IDM Mailing Archive

While we are reminescing about past favs returns, I have throw in my vote for quite possibly the most surprising work I have heard by a couple of geezers. That would be International Language by the newly rejuvinated Cabaret Voltaire. Man this album has it all. Thick, luscious beats that pulsate through through 8 minute masterpieces. Intespersed are nonsensical fragments of dialogue reminding me of mixmaster morris style jabs at your cerebreum. While this work spans the range from trance to ambient space landscapes, it never looses its cohesion, or for that matter, becomes too overworked. The beauty lies in the simplicity of the super phat grooves that will resonate through your soul even after the first listen. Their evolution from a "blippy" calculator concoction following in the footsteps of Kraftwerk is brilliantly disguised as this album misses the sometimes pretentious "hi-techno" sound all together. These tunes hit me where it hurts....my groovy boots.

quoted 1 line "Shawn" == Shawn Travalent <travalen@kcmetro.cc.mo.us> writes:

>>>>> "Shawn" == Shawn Travalent <travalen@kcmetro.cc.mo.us> writes:

Shawn> While we are reminescing about past favs returns, I have throw in my Shawn> vote for quite possibly the most surprising work I have heard by a Shawn> couple of geezers. That would be International Language by the newly Shawn> rejuvinated Cabaret Voltaire. Man this album has it all. Thick, Shawn> luscious beats that pulsate through through 8 minute masterpieces. Shawn> Intespersed are nonsensical fragments of dialogue reminding me of Shawn> mixmaster morris style jabs at your cerebreum. While this work spans Shawn> the range from trance to ambient space landscapes, it never looses Shawn> its cohesion, or for that matter, becomes too overworked. The beauty Shawn> lies in the simplicity of the super phat grooves that will resonate Shawn> through your soul even after the first listen. Their evolution from Shawn> a "blippy" calculator concoction following in the footsteps of Shawn> Kraftwerk is brilliantly disguised as this album misses the sometimes Shawn> pretentious "hi-techno" sound all together. These tunes hit me where Shawn> it hurts....my groovy boots. Shawn, You really hit the nail on the head with this review. "International Language" left me wanting more, and what I want to know is, will "Plasticity" satisfy that craving?

quoted 3 lines You really hit the nail on the head with this review.

> You really hit the nail on the head with this review. > "International Language" left me wanting more, and what I > want to know is, will "Plasticity" satisfy that craving?

well i think International Language is mostly boring with a thin layer of interesting smeared on it in a few places... Plasticity is similar. Both discs have a few tracks that i really like and even more tracks that i think are really mediocre. but the real gem would be Digital Lifeforms by Sandoz. Sandoz is Richard Kirk, 1/2 of CabVol. Digital Lifeforms is a very good CD. Jon Drukman jdrukman%dlsun87@oracle.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence.

Shawn Travalent wrote:

quoted 5 lines While we are reminescing about past favs returns, I have throw in my vote

> > While we are reminescing about past favs returns, I have throw in my vote > for quite possibly the most surprising work I have heard by a couple of > geezers. That would be International Language by the newly rejuvinated > Cabaret Voltaire. Man this album has it all.

Plasticity isn't bad either. Might we say, that after 20 years of searching,these guys have finally realized their potential? /-oOOo------------oOOo-\ --------------------------/------------------------\-------------------------- "the only constant / Harvey D. Thornburg \ "the only certainty thing is change" / \ is uncertainty" / hthornbu@osiris.ac.hmc.edu \ ------------------------------------------------------------

Harvey Thornburg sez:

quoted 11 lines Shawn Travalent wrote:

> > Shawn Travalent wrote: > > > > While we are reminescing about past favs returns, I have throw in my vote > > for quite possibly the most surprising work I have heard by a couple of > > geezers. That would be International Language by the newly rejuvinated > > Cabaret Voltaire. Man this album has it all. > > Plasticity isn't bad either. Might we say, that after 20 years of > searching,these guys have finally realized their potential? >

20 yrs? no way man. When they came out, both Code and Micro Phonies were GREAT. (at least IMHO). Code was better than Twitch (by ministry, not Mike, Jon, Jeff, Randall &co :-) and Sensoria was a great song for its time. -H- -- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Howard Berkey howard@netcom.com "That's BigbooTAY!" - John Bigbootay

Howard Berkey wrote:

quoted 7 lines 20 yrs? no way man. When they came out, both Code and Micro Phonies

> 20 yrs? no way man. When they came out, both Code and Micro Phonies > were GREAT. (at least IMHO). > > Code was better than Twitch (by ministry, not Mike, Jon, Jeff, Randall > &co :-) and Sensoria was a great song for its time. > > -H-

No doubt they've had some great dance stuff, but they've always stayed on the "safe" side of everything, know what I mean? Actually I find their early stuff quite imaginative (1974-1976) but as soon as punk got going they started introducing guitars and melodies - the dissonance seemed all of the sudden only gratuitous. In their early-80's period they got into the whole industrial-disco thing when it was "hot", and in the late '80's synthpop and house. It seems like they've always been a techno band waiting to happen, trying to fit whatever they were doing into a marketable form instead of blazing new trails. What I'm trying to say is I think they've finally found a unique direction - their techno today _really_ sounds like no-one else's. This is extremely positive because it probably means the '90's will be extremely fruitful if they are to continue. (All IMHO of course) /-oOOo------------oOOo-\ --------------------------/------------------------\-------------------------- "the only constant / Harvey D. Thornburg \ "the only certainty thing is change" / \ is uncertainty" / hthornbu@osiris.ac.hmc.edu \ ------------------------------------------------------------