Richard H. Kirk

With all due respect for Richard Kirk, I must admit that there's lots of his stuff I just don't relate to - he is definitely in his own universe for a long time now, and while musically speaking some of it does sound amazing, I am a bit sad he for one decided to resurrect Cabaret Voltaire. There is something about it that is just too broken now to be taken for real, despite Richard's strong DNA in most of the Cabs' post-70s work. And Kirk himself being an icon, his own name already stands solid an institution, and should have left the (living) legend to rest.

And comparing what all three members are doing separately for years, personally I do feel much closer to what Stephen Mallinder was/is doing on his own, be it solo work or with Wrangler, or Chris Watson with his field recordings. Unlike Kirk, Mallinder and Watson happen to be more reasoned with their approach to sound/music (or say, they give their work time, not being "megalomaniac" like Kirk prefers to be).

Richard grew technically strong, but idea-wise he seems to be stuck ever since the early 90s, when his work was more easily traceable in terms of "projects" - in the meantime, however, it turned into one too many pseudonyms, with most of his recent (past twenty years) stuff raising very little interest in me. To put it frankly, most of it sounds tedious.

But when it clicks, it is beyond rewarding. To start with, his late 70s/early 80s solo experiments might appeal the most, due to techno-modesty and its relative potential on par with his parent group. On the other hand, what Kirk and Peter Hope did on "Hoodoo Talk" - such a landmark collaboration, the one I regard and greet with utmost respect, especially due to Peter Hope's strong presence there, that without doubt breathed fresh air into something that, despite my endless love for the Cabs themselves, became a bit worn out in their own frame during the 1985-87 era; "Black Jesus Voice" and "Ugly Spirit" are enjoyable as such, but you can tell there's not much happening apart from sounding like leftovers from the Cabs, despite being credited to Kirk alone.

Sweet Exorcist is one of his brilliant excursions into something else at the time when Cabaret Voltaire felt tired and exhausted, plus that amazing masterpiece solo album of his called "Virtual State" from 1993. Without doubt his finest piece of work, conceptually strong and consistent, the album simply insists on repeated listening. As Sandoz, he released also a beautiful techno-collection called "Intensely Radioactive" that is intensely recommended to anyone remotely interested. A dozen few more intriguing bits have appeared scattered via Touch compilations... as for the complete picture, it's impossible to catch him by the tail, the verdict being Kirk indulging himself in a hodge-podge soundplay.

What can you say? The history of electronic music wouldn't be complete without a paragraph or two about this guy.

For any serious student of electronica, you could do a lot worse than to pick up the early Cabaret Voltaire stuff. His style is generally to build the tracks gradually, using a lot of classic Detroit-ish melodies and straightforward percussion programming, while using strange sounds and catchy hooks and vocal (often left-leaning politically) vocal samples. His seminal releases mostly occurred on the Warp label ("Reality Net" makes my personal all time Top Ten electronic tracks, which is on "Artificial Intelligence II".) Sandoz' "Digital Lifeforms" is pretty much a classic in the early 90's IDM genre, as is Cabaret Voltaire's "International Language." If you like industrial dub (think the better On-U Sound stuff) you would be remiss not to own Sandoz’ “Chant to Jah”. To be honest, I don’t think any of his releases are bad, although as stated, some are only okey-doke (e.g., Sandoz’ “Every Man Got Dreaming.”)