Richard Harold Kirk (21 March 1956 – 21 September 2021) was an English musician who specialised in

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

. His career began as a co-founder of the influential

industrial music Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...

band Cabaret Voltaire, formed in 1973. He subsequently released projects under his own name and a number of aliases, and was a member of various groups such as Sweet Exorcist. Kirk was considered a major figure in the creation of industrial music.

Background

Kirk first came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the seminal

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

band Cabaret Voltaire. He cited a wide range of musicians, including Stockhausen, John Cage and Fela Kuti, as inspiring his work. Kirk's first release as a solo artist, ''

Disposable Half-Truths ''Disposable Half-Truths'' is the debut solo album by Richard H. Kirk, released originally on cassette by Industrial Records Industrial Records is a record label established in 1976 by industrial music and visual arts group Throbbing Gris ...

'', 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 explored multiple types of electronic/dance music under many

pseudonyms A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

. His prolific work resulted in

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

calling him contemporary techno's busiest man. Kirk died on 21 September 2021, at the age of 65.

Aliases

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

Collaborations

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

Acid Horse Acid Horse was a one-off collaborative side project between two industrial music pioneers, Ministry and Cabaret Voltaire. Only one single, "No Name, No Slogan", was released in 1989 on Wax Trax! Records. The band name is a combination of the sla ...

* Cabaret Voltaire *Citrus * Kora *Peter Hope *The Pressure Company * Sweet Exorcist *The Tivoli *XON

Partial discography

Albums

* ''

'' (1980,

Industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

) * '' 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 In quantum physics, a virtual state is a very short-lived, unobservable quantum state. In many quantum processes a virtual state is an intermediate state, sometimes described as "imaginary" in a multi-step process that mediates otherwise forbi ...

'' (1993,

Warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a ...

) * '' The Number of Magic'' (1995, Warp) * ''Agents with false memories'' (1996, Ash International) * '' Knowledge Through Science'' (1998,

Blast First Blast First is a sub label of one-time independent record label Mute Records, founded in approximately 1985. It was named after a phrase taken from the first number of the radical Vorticist journal ''Blast'', published by Wyndham Lewis in 1914 ...

) * ''

Darkness At Noon ''Darkness at Noon'' (german: link=no, Sonnenfinsternis) is a novel by Hungarian-born novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best known work, it is the tale of Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik who is arrested, imprisoned, and tried f ...

'' (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 Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...

) * ''Dasein'' (2017, Intone)

As Sandoz

*''Digital Lifeforms'' (1993,

Touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is ...

) *''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 Soul jazz or funky jazz is a subgenre of jazz that incorporates strong influences from hard bop, blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues. Soul jazz is often characterized by organ trios featuring the Hammond organ and small combos including ten ...

) *''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,

)

As Electronic Eye

*''Closed Circuit'' (1994,

Beyond Beyond may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Beyond'' (1921 film), an American silent film * ''Beyond'' (2000 film), a Danish film directed by Åke Sandgren, OT: ''Dykkerne'' * ''Beyond'' (2010 film), a Swedish film directed b ...

) *''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"

References

External links

* *
Interview with Richard H. Kirk
by

André Éric Létourneau André Éric Létourneau is a French Canadian media and transmedia artist, researcher, author, musician, composer, curator and professor based primarily in Montreal and Saint-Alponse-Rodriguez, Québec, Canada. He uses several pseudonyms, most ...

- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, Richard H. 1956 births 2021 deaths English electronic musicians English experimental musicians English keyboardists English record producers Remixers Industrial Records artists Rough Trade Records artists Mute Records artists Warp (record label) artists Musicians from Sheffield Blast First artists Cabaret Voltaire (band) members