Category: Mute Records

Artist:
Sunroof

Title:
1.1 – 7.5.19

Label:
Mute

Cat#:
I1 PSST5

Release Date:
03rd March 2021

Format:
download & streaming

Tracklist:
01.
1.1 – 7.5.19

02.
1.1 – 7.5.19
(Edit)

Press Info:
Sunroof [Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones] have announced, after four decades of friendship and collaboration, the release of their debut album. Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1, a collection of eight improvised modular pieces recorded as live in various studio spaces across London in the spring and summer of 2019, will be released on the newly revived Parallel Series of Mute on 21 May 2021.

Daniel Miller (founder of Mute, the “accidental label” that began with the release of his own 7” single The Normal’s T.V.O.D / Warm Leatherette) met Gareth Jones, (the innovative and influential producer, engineer and artist) back when Miller asked Jones to work with him in late 1982 on what became Depeche Mode’s Construction Time Again. After the band had gone home for the day, they would stay on to work on their own sessions, a practise that continued and, by the mid-nineties Sunroof had emerged as remix project, reworking the likes of Can, MGMT, To Rococo Rot, Kreidler and Goldfrapp, and appeared on a compilation paying tribute to Neu!.

Back in 2019, Miller and Jones were heading to a György Ligeti concert at the Barbican and beforehand – as they often do when together in the same city – the pair spent a couple of hours improvising with modular systems. Unusually, this time they decided to record the session and over a pre-concert meal, Gareth asked a question that seems logical after all these years: “Are we actually going to make a record together before we die?”

The following day, they set themselves some rules: “We decided to get together to do a bunch of improvisations,” explains Gareth. “We said we’d work in a number of different physical spaces but always together, in the same room. We were keen to do shorter pieces because we were both very inspired by Chris Carter and Martin Gore’s electronic music projects, where the pieces were very concise and compact.”

Key to their manifesto was a distinction between an improvisation and a jam session. “With modular systems, you can just go on and on forever and never actually complete anything. Sometimes that’s okay – part of the joy of a modular is that you can just keep going indefinitely. But with this we were keen to actually finish something, so setting that timeframe became a really important rule for us.” adds Daniel.

Nothing was pre-planned, they didn’t rehearse, and the pieces were recorded as live performances using a limited number of channels. What they accumulated during the course of those 2019 sessions was a suite of evolving, restless pieces, each one containing layers of pulsing, atmospheric sounds.

The pieces on Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1 have a timelessness evoking the classic sound of some of the earliest electronic experiments. They also sound resolutely modern. Even for the two players, their individual contributions are no longer obvious to them, nor is it actually necessary to separate who did what – the whole journey is what’s important, not the individual twists, turns and tweaks that happened along the way.

The album possesses a spirit, energy and discipline of improvisation and in these pieces, you can hear the almost symbiotic connection that they share, and the new sonic pathways and different, unexplored ways of working opening up in front of them.

Snippets:

Video:
“1.1 – 7.5.19 (edit)”

Special:
“Abbey Street 3”

Recommendations:
Gareth Jones’ “Electrogenetic” on Calm + Collect
The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette / T.V.O.D.” on Mute
Populist’ “TtatLD001” on The Temple And The Low Dive
compilation “Hammahalle” w/ Daniel Miller track on Sisyphon
Visionist’ “A Call To Arms” on Mute
“Braid” by Sylph feat. Terence Fixmeron Mute
MG’s “The Third Chimpanzee EP” on Mute

Buy Download:
Sunroof @ Bandcamp
JunoDownload
Boomkat
Bleep
iTunes
more soon

Commercial Streaming Services:
Tidal
Deezer
Spotify
Youtube Music

Websites:
Gareth Jones
Daniel Miller
Mute Deutschland @ Facebook
Mute @ Facebook
Mute

Artist:
Cabaret Voltaire

Title:
Shadow Of Fear

Label:
Mute

Cat#:
CABS30

Release Date:
20th November 2020

Format:
CD, vinyl, cassette & digital

Tracklist:
A1.
Be Free

A2.
The Power (Of Their Knowledge)

B1.
Night Of The Jackal

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.”

Snippets:
soon

Fan Video:
“Vasto”

Video made by the29nov films

Special:
“RE—TEXTURED Podcast 003”

Recommendations:
Cabaret Voltaire’s “Red Mecca” on Mute
Pole’s “Fading” on Mute
Chris Liebing’s “Burn Slow” on Mute
sampler ” Warm Leatherette Re-Covered ” on Mute
HAAi’s “Put Your Head Above The Parakeets EP” on Mute
Nicolas Bougaïeff’s “Higher Up The Spiral” on Mute
Nicolas Bougaïeff’s “The Upward Spiral” on Mute

Buy CD:
Cabaret Voltaire @ Bandcamp
MuteBank
WOM
Boomkat
Juno
Amazon
Bleep
Rough Trade
Lexer Music
more soon

Buy Cassette:
Cabaret Voltaire @ Bandcamp
MuteBank
Juno
Boomkat
Bleep
Lexer Music

Buy Vinyl:
Cabaret Voltaire @ Bandcamp
MuteBank
Juno
WOM
Boomkat
Bleep
Phonica Records
Deejay
Rough Trade
Lexer Music
more soon

Buy Digital:
Cabaret Voltaire @ Bandcamp
Boomkat
Bleep
JunoDownload
iTunes
more soon

Commercial Streaming Services:
Mute
Deezer
Tidal
Youtube Music

Websites:
Cabaret Voltaire
Mute
Mute @ Facebook
Mute Germany @ Facebook