High Time Fiction

Kirk's second solo album (though actually his first truly independent release, as the previous DISPOSABLE HALF-TRUTHS was a reissue of an obscure early cassette) operates across similar thresholds that Cabaret Voltaire were exploring around the same timeframe (early-'80s). At this juncture in their career, the Cabs were spearheading the radical dance movement that would come to be known as "industrial dance" or EBM (electronic body music), typified by hard funk sequencers and awry electronics. This double disc set continues Kirk's fascination with landscapes and concepts wrenched out of a Burroughsian universe: the morose synthfunk of "The Greedy Eye," the covert sonic neurons of "Wiretap," and the decadent atmospheres of "Shaking Down the Tower of Babel." Disc two is taken up with the two-part "Dead Relatives," a sinister trek through brokedown shortwave environments, dying sax squeals, cut-up rhythms and myriad noxious regions. Little did Kirk know how prescient these sonic squalls were in the burgeoning electronic pantheon.