Stephen Mallinder


Stephen William Mallinder is an English artist/musician who was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, and went on to work as Sassi & Loco, the Ku-Ling Bros Hey, Rube!, Wrangler and Creep Show.

Biography

Mallinder founded Cabaret Voltaire in 1973.

Music

He also recorded as a solo artist in the 1980s, including the Pow-Wow album, released in 1983. In 1988 he recorded with members of Soft Cell in the band Love Street, and in 1989 he was a member of Acid Horse, a band which also featured Al Jourgensen of Ministry.
Mallinder, alongside Richard H. Kirk, established the Western Works Studio and subsequently produced in excess of 30 albums, working alongside producers and engineers including Flood, Adrian Sherwood and Marshall Jefferson. He worked as producer, remixer and live performer.
In 1982 Mallinder was one of the founders of Doublevision, which was the UK's first independent video label with an associated record label – and of Plastex Records in 1990.
Mallinder is also the founder of the Off World Sounds label, releasing material under the names Ku-Ling Bros. and Sassi & Loco. And established Off World Productions in 1998.

Writing

He is a former journalist, including as a music journalist for Australian publications Ministry Magazine, Sunday Times and West Australian – and as a radio presenter and producer for RTRFM.
Stephen Mallinder wrote a chapter for the publication Resonances: Noise and Contemporary Music, edited by Benjamin Halligan, Nicola Spelman and Michael Goddard for Continuum International Publishing Group. This book is a collection of essays, proposing new critical approaches and inquiries regarding debate and analysis of noise – from postpunk to shoegaze and beyond. Punk and Post-Punk Noise, Chapter 5 by Stephen Mallinder, 'Sounds Incorporated: Dissonant Sorties into Popular Music'.
He wrote the Preface for Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music, S. Alexander Reed Oxford University Press, 2013 and introductory chapter "Straight Connection back to Dusseldorf City" for German Pop Music: A Companion Penguin
He wrote "Live or Memorex: Artists and Producers Perceptions of Changing Music Practices" in The Digital Evolution of Live Music
Contributed "Remix Chapter" for Total State Machine: Test Dept.

Academic

Mallinder has published numerous academic papers, and gained his PhD in music and popular culture from Murdoch University in Australia in 2011 with his thesis Movement: Journey of the Beat. He now lives in Brighton and has been researching at the Art Design Media Centre and teaches on Digital Music & Sound Art at the University of Brighton.
Keynote addresses include "Life in Music" at the Red Bull Music Academy Music Technology" and the first academic Kraftwerk conference: "Music, Modernity and Movement"

Current music projects

He has recorded with Steve Cobby – one half of Fila Brazillia – under the name Hey, Rube!. Can You Hear Me Mutha?, their debut album, was released in October 2012 – a series of further Hey, Rube! recordings are currently being made ready for 2013 release.
The debut Ku-Ling Bros. album Creach was reissued in the United States through dPulse and follow up album "Here Come the Astronauts".
On February 2014, he collaborated with producer/remixer Dub Mentor on the single Obsession – which included three versions of a Cabaret Voltaire track. The single was released on the alternative/minimalist independent music label EnT-T.
A new single, recorded with Steve Cobby, is scheduled for release in April 2016.
Mallinder currently works with Phil Winter of Tunng and Benge under the name Wrangler for the Memetune Label. They have released three albums LA Spark, Sparked, and White Glue. Wrangler also worked with American artist John Grant under the name Creep Show, releasing the album Mr. Dynamite on the Bella Union label in 2018.
He has worked with actress Jane Horrocks, writing music and performing, for the theatre production "Cotton Panic" which debuted at Manchester International Festival in 2017.
He and Wrangler created the sci-fi film The Tourist, with director Tash Tung performing a live soundtrack, for the BFI Unifilmables project alongside Mica and Francesca Levi.
As part of Cabaret Voltaire he has had video work exhibited at MOMA and with Wrangler in the Turbines.
On 2019, Mallinder was featured on a spoken word version of Anna Domino's classic Lake – done by Dub Mentor. The single was also released on EnT-T.
On February 2020, he guested on Hysteria by producer Dub Mentor, a track that was conceived on the way back from troubled China, and came to life later at the studio.

Solo discography