Culture Club

After studiously educating himself on the world of electronica whilst working in a record store in his native Holland, Delta Funktionen began releasing techno in 2008. Now infusing his EP's and LP's on Delsin with Chicago, Detroit, electro and Italo influences, he is known for using analogue and digital tools in exciting new ways that bare resemblance to the past whilst always looking forwards. As a DJ he is no less dexterous and is as able to headline fabric as he is warm up for Jeff Mills, always with the intention of laying down some "serious fun".

Ja, eine kleine revolutionäre Kirche mit einer sehr überschaubaren Zahl an aktiven Teilnehmern, egal ob Punk, Industrial oder irgendwas dazwischen und die sich häufig kannten. Nicht nur die Differenz zum konservativen Mainstream, sondern vor allem zur noch von Hippie-Endmoränen geprägten Rockkultur machte 'erhaben'. In der Postmoderne existieren hingegen eine unendliche Anzahl an revolutionären, experimentellen und kreativen Entwürfen - alle quasi gleichberechtigt nebeneinander und alle im Gegensatz zu einst erreichbar...

Mein erster Punksong, 76 als Knabe im Radio in einer damals bekannten Progrocksendung gehört, die auch Ramones I brachten. Patti Smith kannte ich schon vorher, würde die aber nie unter Punkrock subsumieren:

Cindytalk is an experimental music project, founded in 1982. Cindytalk operated as a group for many years, but more recently has been a solo project by Gordon Sharp, a Scottish performer who has been the only constant member since its inception in 1982.

Cindytalk was formed in 1982 by Gordon Sharp (Vocals) and David Clancy (Guitar, Keyboards) from the ashes of Edinburgh based punk/new wave band The Freeze.

After re-locating to London in 1982, Cindytalk began to work towards their debut album Camouflage Heart, with a darker and more fractured sound that drew much from post-punk and early European industrial music. In 1983 Sharp and Clancy were joined by John Byrne who proved to be a crucial component in Cindytalk's deliberately disintegrating sound.

The album Camouflage Heart appeared to some critical acclaim in the UK music press. Shortly after Camouflage Heart David Clancy left the band and was replaced by brother/sister team Alex and Debbie Wright. The colossal In This World was recorded over the next three years: two albums of the same name released simultaneously, featuring cover art by Kathy Patterson. The first of the albums, a broken and noisy affair, the second, an album of creaky ambience featuring Sharp's improvised piano experiments. In This World also featured an uncredited collaboration with feminist punk writer Kathy Acker (Janey's Love).

During this period Cindytalk had also begun working in tandem with performance artist and film maker Ivan Unwin, providing sound for some of his short pieces. This led Cindytalk to scoring Unwin's "Eclipse: An Amateur Enthusiasts Guide to Virus Deployment", the record of which was released on Midnight Music in 1990 under the title The Wind Is Strong..., the album, following on from the second of the In This World albums, was based on piano improvisations and abstract/concrete experiments. At the time Sharp described it as "Ambi-dustrial" fusing his love of the early ambient releases on the EG label with the above-mentioned European Industrial music. Sharp was joined on this release by Ivan Unwin and long standing co-producer/engineer David Ros who then became a more active member of the band. Matt Kinnison and drummer/percussionist Paul Middleton also provided sounds and ideas to this mix. Secrets And Falling, a 4-track e.p. culled from the Wappinschaw sessions was released in 1991. At this point the band had become more of a collective, drawing on musicians from the current line-up as well as the past, John Byrne returned and was joined by Kevin Rich and Darryl Moore (Soul Static Sound).

Midnight Music folded in 1992 and prevented the recently finished album Wappinschaw from being released until 1995 (on Sharp's own label Touched, distributed through World Serpent). Wappinschaw features a collaboration with Scottish artist and writer Alasdair Gray, who reads from his novel "Lanark" (Wheesht).

By 1993, Cindytalk had gone through more changes and was preparing to play live for the first time. Sharp, Middleton and Ros were joined by Paul Jones, Andie Brown, Mark Stephenson and Simon Carmichael to record and release 1994's "Muster"/"Prince Of Lies" 7 inch (Touched/World Serpent).

