Artist:
Cabaret Voltaire
Formed:
1974 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Representative Songs:
"Nag Nag Nag," "Yashar," "Doom Zoom"
Representative Albums:
The Original Sound of Sheffield '78/'82, The Original Sound of Sheffield '83/'87, Red Mecca
Similar Artists:
400 Blows,
They Must Be Russians,
Graph,
The Normal,
Ike Yard,
23 Skidoo,
Sleep Chamber,
John Zorn,
Frank Zappa,
Captain Beefheart,
Front Line Assembly,
Yoko Ono,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Foetus,
A Certain Ratio,
Revolting Cocks,
Nitzer Ebb,
KMFDM,
Half Japanese,
Front 242,
Controlled Bleeding,
Chrome,
Acid Horse,
Bill Laswell,
Yello,
Wire,
Frank Tovey,
Suicide,
Skinny Puppy,
Nine Inch Nails,
New Order,
Negativland,
Ministry,
The KLF,
The Fall,
Fad Gadget,
Einstürzende Neubauten,
Coil,
Clock DVA,
Chris & Cosey,
Eugene Chadbourne,
The Birthday Party
Influences:
Followers:
Relaxed Muscle,
Chris McNamara,
Crack: W.A.R.,
400 Blows,
Flux Information Sciences,
Wamdue Project,
Christoph Heemann,
The Chemical Brothers,
:zoviet*france:,
Armageddon Dildos,
Front Line Assembly,
Death in June,
Cindytalk,
A Certain Ratio,
B.E.F.,
Underworld,
Scanner,
SPK,
KMFDM,
Front 242,
D.A.F.,
Skinny Puppy,
Renegade Soundwave,
Heaven 17,
Einstürzende Neubauten,
The Durutti Column,
Clock DVA
- Genre: Rock
- Active: '70s - 2000s
- Major Members: Richard H. Kirk, Stephen Mallinder, Chris Watson
Biography
Though they're one of the most important groups in the history of industrial and electronic music, Cabaret Voltaire are sometimes forgotten in the style's timeline -- perhaps because they continued recording long after other luminaries (Throbbing Gristle, Suicide, Chrome) called it quits. Also related to the fact is that CV rarely stayed in one place for long, instead moving quickly from free-form experimentalism through arty white-boy funk and on to house music in the late '80s and electronica the following decade. The band, formed by guitarist Richard H. Kirk, bassist Stephen Mallinder and tape manipulatorFollowing Watson's departure, the remaining duo inaugurated a new contract with Some Bizzare/Virgin in 1983 by shifting their sound, away from raging industro-funk and towards a more danceable form. The singles "Sensoria" and "James Brown" hit the indie charts during 1984, and Cabaret Voltaire moved to EMI/Parlophone in 1986 for The Code. Two years later, the band traveled to Chicago to record Groovy, Laidback & Nasty with Marshall Jefferson, one of the mavericks in the new house sound blowing up in the British charts. After another break of several years, the new-electronica label Instinct released a trio of CV LPs during 1993-94, after which the band's future appeared cloudy. Kirk continued his solo career (recording as Electronic Eye, Sandoz and himself) while Mallinder moved to Australia. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
