Mechanical Cabaret

"Product For Your Insecurity" (Album, 2006)

Soiled Records

I have an irrepressible liking for Mechanical Cabaret's Roi Robertson. He often appears as a parallel universe version of myself. Sort of what I might have been if only circumstances had taken a fateful different tangent at some point. That's the only way I can explain how his songwriting gets inside my head the way it does. Even from his Nekromantik days I picked up on his unique combination of styles and influences. The resulting sound occupies a peculiar space between real darkness and emotion crushing despair and a joy for life and optimism that suggests no boundaries. It can be a slightly schizophrenic affair.

This duality is ever more present in Mechanical Cabaret's work and this second album showcases that spectrum in exciting style. The album balances dancefloor stompers like Blank Canvas with more reflective pieces like It Will All Come Back To You; and whilst the balance is often a little too uneasy it does mean there's plenty of unpredictable variety. Lyrically, this is as witty, wry and poetic as ever; Robertson just gets better and better on that front. Steve (Greenhaus) Bellamy's co-production on Disbehave bears the distinctive touch of his main project, whilst reworked, stronger versions of the last A-A side single tracks Cheap and Nasty and See Her Smile both get a reprise here, but already they feel quite distant from some of the newer material.

Songs like the clever John Barry-isms of Don't Murder Me I'm Drowning and the brilliant, exhilirating Each Day You Die A Little Bit More convincingly rise above expectations, firmly establishing Robertson as a thrilling and passionate songwriter with a range beyond the reach of many of his contemporaries. They prove there's a lot more to Mechanical Cabaret than immediately meets the eye. If the style could be honed more towards these two songs then this would be unreservedly essential (and could see Robertson's star really rocket). 7/10

Rob Dyer (July 2006)

"Cheap and Nasty/See Her Smile" (Maxi Single, 2005)

Umami

It's been three years since Mechanical Cabaret's sleazy debut album We Have an Agenda. Three long years. Thankfully, the wait for more material is over with the release of this terrific six-track maxi single.

The basic electronics return but the production has certainly improved in the intervening years. There are two versions of the two title tracks and, unusually, the extended versions are as good as if not better than the original shorter cuts. Proving that there's more than meets the eye to their writing ability, Nothing In Life That's Worth Having Will Not Be Taken Away sounds vaguely like Babyland but the Mecab trademark theatricality remains distinctive throughout. Whilst the euphoric Berliner Mix of Siegessaule is tailor made for some dark and dingy Berlin dive. Oh yeah, and you must let that track six run for while after its finished. If you do you'll be treated to a hidden desert: the most wonderful and heart-rending piece of music Mechanical Cabaret have ever written. Imagine Danny Elfman's score for Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands, feel the lump rise in your throat and the tears well up in your eyes. Beautiful. 7/10

Rob Dyer (April 2005)

"We Have An Agenda" (Album, 2002)

Soiled Records

Take a dash of Punk ethic, chuck in a substantial measure of odd pop glamour, a sprinkling of bleeping electronics and shake vigorously in the style of the late Fad Gadget and the resulting saucy cocktail is called Mechanical Cabaret. Based around singer, songwriter (and former Nekromantik member) Roi and accompanied by percussionist and bleep controller Tobi, and stained panties image maker Bruce, Mechanical Cabaret are not the ideal first date to take home to meet your Mum.

Roi's south London delivery gives the brilliant lyrics a heartfelt and honest personal dimension that transcends cliche and predictability and results instead in some of the finest gender-bending dark pop the planet has seen in years. Unlike so many that take to music these days simply because they've got an ego and some equipment through which they inflict it on an unsuspecting public, Mechanical Cabaret has, as the title to this debut album suggests, something worth saying. What's more, they deliver it with a blend of brutally frank and decidedly English black humour that (despite passing similarities to early Soft Cell) sets this apart from any potential contenders.

Sometimes unnerving, this experience staggers from simple dancefloor fillers to more contemplative ballads. The more enterprising stuff tends to appear in the slower tracks like Horripilations, yet the superb melody line found on Devoid recalls those moving instrumentals of early Depeche Mode, whilst Mein Fuhrer and Sterili Zed are influenced by EBM, and Let's Have Some Fun chucks in a "You're gonna get your fuckin' head kicked in." Quadrophenia sample into a song that sounds like an outtake from the heavy side of Ministry's Twitch album. The sinister fairground whirlings of Meat Closet and the brilliant A Slapdash Affair are simultaneously evocative and affecting; and the stunning opening twenty seconds of Is Normal Abnormal prove that there is still plenty to get excited about in English electronic music.

The entire thing is done with (deliberately) rudimentary sounding but effective electronics that not only suit the sensibilities at work but seem entirely appropriate for an album shot through with British electronic music history whilst simultaneously and ingeniously injecting a contemporary experimentalism. The deeper, more serious currents, both musically and conceptually, are especially inventive and rewarding and what really define this album. Though I suspect many will simply take We Have An Agenda on face value which would be a shame. Delightfully tasteful artwork too. An exciting and intelligent, talent-driven debut that should, if there is any adventurous taste left amongst the buying public, put Mechanical Cabaret distinctively on the world musical map. I look forward to wearing the distasteful merchandise that I hope is due to follow. 7/10

Rob Dyer

Official Mechanical Cabaret website: http://www.mechanicalcabaret.com