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English musician
Gender:
Male
Birth:
21 March 1956(Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom)
Death:
21 September 2021
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The details
Biography

Introduction

Richard Harold Kirk (born 21 March 1956) is an English musician who has specialised in electronic music since the 1970s. He is best known as a member of the influential industrial music band Cabaret Voltaire, formed in 1973. He has subsequently released projects under his own name and as part of various groups, including Sweet Exorcist, in styles such as techno.

Background

Kirk first came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the seminal industrial band Cabaret Voltaire. His first release as a solo artist, Disposable Half-Truths, was released in 1980 and he maintained a career as a solo artist alongside Cabaret Voltaire until the band's dissolution in 1994. He reformed the band in 2014 as the sole remaining member, performing sporadically with all-new material more akin to his solo work than the output of the original incarnation of Cabaret Voltaire.

During the 1990s his solo output increased considerably. Kirk’s works have explored multiple types of electronic/dance music under many pseudonyms. His prolific work has resulted in AllMusic calling him contemporary techno's busiest man.

Aliases

In addition to solo releases under his own name, Richard H. Kirk has used the following aliases:

  • Agents With False Memories
  • Al Jabr
  • Anarchia
  • Biochemical Dread
  • Blacworld
  • Chemical Agent
  • Citrus
  • Cold Warrior
  • Countzero
  • Dark Magus
  • Destructive Impact
  • Dr. Xavier
  • Electronic Eye
  • Extended Family
  • Frightgod
  • Future Cop Movies
  • Harold Sandoz
  • International Organisation
  • King Of Kings
  • Multiple Transmission
  • Nine Miles Dub
  • Nitrogen
  • Orchestra Terrestrial
  • Outland Assassin
  • Papadoctrine
  • Pat Riot
  • Port-au-Prince
  • PSI Punky Dread Allstars
  • Reflexiv
  • The Revolutionary Army
  • Robots + Humanoids
  • Sandoz
  • Signals Intelligence
  • The Silent Age
  • Sweet Exorcist
  • Trafficante
  • Ubermenschlich
  • Ubu Rahmen
  • Wicky Wacky
  • Vasco de Mento

Partial discography

Albums

  • Disposable Half-Truths (1980, Industrial)
  • Time High Fiction (1983, Doublevision)
  • Black Jesus Voice (1986, Rough Trade)
  • Ugly Spirit (1986, Rough Trade)
  • Hoodoo Talk (with Peter Hope) (1988, Wax Trax!)
  • Virtual State (1993, Warp)
  • The Number of Magic (1995, Warp)
  • Knowledge Through Science (1998, Blast First)
  • Darkness At Noon (1999, Touch)
  • LoopStatic (Amine ß Ring Modulations) (2000, Touch)
  • TWAT v4.0: The War Against Terror (2003, Intone)
  • Earlier/Later—Unreleased Projects Anthology ’74–’89 (2004, Mute/EMI)
  • Richard H. Kirk Meets the Truck Bombers of Suburbia Uptown Vol. 1 (Feat. Pat Riot) (2004, Intone)
  • Sonic Reflections (Unreleased Soundtrack Project 1994) (2009, Intone)
  • Reality Is Opposite (2011, Intone)
  • Anonymized (2011, Intone)
  • #7489 (Collected Works 1974-1989) (2016, Mute Records)
  • Dasein (2017, Intone)

As Sandoz

  • Digital Lifeforms (1993, Touch)
  • Intensely Radioactive (1994, Touch)
  • Every Man Got Dreaming (1995, Touch)
  • Dark Continent (1996, Touch)
  • God Bless the Conspiracy (1997, Alphaphone)
  • In Dub: Chant to Jah (1998, Touch; 2002, Soul Jazz)
  • Afrocentris (2001, Intone)
  • Live in the Earth: Sandoz in Dub Chapter 2 (2006, Soul Jazz)
  • In Dub: Chapter Two/Extra Time (Under The Stones) (2006, Intone)
  • Acid Editions (303 Excursions) (2009, Intone)
  • Digital Life Time (2012, Intone)
  • #9294 (Collected Works 1992-1994) (2016, Mute Records)

As Electronic Eye

  • Closed Circuit (1994, Beyond)
  • The Idea of Justice (1995, Beyond)
  • Neurometrik (2000, Alphaphone)
  • Autoshark (2006, Intone)

12-inch singles

  • "Leather Hands" (with Peter Hope)
  • "Surgeons" (with Peter Hope)
  • "Hipnotic"

Collaboration

The following is a list of groups and artists Kirk has worked with:

  • Acid Horse
  • Cabaret Voltaire
  • Peter Hope
  • The Pressure Company
  • Sweet Exorcist
  • XON
  • Kora
  • The Tivoli