Richard H Kirk - 'Earlier/Later - Unreleased Projects Anthology 74/89' (Mute)
3/5
By: Clara Burtenshaw
They played with Joy Division. One of their singles, 'Nag Nag Nag' coined the name of the 80s/00's only-place-to-show-yer-face hippest indie disco; and they held tenure at the forefront of the UK electronic movement of the late-70's, alongside the likes of the Human League, Throbbing Gristle, Fad Gadget and The Normal.
In the intermission between the first strains of punk disorder and the delectable days of disco, Cabaret Voltaire, a triumvirate of Sheffield sound manipulators, processed and distorted a fifteen-year campaign of 'civil and dancehall disobedience.' Not sure you remember them? Born post-'75? Well, panic no more, music buff, for this month an anthology featuring unreleased material by one of its founding members is launched, and - cannily - this coincides with the unleashing of 'Digital Lifeforms' by Sandoz: same mugshot, different name. But more of this later.
Nullifying and repealing tradition, this trio dashed conventional rhythms, freeing popular music from the constraints of structure and shattering the hitherto stoic concepts of harmony and sound. The Voltaires maliciously mish-mashed music into previously unexplored transgressive realms and were practically single-handed neophytes of what is now known as 'industrial'. A brilliant concoction that sounded both a fantastic mess and a gloriously unified work of sense, depending on the listener. And all on basic reel-to-reel recorders, the purists.
Titled 'Earlier/Later', and featuring a very much be-mulleted Richard H. Kirk on the sleeve, this LP couldn't look anymore of the essence, and a special note must be made of the simply beautiful face stricken by the man himself, easily capturing the mood of the anthology: all simmering aggression and latent menace.
And this double-album essentially documents the private musical musings and personal experimentation of Kirk, and sounds as fresh and new as the current stream of eighties-inspired electronica kicking about the underground. Dispersed beats, vocals raggedly boomed through a megaphone and the looping and sampling of sounds never before associated with, nor used by, the music of the zeitgeist, characterises 'Earlier/Later'.
A 12"-mix of 'Martyrs of Palestine' is the only previous release featured, a commemoration of the Vienne/Rome airport attacks of 1985 and a portrayal of politics gone unsympathetically dog eat dog. In the often conservatory territory of dance music, confrontational energy will not find a more direct route than this.
Interesting it is too, to trace the scratch and break elements heard today in hip-hop and rap, partly rooted in the music of Richard H Kirk and his work with Cabaret Voltaire. The layered, percussive sound of some twenty years ago would certainly not feel out of place in the present, and dance music connoisseurs as well nostalgic witnesses of the movement will appreciate this as a piece way ahead of its time. A fine anthology to add to their shamelessly peevish collection, then.
Artists in this article: Richard H Kirk
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