Guest Speaker – Stephen Mallinder

For this month’s audio project guest lecture I was very pleased to introduce one of my musical heroes. Stephen Mallinder is a founder member of Sheffield’s Cabaret Voltaire who’s approach to music production (cut-up technique, found sounds, tape loops, experimental electronics blended with the rhythms of early American techno and house) was an enormous influence on me and informed my own approach to music making.

Stephen’s talk was both interesting and enlightening – he’s a very engaging speaker. He spoke about music production with reference to his own work and also the work of artists such as Lee Scratch Perry, Marshall Jefferson and Kraftwerk and how his music connects with art movements such as Dada and Bauhaus. Referring to his PhD thesis Movement, Modernity and The Beat, Stephen also discussed the musical connections of club culture, graphic design and film-making.

With a long and varied career in many aspects of the music industry (running a record label, live promotion and hosting a radio show in Perth, Australia), along with his academic interests, Stephen’s talk was very valuable to our students and highlighted the importance of connecting your own work to many other creative outlets and industries.

The Cabaret Voltaire fan club* sat in the front row enjoyed it too.

*middle-aged male academics from the Lincoln School of Media 🙂