Stephen Mallinder – Pow-Wow

Typical dull, closed in, and overly compressed sound that is symptomatic of everything pressed at GZ. This one sounds like it’s mastered from MP3s. The original LP on the other hand sounds like it was mastered through a tin can: Thin and brittle sound. The best sound quality is so far found on the MAL 1 CD remaster.

Fantastic pressing on 140 gram or maybe even lighter vinyl. Sounds wonderful, however. Rich sound.

No download code. This is 2020 guys! How hard can that be?

Nice reissue - I got the CD version as wanted to play the whole thing in a convenient package. Sound quality throughout is great, even those 2 tracks "ripped from vinyl". I'd forgotten how dubby this release is - like a stripped-down cousin of 2X45. Tracks like Length Of Time sound so fresh. Good too that it included the sublime Temperature Drop as my old 12-inch was lost decades ago.

This needs a rerelease with all of the tracks and the unedited version of Cool Down. Mute?

WHY "MINI-ALBUM"?

12'' is not "mini".
10 tracks are not "mini".
And the duration of the tracks is not "mini" also!

This to me is the best of this particular bunch, not only because it is the only one of the three I am not familiar with, but also it's a music (and I assume a theory behind it) I can relate to. The CD opens with "Temperature Drop" which is an intense rhythm made up of a series of drum patterns which rise & fall throughout the track, producing a complex rhythm rich in unusual sounds. "The Devil In Me" follows on, taking the concept a step further. It sounds very much like something taken from the "Walls Of Jericho" EP with hints of "Crackdown" in it. Again it's mainly a rhythm but is fascinating to hear the vast variety of sounds used. "0.58" comes next, another rhythmic piece lasting slightly less than the title suggests. "Pow Wow", which is near as dammit the title track is another wonderful little rhythmic piece, a sort of fragmented and superior version of something from the "Red Mecca" album. "Three Piece Swing" again could have been on "Red Mecca", if only hiding from "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts". Again a light, upbeat piece of music, not nearly as dark as many of the things to be found on the CABARET VOLTAIRE albums. "Cool Down" again reminds one of the "Walls Of Jericho" era, although this has warmth and calming sounds to contrast with it's fastish rhythms. A full, complicated and utterly fascinating sound. "1.37" sounds almost like an Ethnic loop tape, but I feel it is probably a rhythm built around a longish delay line. Some of the sounds are calming, some harsh and metallic, there's even a sonar echo-type sound added to give it colour. "In Smoke" seems to fit into the earlier comparisons easily, being another complex and busy rhythm, full of interesting sounds. It's not a million miles from the kind of sound CV were producing around 1982, but is perhaps just a little lighter. "1.59" rises up from the depths on low and bassy notes, complimented by metallic sounds, a subtle and brief work of sound. "Length Of Time" powers in on a white noise drum pattern which pants along like an exhausted jogger while chime-like keyboards run easily alongside as the other synth sounds swell and change. "Going Out" is a darker, more dramatic piece of music, sounding almost Asian as someone keeps saying they're Lee Harvey Oswald. The album closes with "Del Sol", again an upbeat piece of music with a much richer, fuller sound than is associated with CABS. It's almost commercial, in a freakish, fractured, fragmented way.
I have listened to this album perhaps half a dozen times now & am still discovering sounds I failed to spot before. I recommend it to anyone, even those who found CABARET VOLTAIRE a bit hard going - you'll like this a lot more, I assure you. And to you CABS addicts always looking for something new to add to your collection - you shouldn't be disappointed by this album, despite it's lighter flavour.

Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.

My god, this album is great! I thought that only Richard H. Kirk was the puppetmaster behind the sound of Cabaret Voltaire. I was proven wrong. Stephen Mallinder's solo work succeeds easily the brilliant post-punk-industrial sound of such Cabaret Voltaire masterpieces as "Red Mecca" or "2x45".
The album itself consists of the "Pow Wow" mini-LP album (1982, Fetish Records) and the 12 "single "Temperature Drop / Cool Down" (1981, Fetish Records). The CD version was released in 1992 by Mute's sublabel "The Grey Area". A good choice for a label which constanlty (re-) releases outstanding industrial music material. Therefor the sound of Pow Wow is no surprise: tape reels, samples, metallic percussion, synthesizer, distorted voices, a little bit dub and ambient here and there. Added to this is the typical CV groove of Mallinder's bass guitar. A outstanding track here is "Del Sol" which sounds like a mini-soundtrack to a horror Western. The song sounds relatively "straight", yet it's a great post-punk track.
If you miss the old CV sound you will be, without a doubt, served with this album.