cool as f**k for years now. amillionsons, neon heights, zoe johnston, crazy p have all trawled through
shiva's deep deep waters..............................................................................................................
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KORA!KORA!KORA! CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS OUT SOON ON COOL DIGI-PAK CD DESIGNED BY
THEDESIGNERSREPUBLIC
NO LESS. WATCH THIS SPACE......................................................................................................
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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.............................................
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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.
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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................
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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................................................
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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..........................................................
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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...............................................
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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.........................................................................
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THE BEAT SURRENDER: KORA!KORA!KORA! CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS.............
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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...................................................................................................................
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NME: KORA CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS by ASH DOSANJH.........................................................
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"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..........................................................................
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METRO: CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS IS A SURREAL TREAT by ARWA HAIDER............................
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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.....................
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CULTURE DELUXE: CABARET VOLTAIRE VERSIONS by ANDY J ....................................................
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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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Hi Amrik, Great news that Kora Kora Kora is released in New Zealand at the end of March. Radio NZ is still really keen to interview Richard H Kirk ahead of that. Please let us know? e-mail: music101(at)radionz. co. nz good on you. Liisa
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