Cabaret Voltaire’s ‘CODE’ gets remastered reissue on Mute
Cabaret Voltaire’s 1987 album “CODE” returns remastered on Mute this October, with marble vinyl, a deluxe triple CD and a new John Robie dub mix.
Sheffield electronic pioneers Cabaret Voltaire are getting a remastered reissue of their eighth studio album, CODE, out 9 October on Mute. The 1987 record, long out of print, returns on limited edition “CODIFIED” marble vinyl and as a deluxe triple CD set, the latter adding two bonus discs of remastered period remixes plus previously unreleased mixes unearthed from the archive.
The reissue launches today with Thank You America (John Robie Dub Mix), a remix by the influential producer, writer and musician that was originally earmarked as the third single from the original release.
‘CODE’ caught the band at their commercial peak
CODE finds Richard H. Kirk and Stephen “Mal” Mallinder at the height of their commercial and creative powers, marking the point where the pair signed to EMI, opening the door to bigger budgets without any compromise on their vision. The album became Cabaret Voltaire’s most commercially successful, with two singles, Don’t Argue and Here To Go, both breaking the UK Official Singles Chart.
Discussing the album’s political undertone in the new sleeve notes, Mallinder explained why CODE still resonates with the band’s own history: “This album captures a very interesting moment in time where we were moving into a technological world. Probably more than anything else Richard and I made together, CODE was a political record that we didn’t have to directly articulate as political, mostly because of what was going on in the background at that time.”
CODE tapped into an increasingly uneasy relationship with technology, computers and programming that was creeping into all aspects of life, unpicking the codes of control to expose them, a preoccupation that would continue through the rest of Cabaret Voltaire’s work.
The album features guest musicians saxophonist Simeon Lister, bassist Mark Brydon of Chakk and Bill Nelson of Be-Bop Deluxe. It was recorded at the band’s own Western Works studio in Sheffield, with Adrian Sherwood joining for pre-production before sessions moved to Red Bus Studios in London for mixing. The remaster comes from Denis Blackman, who has remastered every Cabaret Voltaire album for over two decades; work on this edition began back in 2019 with Kirk himself, before his death, and was completed using his notes in consultation with Mallinder and Kirk’s estate.
About Cabaret Voltaire
Cabaret Voltaire were formed in Sheffield in 1973 by Richard H. Kirk, Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson, quickly becoming one of the founding acts of British electronic and industrial music. Watson departed in 1981, after which Kirk and Mallinder continued as a duo until 1994, before Kirk carried the name alone through a 2014 performance at Berlin’s Atonal festival. An interconnected run of releases, Shadow of Fear, BN9Drone and Dekadrone, followed in 2020 and 2021, shortly before Kirk’s death in autumn 2021.
In 2025, Mallinder and Watson marked the 50th anniversary of the band’s first performance with a reunion tour, including an announced Roundhouse show. That run continues into 2026 with final US and UK dates tied to the live album ‘But What Time Is It Really?’, from which the pair also shared a live version of ‘Yashar’. The CODE reissue arrives alongside that renewed attention on the band’s catalogue, giving new and longtime listeners a way back into one of Cabaret Voltaire’s most pivotal records.
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