Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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CABARET VOLTAIRE

Electronic group formed Sheffield, England '73--4 by Stephen 'Mal' Mallinder, bass, lead vocals; Richard Kirk, guitar, winds; Chris Watson, electronics, tapes. First recording a cappella version of David Bowie's 'Five Years', but home tapes revealed deeper European infl. of Can, Kraftwerk etc. Live gigs fraught with audience hostility to machine-like rhythms; Mal hospitalized '75 with chipped backbone after an incident, but the punk movement rendered an uncompromising stance acceptable. Music sampled on 1974--1976, cassette-only release on Industrial label '80; signed with Rough Trade and released EP Extended Play; their sound collages and distorted vocals took Bowie's electronics of Low and Heroes to new extremes. Very prolific, with EPs, singles, LPs on Rough Trade, Crepuscule, Paradox Product, Factory. Musical stance carried over to video: used audio techniques of repetition, montage, distortion to create disturbing visual images: Paul Hardcastle's '19' (UK no. 1 '85) was noticeably influenced. Cabaret Voltaire video on Doublevision '82; film score Johnny Yes No (dir. by Sheffield's Peter Care) also on Doublevision. Watson left for TV work '81; others carried on, also did solo material (Kirk's Time High Fiction '83 on Doublevision; Mal's compiled as Pow Wow Plus '85 on Fetish). Signed with futurist label Some Bizzare; three-disc set The Crackdown '83 betrayed black infl. (though 'scratching' techniques nothing new to Cabs). The Covenant The Sword And The Arm Of The Lord '85 (named after US neo-Nazi cult) was their most successful album in commercial terms; amazingly their thirteenth; they had long since toured Europe, USA and Japan without major label support. Other albums incl. Mix Up '79, Live At The YMCA '80, Red Mecca '81, Hai! and 2 X 45 '82 (latter made bottom of UK LP chart), The Voice of America '84, all on Rough Trade; Code '87, Groovy, Laidback And Nasty '90, Body And Soul and Percussion Force '91 on Parlophone; International Language '93 on Plastex. In USA: Colours on Mute/Elektra, two-CD The Conversation on Instinct, Technology on Blue Plate. Kirk released solo LPs Black Jesus Voice and Ugly Spirit '86, Hoodoo Talk '87 with Peter Hope, Clonk' Coming '91 with DJ Parrott as Sweet Exorcist.