Acid house
Blondie/Debbie Harry
David Bowie (esp. Diamond Dogs)
Cabaret Voltaire
Depeche Mode (1982–98)
Marlene Dietrich
Antonín Dvořák
Duran Duran
Early New York electro
The Future/The Human League
Hip-house commercial (esp. Bomb The Bass, Coldcut, S'Express)
Kraftwerk (esp. Trans-Europe Express)
Nitzer Ebb (1985–91)
Pet Shop Boys (1984–88)
Public Enemy
Recoil (esp. 1+2 and Unsound Methods)
Ronnie Ronette
Erik Satie
Siouxsie And The Banshees
The Sisters Of Mercy
Suicide
Throbbing Gristle
+
Michelangelo Antonioni
Eve Arnold
Ingmar Bergman
Bill Brandt
Robert Frank
Humphrey Jennings
Franz Kafka
William Klein
Saul Leiter
Ken Loach
Len Lye
Chris Marker
Vladimir Nabokov
Mikio Naruse
Frank O'Hara
George Orwell
Yasujiro Ozu
John Pilger
Neil Postman
Karel Reisz
Alain Resnais
James Rosenquist
Kurt Schwitters
Andrei Tarkovsky
Henry David Thoreau
Agnès Varda
Deliberate's 'Theme from Not For Resale' can be heard at NFR's MySpace. Screening information for the Blanche Pictures documentary film Celestial, which features a Deliberate soundtrack, can be found here.
"Killer debut … 'Kensington Heights' opens the set, rooted upon a sumptuous Europop underpin and simmering to a frosted dynamic that one minute mooches ominously, the next unfurls to radiate a curiously hospitable warmth, a canvas upon which Esther freewheels her almost detached third-party narration – fans of Cobra Killer, Client and Salon Boris will rightly swoon at the spectacle. The empty, almost monotone 'Gavin has some problems' is eerily oblique. Christopher’s matter-of-fact delivery serves to deepen the feeling of unease, threaded upon a fragile, skeletal, ice cold and austere melodic framework that recalls Goblin/John Carpenter. The acutely aloof and antiseptic 'She could be persuaded', over on the flip of 12", is the release's centrepiece, courting a threadbare noirish exterior and offset with a buzzsawed fractured futuro-funk groove, delicately decorated with streaming cosmic swirls, mechanoid beats and Esther’s clinical vocal dissection, that drawn together lavish the landscape with a shadowy Teutonic cabaret sheen. It’s left to the parting 'Volunteer' lighten the mood – a kind of Cabaret Voltaire sampling 'The message' and Hancock's 'Rokkit' meets Yello, with Arthur Baker merrily dabbling about at the mixing desk. Ones to watch, we suspect." Losing Today review of Basic demographics, September 2007
"Thought I’d gone off electronica, being a trendist and a Luddite who hates and fears computers. This four-song debut from duo Deliberate has, in its elegant chilliness, recharged my inner robot. Schematic and metronomic; sparse but lush of sound (tricky, that); spare but melodically rich, it’s an effortless meld of precision laptop shimmer and old skool synth sounds. Old skool as in pre-rave Kraftwerk vintage – eg. those hissing syndrums: it’s like suddenly meeting an old friend.
Actually I’d gone off electronica because it seemed to be polarising between glitchy obscurantism and horrible Shoreditch-centric amyl nitrate noise: a cruddy bass loop, a weedy guitar and a few inane slogans. This is deeper, richer – features clever, intricate lyrics that tell stories – witness the creepy 'Gavin has some problems', a tale of mental disintegration delivered with dispassionate spoken-word clarity by Christopher over a John Carpenter backdrop. (Neatly, the music also disintegrates at the end, washing into a metallic purr like the sound of paranoia.) Alternate vocalist Esther guides you through two bracingly cynical mini-epics of loveless romance with soulful restraint; there’s a pre-dawn gloom in the air and it’s great. Their lighter side emerges with an instrumental dedicated to Bomb The Bass – as if in impudent reminder of what’s missing, not needed, there’s even a brief burst of … weedy guitar (sampled of course). Still, the cold glittering allure lingers." (Greville Wizzard) Robots + Electronic Brains review of Basic demographics, September 2007
"Delightfully Kraftwerk- and 1980s-influenced electronica. Up to three keyboards and laptop power the synthesised parts. Light percussive tickles, programmed bleeps, deafening organ, budum budum keyboards, space squeals and shimmering dynamic harmonics. Live drums, when present, focus on single cymbal and snare tapping. Vocals switch from bright female melodic twisting [to] dark male poetry that is almost Teutonic. Lyrics seem cleverly inventive ... A fine balance between early Human League and John Foxx ... Deliberate are making electronica as it has not been made for some time, no guitars, no samples of guitars, and no ecstasy. Refreshing. Thoughtful. Waywardly melodic. Metamatic." Opposition T live review
"Kraftwerk are the ghost in Deliberate’s shell, and it’s the rumble of the Autobahn in the background that serves as suitable setting for a reanimation of a clinically executed, deftly paced ep of icy, inhuman sounds. Like a stripped and slowed down Depeche Mode, songs like 'Sloanestruck' and 'Gavin has some problems' crawl across the speaker in a frigid half-light, exuding a similar air to Black Box Recorder tunes with the deadpan delivery of main man Christopher." The Brighton Source, February 2007
"Their pop is characterised by its melodic clarity and smart use of space. 'Sloanestruck' weaves together sly references to Dadaism and Roxy Music over a shuddering stripped-down rhythm. On 'She could be persuaded', perfect vocals contrast with the ambiguous lyric and stop-start bassline." Lab magazine
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