Shiva Records

cool as f**k for years now. amillionsons, neon heights, zoe johnston, crazy p have all trawled through shiva's deep deep waters...................................................... ........................................................ ...................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ .. ............... ............................ ............................................................ ...............................KORA!KORA!KORA! CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS OUT SOON ON COOL DIGI-PAK CD DESIGNED BY THEDESIGNERSREPUBLIC NO LESS. WATCH THIS SPACE....................................................... ............................................... ..................................... .................................. ............................................................ ............................................................ ..... ..................... ...................................... ........THE WIRE: KORA!KORA!KORA! (CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS)..................... The harmony vocals of the Kora brothers acquire a genuinely plaintive quality and Kirk ratchets up this sense of dislocation with devilish glee.... "Burning" is a sparse, spasmodic loop which folds synthetic horns to its chilly bosom and gradually acquires a bleak but riveting intensity. "Flow" redeems with queasy, gritty synths, deliberately lurching sub-bass and slowly oscillating sirens. There is method in this madness............................................. ............................... ............................................................ ............... ............................................................ .............................. RECORD COLLECTOR: CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS........................................ Kora!Kora!Kora! is the first new work by Cabaret Voltaire since 1994, a re-working of key tracks from the debut album by the New Zealand platinum-selling dub warriors Kora. It's a robust cut-up techno rammed ful of found voices and, at times, beats so big you think you're back at London's Heavenly Social in 1996. Using soul voices and song structures from traditional R&B, we have huge, building song sketches. When the bass drops on Burning or the exhilaration of the restless, relentless forward motion of Flow, you realise just how skillful and overlooked a producer Kirk has always been. .......................... ......................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ .. ......................................................... ............................................................ ............. DROWNED IN SOUND: CABARET VOLTAIRE / KORA!KORA!KORA! Opener 'Skankenstein' is a brutal beast that doesn't so much add meat to the original as tear it open and wear it as a hat, dispelling at a stroke any misplaced notions that Kirk might have gone a bit pipe 'n' slippers. Its nagging metallic rhythms are underpinned by a single-minded bass pulse that’s screaming to be unleashed in dance tents next summer. 'Pop Your Bubble''s deep marriage of sonar-signal bleeps, chopped vocals and funky Motown strings is another highlight, while the beatless 'Burning Reprise' closes the album on a note of euphoria that will be familiar to anyone with the good fortune to know Kirk’s Virtual State album................ ........................................ ............................................................ ....................................................... ............................................................ ...... THE HEARING AID: A truly big deal for anyone with even a passing interest in late 70's /early 80's industrial electro - the return of Sheffield's mighty wizards of sound Cabaret Voltaire................................................ ............................................................ .......................................... ............................................................ ................................... ............................................................ ....................... THE BIG ISSUE: KORA!KORA!KORA!............................................. . The Sheffield electronic pioneers return via an unexpected route, re-editing seven tracks by Maori dub outfit Kora, a platinum-selling concern in their native New Zealand. The ominous, rolling synths of Skankenstein are superb...................................................... .... ................................................. ............................................................ ........................ UNCUT: KORA!KORA!KORA!........New Zealand dub rockers get a Steel City makeover............................................. It has all the signs of Kirk dusting down the old chassis. Backing tracks are all but obliterated, replaced by cold horns and digital dub, while Kora's soulful vocals are looped out into ghostly, blanched echoes....More chilly than chilled............................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ........................... ............................................................ ................................... THE QUIETUS: KORA!KORA!KORA! CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS BY JOHN DORAN............ This is a fine, fine record. Opening track 'Skankenstein' has been hammered to death in the Quietus offices. It's a brutish and efficient acid banger with waspish Roland blats and beeps and howls of dubbed out white noise. It calls to mind Stakker, Renegade Soundwave and other blasts of late 80s leftfield club action. Elsewhere the mighty spectres of Meat Beat Manifesto ('Radio Babylon' incarnation), Nitzer Ebb ('Fun To Be Had' incarnation), Emmanuel Top, Tackhead and Dub Syndicate are raised to do unholy battle. On its own this is a great record, but it's what it prefixes.................................................... ..................... ............................... ............................................................ ........................... ............................................................ ............................................................ .. .......................... THE BEAT SURRENDER: KORA!KORA!KORA! CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS............. ......... I’ve always loved Cabaret Voltaire, they’ve always had a real air of mystery about them and seem to have remained one pace ahead of everyone else over the years. They’ve often remained under rated, probably because they were ahead of their time and only now are people seeing them for the innovators they really were.Unfortunately Kora! Kora! Kora! isn’t a brand new album from the boys, but it is a mighty fine project that they have brought their own unique influence to bear on. The tracks are actually reworkings / remixes / cut ups / loops…call them what you want, of Kora tracks, the Maori dub star.You get seven tracks, which isn’t a huge number but they are all exceptionally well done and very diverse. The opener Skankenstein sounds like an industrial electro track, where as Flow is far more dubby. As with any CV album it has a certain darkness running throughout, but the tracks do have soulful moments where the original vocals shine through making it a pleasing and surprising album that shouldn’t disappoint fans of either artist...................................................... ............................................................ . ............................................................ ............................. ............................................................ ............................................................ .. ............ NME: KORA CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS by ASH DOSANJH..................................................... .... ............................................... ...................................."We will not allow any dancing." It's a maxim that industrial noise monsters will be well aware of and, since Cabaret Voltaire's conception in the '70s, it's practically been their way of life. But, judging by this reworking of the debut album by New Zealand dub-funk outfit Kora, it seems as if Richard H Kirk (the essence of CV in its present form) is getting soft in his old age and deviating from the rules of his own game. Gone are the brooding vocals and menacing synths CV are known for. Instead there's a reliance on playful electronic and house beats punctuated by soulful vocals, as 'Skankenstein' and 'Pop Your Bubble" denote. Rules are made to be broken. Dance away children, dance....................................................... ................... ......................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ . ...................... .......................................... ............................................................ ..........METRO: CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS IS A SURREAL TREAT by ARWA HAIDER............................ ......................................... ...................................Rumours have long abounded concerning new material from legendary Sheffield post-punks Cabaret Voltaire – this curious project isn't the hoped-for comeback but it's alluring enough to please devotees and draw in new listeners. Cabaret Voltaire founder Richard H Kirk has intricately crafted a cut-and-paste 'collage' based on the 2007 debut album by Maori dub rock outfit Kora (hence the title). That might sound weird but his artful touch ensures these drawn-out tracks are also brilliantly listenable. It brings to mind the Mad Professor's 1995 dub reworking of Massive Attack, No Protection, taking on new life with vocal segments, electronic effects and hefty basslines.Standout tracks include the pulsing album opener, Skankenstein, and the edgy atmosphere of Crazy Things. The chilled reprise of Burning, meanwhile, evokes classic ambient house.In its own way, it's danceable, too; party soundtracks don't get more surreal than this..................... .......................................... ............................................................ ......................................................... ............................................................ .......................................................... ......................... ........................................... ............................................................ ......CULTURE DELUXE: CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS by ANDY J .................................................... ......................................... .................................Kora have featured before on Culture Deluxe, and it looks like their movement is building. As their UK fanbase builds, the Maori dub band are now lucky enough to count Richard H Kirk (for he is now Cabaret Voltaire) amongst their appreciative audience. And it..s clear this is largely a Cabaret Voltaire album from the outset. We..re talking industrial & dubby beats that recall the early sounds of Meat Beat Manifesto to a four by the floor beat. The effect is not unlike a Depeche Mode remix in places, especially on opener ..Stankenstein.. - clearly a very good thing. There..s a hint of the Orb..s early warped genius on tracks such as .. Pop Your Bubble.. also which is not something to be missed. Previous single ..Flow.. is rendered into a digital-dub that is unrecognisable from the original, and it..s a theme that continues as the album moves along. By the time ..Crazy Things.. comes into play, we're in severely fucked up dub territory, having passed through the previous industrial haze of ..Burning... Album closer, ..Burning Reprise.. could not be more at odds with the rest of the album if it tried. As it..s beatless, it..s a blissful ending to a journey in which the beats have been the most important part of the trip. It's only now that you realise the echo loops are equally important, and Cabaret Voltaire are indeed masters of their particular craft.................. ............................................................ ............................................................ .... ..................

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