking annoying as it just made me regret not cashing my pension pot to go see them.

Wonder if they did Do Right *and* Sensoria, that's bold

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/cabaret-voltaire/2025/the-forge-sheffield-england-13478941.html

i did have a ticket to see them on this tour but i've got a family event that i can't really miss so i'm watching the hell out of all these videos, looks like it would've been amazing

XP - Hell yes, *AND* Spies In The Wires, god fkn damnmit

Yashar!!!

UK tour October 2026

I can't really accept Cabaret Voltaire without Richard H. Kirk tbh.

Yeah same.

tbh this seems way more legit to me than Kirk taking the name solo

ymmv obviously

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q6j7wxwZyo

tbh this seems way more legit to me than Kirk taking the name solo

"way more legit" is a bit much. like have you heard those recent cabs releases? they were totally in line aesthetically with everything cabaret voltaire was imo. this seems sort of like a tribute live act, which i am personally incredibly cool with, wish i could see them

yeah I'd be happy if they came to the US

Bring 2/3 of the original lineup is actually something as opposed to 1/3

“being”

And Chris Watson has had a great radical career post Cabaret so I would be excited to see him live with Voltaire too

i have no issue with stephen and chris revisiting and paying respect to their shared history.
of course, rhk was the keeper of the flame and never strayed from the path that they all started out on.
the last 'solo' album by rhk, 'dasein', was possibly the most cv sounding album ever until he 'reclaimed' the name and released 'shadow of fear', plus the brilliant 'shadow of funk' ep that was totally in the same world as 'drinking gasoline'.
the fact that the tour keeps the cv name alive is a bonus.

"way more legit" is a bit much. like have you heard those recent cabs releases? they were totally in line aesthetically with everything cabaret voltaire was imo.

sorry ivy I have been offline for a week, yes I was being somewhat hyperbolic. I have not heard those records but I am sure they are excellent RHK albums, it's just that for me CV = Mal's vocals prob more than anything else, so I never understood why Kirk chose to do the name change so late. I like it all!