Press Info:
The Third Chimpanzee E.P. is the brand new EP from Martin Gore, one of the founding members and primary songwriter of Depeche Mode. Over 5 brand new tracks Gore explores euphoric modular sounds and develops his career’s long relationship with electronic music. The EP follows his eponymous album MG in 2015 and SSSS, his collaboration with Erasure’s Vince Clarke for their VCMG project. The artwork was created by Pockets Warhol, a capuchin monkey based in Canada who paints for charity. The 12” is available on limited edition Azure Blue Vinyl with an art print. Also available on CD.
B2. Microscopic Flesh Fragment C1. Papa Nine Zero Delta United
C2. Universal Energy
D1. Vasto
D2. What’s Goin’ On
Press Info (English):
“Richard H. Kirk has chosen a good time to revive the Cabs’ ominous industrial funk” – Uncut
CABARET VOLTAIRE today share ‘The Power (Of Their Knowledge)’, the latest track to be taken from the eagerly anticipated new album. Shadow Of Fear, Cabaret Voltaire’s first new album in 26 years, is released on Mute on 20 November 2020.
Shadow Of Fear is Cabaret Voltaire’s first release with Richard H Kirk as the sole member of the band, and the result is an album that defies categorisation. The tone and personality of Cabaret Voltaire is ingrained into its core as it dances across techno, dub, house, 1970s Kosmische, and general esoteric explorations coupled with mangled vocal samples. It’s a voyage through the history of electronic music that arrives at a new destination.
Cabaret Voltaire has always been a group ahead of their time, even prescient at times, and this album carries on that evolution. Kirk explains, “The current situation didn’t have much of an influence on what I was doing – all the vocal content was already in place before the panic set in – but maybe due to my nature of being a bit paranoid there are hints in there about stuff going a bit weird and capturing the current state of affairs.” Although, as with a lot of Kirk’s work, concrete meaning and narrative is ripe for interpretation rather than being spelled out. “Surrealism has always been really important to Cabaret Voltaire,” says Kirk. “And that’s still present too.”
The genesis of the new album was the 2014 Berlin Atonal festival where Kirk played the first show on his own as Cabaret Voltaire. This began a new era for the pioneering Sheffield outfit whose influence across electronic, post-punk and industrial music remains an untouchable one today. This is new music for a new era: “The mission statement from the off was no nostalgia. Normal rules do not apply. Something for the 21st Century. No old material.”
Press Info (German):
CABARET VOLTAIRE haben mit “Shadow Of Fear” die Veröffentlichung des ersten neuen Albums seit über 20 Jahren angekündigt – und des ersten, dass Richard H Kirk als einzig verbliebenes Bandmitglied zeigt. Es erscheint am 20. November 2020 via Mute.
Ursprünglich zwischen 1973-1994 aktiv – mit Chris Watson bis 1981 und Stephen Mallinder bis 1994 – blieb die Sheffielder Gruppe 20 Jahre lang untätig, wenngleich ihr der Ruf als eine der einflussreichsten Bands des von Elektronik und Industrial informierten Postpunk stets vorauseilte. Kirk, als einzig übriges Bandmitglied, legte eine Pause ein, um verschiedene andere Projekte zu verfolgen und veröffentlichte unzählige mal mehr mal weniger gefeierte Soloalben unter einer Unzahl von Namen, nicht zuletzt unter den Monikern Sandoz.und Sweet Exorcist, mit dem er mehr oder weniger im Vorbeigehen Bleep-Techno erfand.
“Shadow Of Fear” ist in Ton und Persönlichkeit ein klassisches Cabaret Voltaire Album, das sich mit seinen durch die Mangel gedrehten Sprach-Samples auf rätselhafte Entdeckungsreisen durch die Geschichte von Techno, Dub, House, Kosmischer Musik tanzt, um schließlich doch noch in der Gegenwart anzukommen. Oder in der Zukunft.
Cabaret Voltaire waren schon immer eine Gruppe, die Entwicklungen vorauszuahnen schien, und “Shadow Of Fear” setzt diese Tradition fort, wenngleich, wie bei vielen von Kirks Werken, die konkrete Bedeutung der Interpretation anheimgestellt ist und nicht näher ausbuchstabiert wird. “The album was finished just as all the weirdness was starting to kick in”, erzählt er. “‘Shadow Of Fear’ feels like a strangely appropriate title. The current situation didn’t have much of an influence on what I was doing – all the vocal content was already in place before the panic set in – but maybe due to my nature of being a bit paranoid there are hints in there about stuff going a bit weird and capturing the current state of affairs.” Und ergänzt: “Surrealism has always been really important to Cabaret Voltaire. And that’s still present, too.”
Die Entstehungsgeschichte des neuen Albums indes nimmt ihren Anfang bereits einige Jahre früher, beim Berliner Atonal-Festival 2014, bei dem Kirk die erste eigene Show als Cabaret Voltaire spielte, der Beginn einer neuen Epoche für die Band. “The mission statement from the off was no nostalgia. Normal rules do not apply. Something for the 21st Century. No old material,” erklärt er.
Seitdem ist er bei Festivals und Konzerten in ganz Europa aufgetreten und hat dort den Klang der Zukunft von Cabaret Voltaire geformt: “I started developing tracks specifically for live performance. Stuff that was quite stripped back and crude. Every time I would visit a new place to perform, I would write something fresh.”
Aufgenommen am jüngsten Standort von Western Works, dem Studio, das Cabaret Voltaire von Beginn an begleitet, hatte Kirk zunächst darauf gesetzt, sein altes Equipment digital aufzurüschen, nach einem Computerausfall beschloss er allerdings, seine Originalausrüstung zu behalten. “Making this album reminded me a bit of the old days with Cabaret Voltaire because there wasn’t that much equipment, so you really had to use your imagination.”
Soweit der Blick zurück auf die alten Cabaret Voltaire – denn “Fear Of Shadow” ist neue Musik für eine neue Ära. “It’s nice that people appreciate what you’ve done in the past,” sagt Kirk. “But it’s a dangerous place to dwell.”
Press Info:
New album Fading – is Pole’s first since 2015’s Wald. As with every new Pole record, it’s part of a continued forward trajectory but it also connects to a pre-existing sonic framework. “Every Pole record connects to recordings that I’ve made before,” Betke says. “In order to stay in this kind of vertical development. The ideas from 1,2,3 up to now are connected. I keep the interesting elements, languages and vocabulary that I designed and add new elements.”
Fading follows the physical releases on Mute of remastered versions of his iconic albums 1, 2, 3 to much acclaim.
Press Info:
Put Your Head Above The Parakeets is a brand new EP from HAAi, her second for Mute. The EP features 4 brand new tracks including the pseudo title track ‘Head Above The Parakeets’ which exudes a woozy summery heat while ‘Rotating in Unison’ embraces positivity, written in response to this year’s enforced slowdown. The final 2 tracks take us back to the club, where HAAi is known for spinning genre bending and spellbinding DJ sets.
