New Wave Outpost Forum

Richard H. Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire died at the age of 65 on 21/09/2021.
808 State, who said Kirk had been "one the UK daddies of electronica" and his band's do-it-yourself approach was "an early inspiration of what to do with synths in the 70s"
(taken from the BBC website)
Charlayme

CV were never one of my fave bands but they were hugely important to the history of electronic music. True innovators. I have Code and The Crackdown and still enjoy listening to them on occasion. RIP.

CV were totally major for me. They really opened my ears with "Voice Of America" in 1980. I moved on "2x45" and "Eddie's Out." Then lost the plot until I saw those amazing videos during the Some Bizarre era and became obsessed. Rode that bus until "Groovy, Laidback + Nasty" lost me. Never ventured down the Kirk solo rabbit hole. Still, he was a major player for me. Whole genres might not exist but for CV's influence.

Yes Richard H Kirk was extremely talented, and it is a shame that Cabaret Voltaire never got the wider recognition they deserved, though were popular amongst British musicians and other people involved in the music scene.
I remember a friend of mine playing Cabaret Voltaire's 'Seconds Too Late' in 1980, and being completely stunned, Really had heard nothing like it : At the time Throbbing Gristle and perhaps the early Human League came close, but Cabaret Voltaire were still very distinct.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM5j7o3q3Dk&t=41s

I agree that CV were true innovators. They, along w artists such as Throbbing Gristle and perhaps This Heat and others, took influences from early Kluster, Stockhausen...etc. and added drum machines and rhythms to pretty much define the origins of "industrial" music. Later, CV often took on a more "dance" or "house" vibe which I did not care for. That said, personally, I like my experimental electronic music to be paired with song structures, so for me, I ultimately found the CV sound somewhat limited as every album seemed to travail the same general avenues. For me artists such as Human League, Fad Gadget, John Foxx, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode...etc. were much more interesting. While I am not sure if CV were ever interested in writing "pop" songs or not, I don't think they were capable of creating anything close to a track such as "Blasphemous Rumours" by Depeche Mode.