Review: Cabaret Voltaire - Plasticity
Al Crawford
Cabaret Voltaire Plasticity Plastex EXL:CD 03 [UK]
Total Running Time: 75 min 08 sec
1. Low Cool 6:31
2. Soul Vine (70 Billion People) 7:50
3. Resonator 5:54
4. Inside The Electronic Revolution 5:29
5. From Another Source 6:49
6. Deep Time 7:42
7. Back To Brazilia 6:10
8. Neuron Factory 4:58
9. Delmas 19 6:05
10. Cooled Out 2:26
11. Invisible Generation 5:58
12. Soulenoid (Scream At The Right Time) 8:45
I've not been particularly taken with Cabaret Voltaire's recent output -
the last album of theirs that I'd admit to actually having *enthused* about
was _Code_ back in 1986. They've shown hints of their old creativity from
time to time since then (particularly on 1991's _Body And Soul_) but on the
whole I've found their recent techno material to be boring and rather
plastic.
_Plasticity_, however, manages to pull them out of their recent rut while
still remaining firmly in techno territory. The primary differences lie in
not such a heavy reliance on house/techno cliches and the addition of
samples (lots!) which gives the 12 instrumental tracks more in the way of
texture and interest.
"Low Cool" gives a strong hint that this album is something a little
different from their recent output as quiet rhythmic synth effects
accompany a recording of US gang members explaining a wide range of their
slang. It's not likely to get much radio play (the gang members as you
would expect are not the sort of people you'd introduce to your Great-Aunt
Matilda unless she also regularly refers to people as "fucking
motherfuckers" and carries an AK-47) but it's a pretty good track that
shows Kirk and Mallinder once again have the confidence to produce
something that isn't an out-and-out dance track.
"Soul Vine" is more typical of their house/techno sound but pulls itself
above the ghastly remixes on _Technology_ or the material on _Percussion
Force_ with a fair-sized spicing of samples, primarily the "the 70 billion
people of Earth - where are they hiding?" sample that they used heavily on
"Yashar" back in 1981.
"Resonator" is probably my favourite track on the album. Although it does
eventually develop a beat and become something danceable it starts out as a
tapestry of electronic effects and sounds that make it sound like a
modernised version of early Kraftwerk. Add an attractive melody and a
decent beat and the end result is my favourite Cabaret Voltaire track in
quite a while.
"Inside The Electronic Revolution" is another more obviously contemporary
track but lacks the "clonk" noises and cold, plastic feel that they've been
overusing recently. It's difficult to explain exactly why this works where
some of the tracks on _Percussion Force_ didn't when superficially there's
a lot of resemblance but I can't help feel that more thought has gone into
the tracks on _Plasticity_ resulting in an album that while clearly an
album of dance music is easier to listen to in its own right. More complex
rhythms perhaps? A wider range of sounds?
"From Another Source" is another goody, combining a slow steady beat with
coldly whooshy analogue synth sounds and occasional slightly funkier
sequences. Good stuff. "Deep Time" is a subtle techno track that builds
slowly into a mix of a subdued beat, interesting samples and woozy synths.
If only more of CV's recent techno had been like this rather than...
"Back To Brazilia" which while not exactly *terrible* has a lot more wrong
with it than almost any track here with wailing diva samples and cliched
bleeps. Yawn. They make up for this mistake a little with "Neuron Factory"
which takes a lecture on brain chemistry and the nature of consciousness
and lays a hard techno track over the top.
"Delmas 19" is another hard techno track although it shows enough
imagination to prevent me dismissing it out of hand. Much better though is
the (unfortunately short) "Cooled Out" which could be fairly accurately
described as an ambient electronic piece. This is followed by "Invisible
Generation", another piece of reasonably interesting (although not
earth-shattering) techno.
The album is nicely rounded off by "Soulenoid". While this might, at first
glance, seem to be an astonishingly repetitive piece of techno, the
interesting thing about it is that *you don't even notice the music*. Why?
Because they`ve sampled enormous tracts of the Outer Limits episode that
the "the 70 billion people of Earth" sample came from. This is also true of
"Soul Vine" (of which "Soulenoid" seems to be a remix) but this track
features more of the samples as well as making them rather more clearly
heard. After listening to this track, you too will know just where the 70
billion people of Earth *are* hiding. The end result is more like a story
with background music than a techno track.
As you might have guessed from the general tone of this review, I am *not*
a big fan of techno. This is mainly due to most techno being written solely
for dancing to and thus making rather dull and repetitive listening.
_Plasticity_ scores a little higher than most techno for me due to the
sounds themselves being of interest (not nearly as cliched as other recent
CV) and the occasional track that isn't dance-oriented. It's certainly
easier to distinguish between the tracks than was the case with _Percussion
Force_ or _Body And Soul_. So, while I'm not about to rave endlessly about
this album I'm not going to write it off - it's certainly as good as
anything they have done since _Code_ and is probably their best album of
recent years, so I'll give it a +2.
Erland Rating: +2
--
Al Crawford - aw...@dcs.ed.ac.uk
Department Of Computer Science, The University of Edinburgh
Rm 1410, JCMB, Kings Buildings, Mayfield Rd, EDINBURGH, EH9 3JZ, Scotland
Tel: +44 (0) 31 650 5165 Fax: +44 (0) 31 667 7209