In early 1996, Cindytalk toured the US. They played two shows in Boston — one a "secret" show at the start of their tour under the name "Lucinder", and one at the end. In between, they played Washington DC, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, Portland OR, Seattle, Santa Clara, San Francsisco, Corona CA, Tempe AZ, Baton Rouge, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Charlotte NC and New York City. Bowery Electric and Trance to the Sun were opening acts at multiple dates.

In 2007, Cindytalk signed a licensing deal with Italian distributors Abraxas through a sub-label Wheesht, who were to re-issue the back catalogue up to Wappinschaw. However, this deal appears to have gone awry with Abraxas releasing the first two Cindytalk albums Camouflage Heart and In This World without complying with the contract.
2003 until now[edit]

2003's Klang Galerie 7" release Transgender Warrior / Guts Of London saw Cindytalk move into more abstract areas, taking a closer look at the rhythms, tones and melodies of noise.

Since 2004, Gordon Sharp has split his time between Japan and the UK, working on various projects. This has included Cindytalk performing live (solo or group), and a number of (mostly solo) recordings.

Most notably, Vienna-based label Editions Mego have released a series of Cindytalk albums, mostly comprising solo work by Gordon Sharp: The Crackle of My Soul (2009), Up Here in the Clouds (2010), Hold Everything Dear (2011), and A Life Is Everywhere (repast) (2013).[1] A vinyl double album The Poetry Of Decay collects both The Crackle of My Soul and Up Here in the Clouds (2010). A 10inch vinyl split release in tandem with Robert Hampson was released in 2010, featuring Cindytalk's Five Mountains Of Fire and Robert Hampson's Antarctica Ends Here.

In the summer of 2005, Cindytalk was invited to use tracks from The Crackle of My Soul as musical score for the UK independent film "Madrigal" (Rabblewise Films).

In summer 2006, based in London, Cindytalk started working on a new (band) album provisionally entitled "In A World Without Hope". In Spring 2011, Jacob Burns of Lata (and former bass player with Scottish band Damn Shames) joined Cindytalk on electronics. Cindytalk were invited by Ray Davies of The Kinks to play at the Meltdown Festival on London's Southbank (June 2011.)

The Indiana-based label BlueSanct released a Cindytalk 10 inch called Silver Shoals Of Light as part of their 10-year anniversary limited edition ART SINGLES club. Recorded 2006; released 2008.

Matt Kinnison died from cancer on Wednesday 7 May 2008.[2]

Handmade Birds has announced a new Cindytalk album for summer 2014 entitled "touchedRAWKISSEDsour".[3]
Side/related projects[edit]

In 1983, Gordon Sharp recorded a John Peel session with fellow Scots Cocteau Twins (contributing to "Hazel" and "Dear Heart", available on some versions of Garlands as well as BBC Sessions) which led to a meeting with 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell who invited him to appear on This Mortal Coil's 1983 debut EP Sixteen Days/Gathering Dust. He was also one of three featured singers on the debut This Mortal Coil album It'll End in Tears (1984), contributing vocals to "Kangaroo" (which was released as a single and became an instant indie hit), "Fond Affections" and "A Single Wish".

An electronic side-project, Bambule, was started in 1994 by Sharp and Carmichael, inspired by underground techno parties such as Dead By Dawn and VFM. Carmichael left the band on the eve of Cindytalk's extensive US tour (1996) and by the time the first Bambule record was ready Carmichael had taken control of the project and its connection to Cindytalk had receded. London's Praxis label released the 8-track vinyl double-pack (originally titled "Songs From The Motherbomb" ) as Cunning Meets Bambule (Praxis 19). Bambule followed this up in 2000 with a 4-track 12 inch called "Vertical Invasion" (Praxis 29) which featured Sharp alongside new Cindytalk cohort Richie Young, Tymothi Loving and Dale Lloyd & Stuart Arentzen from Seattle band Lucid (both Sharp and Young would also collaborate with Lucid's alter-ego After The Flood on tracks for the ATF2 release). The Vertical Invasion 12 inch also, included two remixes by Welsh electronic wizards Somatic Responses (as Photon Emissions). By this time Sharp had moved to the U.S. and had become involved with various techno collectives (ele_mental in Columbus, Ohio, Candlelight (with dj Deadly Buda) and Darkmatter Sound System in Los Angeles). As of 2010, Sharp still uses the Bambule moniker for occasional dj'ing purposes.