cabaret voltaire - the crackdown,microphonies,covenant the sword and the arm of the lord,code,the conversation
ok here goes ...
many years ago i read a review in nme while walking through the small market town where i lived. having just read a stunning review of a 12" record i bumped into the owner of the local indie record shop. he asked if i wanted anything, i pointed to the review and said 'get this in for me'. and so i had discovered cabaret voltaire, without hearing anything. the record was the 12" version of sensoria. to this day this record knocks me sideways, pounding electro bass with nervous guitars and superb sneering vocals, with massive chorus/vocals
the remix is huge.so then i started checking their stuff.
i tried one of their earliest releases 'voice of america' but this was depressingly unlistenable having entered the catalogue on such a track as sensoria so i have avoided all of the pre-virgin/some bizarre period
the crackdown is a very minimal/dark techno-electronic lp with some great tracks. while most electro-synth acts were purveyors of happy-go-lucky tunes the cabs were riddled with doom/gloom/big brother type sentiments, but with a severe evil streak of humour, for example 'why kill time when you can kill yourself' surely this is a dig at the over-serious tag that the cabs had to endure. classic stuff .. the opening bars to the crackdown are worthy for $$$ alone.
next came microphonies .. similar to crackdown but more dance-floor friendly. still obsessed with vocal cut-ups/mad american preachers with guns, the cd version of the lp has sensoria 12" on it so you can figure out wether i recommend this or not !
covenant .. was more abrasive but continued their style to great effect. their stuff is very recognisable from this period. no-one else sounded like the cabs,. after this came a double 12" pack 'drinking gasoline' 4 tracks each breaking 7 mins, 2 of these tracks are extras on the the cd version of 'the covenant, the sword and the arm of the lord'. highly recommended.
now things went adrift, they left some bizarre/virgin and went to major emi and teamed up with adrian sherwood, unfortunately i cant be objective as adrian sherwood was on a roll at this time. i love this collaboration, for example 'dont argue/here to go' are simply stunning - listen to these on a good sound system and they could change the way you view techno/synth bands forever !- but i may stand alone here. the lp is more song based and almost going commercial, but still retaining a certain cabaret voltaire style.
next came 'groovy laidback and nasty' - cabs do house. this is the only cabs cd that i have traded in. i cant bear it.
the cabs continued further into the techno-dance side of things but i drifted away until they released 'the conversation'. a huge sprawling double cd of ambient-techno. no vocals as such, in fact theres no evidence at all the steve mallinder was involved and this could be a richard h solo release - of which there are many ! but its a great set. and deserves investigation if you're interested in electronica at all.
truetrailblazers in the techno world.they deserve your attention. listen to sensoria 12" and see where you go from there.