The world doesn't really need a new blog about music. I need to make a blog about music. So, this is a self indulgent endeavor from the start.
The general idea, for me, is to collect historical information about the dark music scene. As a self indulgent pursuit, what gets focused on is certainly going to be mostly what interests me. What is included in the "dark scene" will probably be a little broader than what most would include. I'm working with various waves, goth, industrial, some neo-s, and all that trash. One way to think about this might be "bands that I would love to see play at Wave Gotik Treffen (even if they don't quite fit).
Lately I've been doing some digging about Cabaret Voltaire, so I'll throw the information in this post. As I finish that reading/listening I'll update the post. Eventually maybe I'll finish it, or break it into subsections. Eventually, out of practice, maybe some order will come to this mess.
A History by Membership
The Trio
One old saw in music writing is that bands produce their best work early in their career, before they know exactly what they're doing. Clearly not a truism (Radiohead and The Beatles both got better with age), but this captures Cabaret Voltaire for me. Turns out, this is largely because 1/3 of the band ups and leaves after contributing to a masterpiece of the genre.
To set the stage, the band officially formed in 1973 Sheffield, England. Chris Watson & Richard H. Kirk had been messing around with sound recording equipment for a while and both expressed an interest in making actual songs. They recruited Stephen Millander to lend his voice (and percussive abilities) and the trio was complete.
The band was these three for nearly a decade. They were giants of the local scene (building out a recording studio that they let others use, giving advice, starting fights with audiences), making some noise nationally and internationally (touring with Joy Division), and in the cassette trade (their earliest recorded work is not 1979's Mix-Up but 1974-1976, a cassette put out by Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records). Eventually they decided to take the music in a more commercial direction (signing with Rough Trade certainly had some influence here) hired some producers to make somewhat more approachable music.
I would argue that only music made in this era is properly 'industrial.'* While they are clearly making music -- there are melodies and rhythms -- frequently their compositions don't really feel like songs. More often than not they are sound collages with enough rhythm and coherence that they feel straightforwardly musical, even if the sounds they use are anything but (e.g. see Mix-Up's Kirlian Photograph or 4th shot, the latter of which is one of the few times I've ever actually thought a song sounded like a poem set to music). Sure, there are clearly efforts to make songs -- check out the video for the same album's No Escape to see an adorably self-aware and deliberate trio try to work within the parameters of a normal band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCiFw0N8yYc&list=PLF5235CDE7554D875&index=2. ) However, even at their best (nag nag nag, anyone) those efforts always seem somewhat cheeky and ironic. When they're not just goofing around (do the snake, from 74/76) they seems to be an earnestness and even a somewhat successful effort to capture some transcendent feeling (the opening of Heaven and Hell, much of Red Mecca).
For better or for worse, they also were some of the earliest acts (maybe the earliest?) in the scene to make overtly and unsubtly politically-alligned music. The Voice of America lays the groundwork for what would later become a long tradition of heavy-handed political samples and oppressive moods associated with a clear message (rather than being merely aesthetic objects). Don't get me wrong -- it has a place in my heart. But, it does still feel like a band trying to figure out who they are.
The following effort, Red Mecca, is a less ham-fisted political album. It's a high concept work (it feels like an art project at times) about the relation of Islam and the West (timely!). Sure, at times it feels a smidge pretentious. But, this is the first time that the band really feels like they know exactly what they're doing. Everything is pulled off well, it feels deliberate and nothing is oversimplified. It was also a huge critical and commercial success.
Eventually the boys decided, as did so many at this time, that they wanted to make music that you can dance to. The three of them only made one attempt at this, and it is, to my mind, one of the best albums of the 1980's 2X45. What makes this album so remarkable is how effectively it is a dance album while compromising none of the bands earlier aesthetic traits. The songs still don't always feel like songs, the music is heavily distorted, the samples are dark (even if the outer limit's query about the earth's population does not retain any sinister feeling today), and there are clearly homages to non-western music. It doesn't hurt that Protection showcases what the saxophone (clearly humanity's greatest musical innovation) is capable of if placed front and center and let go. At the same time -- it is extremely difficult to listen to this album and not want to move your body around.
After achieving everything he set out to do with this project (I can only assume), Chris Watson left the band to work with the Halfler Trio, engage in a number of solo projects, and eventually work for the BBC, especially closely with David Attenborough recording the sounds of different places around the world. There is a hard break between 2X45 and everything that comes afterward (even if the former's danciness foreshadows things to come). I almost wish they had changed their name, as they really don't feel like the same band anymore. But, more on that in another post.
* Obviously this is an over-broad claim. I wouldn't enjoy quibbling over whether or not Micro-phonies' Theme from Earthshaker is or is not industrial.
