SAMPLE & HOLD : cabaret voltaire CODE

Code, Cabaret Voltaire's 1987 release is in dire need of reconsideration. While this release is another of Cabaret Voltaire's mark ll dance-oriented albums without Chris Watson, it does contain a number of gems that reaffirm CV's importance as a trail-blazing electronic band. There is no explosive garage-electronica as typified by their classic early "Nag Nag Nag" or the open dystopian noise space of "Voice of America"...BUT the first three cuts are classic jabs of noise, Burroughian voice cut-up samples, and suggestions of paranoia.  Don't Argue, Sex, Money, Freaks, and Thank You America are breath-taking AND thought-provoking, the result of Brits taking an outsider's media-eye's view of  American cultural obsessions and psycho-glitches. The title track is prophetic; 2012 seen from afar, everyone reduced to digital zeros and ones. Thank you America ends with a sampled voice screaming "We don't believe in no God, we don't believe in no Jesus, we don't believe in no bible! a shouting match that continues today as the religious-right attempts a Taliban-like take-over of America's vital cultural  heterogeneous mix.