Cabaret Voltaire is on my personal Mount Rushmore of bands. They were a real ear opener for me back in the day; one early gateway to get into the weirder side of music. One of the first things I learned about Cabaret Voltaire (before hearing them) was that one audience was so enraged by a performance that they physically attacked the band. I did not know the circumstances of that incident, but I’m always intrigued when people are inspired to violence by music instead of just, say, walking out. It certainly piqued my interest.
In any case, once I actually heard their music, I was hooked. I loved CV’s early, more experimental phase. And then I loved their early-mid 80’s period when they first placed one foot toward the charts and on the dance floor. (I’ve always suspected this was at least partly due to access to better equipment). While it’s difficult to stay on the cutting edge, and in spite of any later ebbs and flows, there’s plenty of music from those first couple phases of the Cabs career that stands strong.
“Nag, Nag, Nag”
Not the first thing they released, but the first thing I heard by the band. Initially I was intrigued by the cover of the single, with the distorted black and white band photo and the suggestion of a 1960’s psychedelic stage show. But then there’s the song; it starts with an odd sound that could have been a machine warming up. After a few seconds, the main song kicks in with guitar, electronics, keyboard, bass, and cheap drum machine, all heavily distorted. Adding to the muddy production is Stephen Mallinder’s aggressive, sneering vocal. There are also a few samples in the mix (a later staple of the band’s music). The song is a blend of 60’s garage rock (like The Seeds, who CV would later cover) and 70’s punk attitude, with hints of the trail the band was helping blaze of early industrial electronics.
“The Voice of America/Damage is Done”
This is the opening track on “The Voice of America” album. First you hear a recording of an old (1960’s) Southern (US) security briefing at a rock and roll show. Offers of ear plugs, a warning of no dancing allowed, and a slow, ominous drum machine beat fades in. Short smacks of metal, then some bass, then distorted guitar and odd electronics blend into a sludgy mix. Manipulated vocals occasionally interject. It all feels uneasy and a little dangerous. Among the stranger things I had heard at the time, yet quite appealing.
“Sluggin’ For Jesus. Pt. 1”
Released as a single, this track is built around samples of a TV preacher pressuring viewers for money. There are a couple layers of percussion and understated electronics with a weird, almost polyrhythmic dance vibe. Queasy sounds fade up occasionally in a between samples. While the voice sample would sound very ugly on its own, it’s downright sickening in the context of this song, which I’m sure was the intent.
“Protection”
The “2×45” record was originally released as two 12” slabs of vinyl with 1-2 songs per side. Probably the best known is “Yashar” with its sampled “There’s 70 billion people of Earth/Where are they hiding?” [I had quite the “a-ha” moment one night when watching a rerun of the TV show The Outer Limits and hearing that sample.] “Yashar” was later specifically mixed for the dancefloor, and while it’s quite good in either guise, the killer track for me on these records is “Protection.” The start sounds a bit like a demented snake charmer, then there are drums and a yell and we’re off. A thick stew including sax, percussion, samples, and distorted (as it often is) spoken word. Amazing and, at well over 7 minutes long, too short.
“Sensoria”
To me, the 12” mix of this song is the perfect balance of the early, more experimental side of the band, and the mid-period, where they became more accessible to a wider audience. “Sensoria” has a lot going on. On the instrument side, there are keyboard patterns, hand claps, funky drums, and clean guitar notes. There’s a good amount of experimental electronics, but you can also dance to it (and I did!). On the vocal side, there’s Mallinder with his often-used whisper singing (if you feel like you could never be a singer, listen to this style because I think anyone could sing this way). There are also the (now) familiar voice samples of “do right” and “always work” and “go to church.” And, finally, there’s some female group singing (sample or custom made, I can’t say) that brightens things about half way through. I like the disorienting rotating camera work in the video too:
Around the time of “Sensoria” I think CV did a pretty good job playing to their strengths, balancing the weird and the more mainstream. Eventually they got into other styles of electronic music, with mixed results, and now they are down to one man (Richard H. Kirk) carrying the flag. I’ll admit to my blind spot toward their work; I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt when I’d probably ignore some of their later efforts if they came from someone else. But both Mallinder and Kirk (and early member Chris Watson, who is now doing lots of interesting things related to recording the natural world) have subsequently made very interesting music, both solo with other musicians or bands; after decades, there’s a mother lode of great stuff involving these gentlemen. Cabaret Voltaire once put out a record called “Three Mantras” that only had two songs on it. So in that spirit my three word mantra, regarding their voluminous output, is: seek it all out.