Thursday, November 22, 2012

Cabaret Voltaire - mix-up

Cabaret Voltaire's first album comes from the earliest days of post-punk electronica and experimentation that finally led to industrial, goth and techno. So what do we get from this 1979 release: scruzzy vocals, dirty dub, tape loops and weird noises abound. Is it all just an atonal din though? Well maybe at times it does sound like some kids messing about such as on "No escape" which seems to go on forever with its annoying melody and actually goes on for longer than that. "Fourth shot" sounds like broken synths over a badly tuned guitar, and could well be.

On "Heaven and Hell" it all finally makes sense, a demented electro melody over disembodied vocals and random noise interjections. Its the soundtrack to the dark future we were all promised but has yet to arrive. When we are going around in black leather in spiked cars amid a smog of a post-Apocalypse then this is definitely the soundtrack. "On every other street" stands out for me as my favourite track with its feeling of electro doom amid the insanity.

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