Cabaret Voltaire - what on earth do we do with them now?

There's so many releases to take in that a decent 2CD compilation of the RT/Factory/Crepuscule years would be the biz. The Mute comps were crap, relying too much on outtakes.

The Some Bizarre/Virgin years are patchy - The Crackdown dire, Microphonies and Code better.

I think I need to go back and revisit the early years again, like Voice of America or Red Mecca. Victims of one of my earlier vinyl purges, sadly.

I think the major problem with the Cabs is that they suffered from dull vocals and lyrics. I like the synthesiser sounds and the rhythms on "The Crackdown", but I find the song structures boring. My favourite ever C.V. tracks come from the Doublevision soundtrack 12 inch that was given away free with "The Crackdown". Does anyone know if their other soundtrack work is worth hearing?

Ned - you NEVER wibble ;).

The Cabs have proven to be an act I have felt the need to return to every couple of years like clockwork. Now it's happened again and I guess it's time to throw up my hands, give up and say "well they must damn well mean a lot more to me than I give them credit for because here I go again for the zillionth time!"

The last time I went on a Cabs trip, I decided to get The Arm of The Lord and The Crackdown on CD (since all my Cabs had been on vinyl until that time). Now I'm wondering why the hell it didn't occur to me then to get Code on CD as well. As far as their albums went I certainly liked Code quite a lot. In fact, it's hard to really compare it to anything else - it not only broke down barriers as far as their own sound, but it damn sure didn't sound like anything else at the time, either.

I've just bought the Conform to Deform CD cause I really wanted some of those b-sides I remember fondly all nicely put together like that. And I'm trying to figure out what it is that made the Cabs so special. I would be the last person to comment on their earliest stuff ('74-'77) because what I have heard of it sounded rather chaotic and didn't appeal to me. In fact I remember a lot of Mix Up being like that as well. I also would be the last person to comment on whatever the hell they did AFTER Code, cause I stopped following after that, and the little I have heard is bafflingly ordinary. So when I say I love the Cabs I mean basically the 80's stuff.

So I think what made them so special and unique had something to do with the way the vocals weaved in and out between sinister and sexual. I also think it's impossible to have a full appreciation for the Cabs until you've experienced their bizarre, surreal videos. I can't think of a single other artist's music that I so greatly associate with visual imagery. They truly accomplished through videos what could not be accomplished through the music alone, an audiovisual sum greater than its parts. It must be not just seen nor heard but experienced as a dual force of sensory stimulation, these music videos of theirs.

Of course, every now and then, underneath all these strange and disturbing things they were conjuring up was a danceable pop threatening to break through, but the Cabs never let you forget the darker, more disturbing side of life, and this is what I love them for most. They wanted to work on your subconscious, send a spanner in the works of your dreams while they cunningly distracted your conscious mind by commanding you to move your feet.

Furthermore, as far as electronic music goes, they really had their own fascinating niche. It's true they might sound dated to some people now, but I marvel at just how mentally engaging they still sound now compared to the boring stale crap everyone and their sister/brother comes up with for electronic music now.

I've feel like I've been let down by the Cabs on several occasions (The Crackdown, Groovy Laidback & Nasty etc:) but they have such a stong overall asthetic that just keeps dragging me back to check the dusty corners of their catalogue looking for any hidden gems.

Wow, your dad played house and techno in your home? That's wild! Mind me asking your age?

i am always surprised that cabaret voltaire don't get talked about more. their career and catalog is so varied and there are some real gems to bee found. to be sure there are some not-so-great moments as well, but if you follow the music of the 80s and 90s and then check the cabs output, it's like they lived in some slightly alternate universe. first they rejected everything and eventually they seemed to let everything in. i think their best work lies somewhere in between. and code is definitely at one of the end of that spectrum, but it's pretty hard to deny the greatness of tracks like "here to go" and "don't argue".

i am looking forward to reading simon reynold's new book because i suspect he will shed some light on these guys.

I recently commented on the Cabs mid-90's albums on the proto-microhouse thread and the RFI: Cabs + Neubaten thread. In short: the 90's trilogy is spectacular, and very underrated. The proto-microhouse label fits it very well, although it's a lot proggier than microhouse (this is not a criticism, btw).

I live in Austin, I have no idea where any of these stores are. I do not relish the idea of looking through the Christmas left over because those stores don't restock till March anyway. Basically I completely forgot about this card for about three months. I needed to buy some running shoes and I went to the mall to get them. I stumbled across a Suncoast Video and I figured I should get rid of the card for the hell of it.

I look through this store and the entire time I am thinking about how much I hate this family of companies, how much I hate their employees who parrot the same training tape sales intro over and over, how I hate their stock, and corporate media in general... In other words, I am being a little bitch. There are some good titles, but nothing I really want.

I look though the music section and everything is crap. It is like 15 Jessica Simpson videos, Carlos Santana live at the budweiser chili cook-off and wifeswap fest in Milwaukee, a shitload of Oasis product, and oddly enough, OMG WTF LOL!!! ONE COPY OF DOUBLE VISION PRESENTS: CABARET VOLTAIRE!!!

It is an 81 minute collection of their long player video comp. It is the most urgent and key piece of media I have stumbled upon in the last 18 months. The videos are great because they were so completely primitive and pushing the edge of what was technologically possible with their equipment. It is a lot of weird ghetto video effects with extreme content and menacing music. There are segues between each track that feature eastern orthodox priests whipping themselves bloody, Irish riot footage, inter-racial English porn, old commercials, weird tv news clips... and then there are the videos themselves. I think the videos for Photophobia and Nag Nag Nag are the greatest things I have ever seen.

All I can really say is that their video work has made me completely re-assess their body of work. I think they will be completely repositioned as pioneers of "vaudio" as electronic music moves towards mixed media dvd-based video albums in another 5-10 years. I have always liked their early music, but my thoughts on how important they are have completely changed. There is a quote from the Industrial Culture Handbook on Re:Search where Mal and Kirk talk about people seeing their video and it completely changing their understanding and appreciation of their music. it is completely OTM.

The reason why they lost steam was because after 1981 they stopped being recordists, and started being video guys that do music too.

This is so true. They were just a complete mystery, you could never pin them down. And yes no one ever mentions them, really. ODD. They just fucked with people's brains so badly that no one remembered them.

I think they will be completely repositioned as pioneers of "vaudio" as electronic music moves towards mixed media dvd-based video albums in another 5-10 years. I have always liked their early music, but my thoughts on how important they are have completely changed.

I feel much less alone in the world about now. No one seems to know or understands just how essential Cabaret Voltaire videos are.

Sounds like the DVD contains a lot of the elements they were using, but the projections were all hitting the backdrop at once, crosscut and superimposed, absolutely on the one with what the band were playing. All this with early 80's technology and (obv.) not a laptop in sight.

THANKS FOR WATCHING, DUDES!

Come to think of it, I don't know too many women who are Cabs freaks.

CabVolt's best videos:

Auto-Motivation
Slow Boat to Thassos
I Want You
Sensoria

I don't think "Shakedown" was on any collection.

The live DVD (At The Hacienda) was disappointing. Sound and picture sub-par.

SPK deverse their thread!!

Also Russell is correct.