MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW) NEW ANTI-VERSARY EVENTS AND RELEASES

MUTE have announced updates to MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW), a series of special events and releases continuing through 2018 with plans for 2019 and beyond, ahead of this weekend’s Rough Trade Easttakeover on Saturday 13 October where Mute will host a whole day of performances, including a lunchtime modular set from Chris Carter plus shopscapes from Simon Fisher Turner.  In the evening, A Certain Ratio and Lost Under Heaven will play live, and Maps will be DJing. Online tickets are now sold out for the evening event. There will be a small amount available on the door, and everyone is welcome during the day when Chris Carter and Simon Fisher Turner will be performing.

A series of Pitchblack Playback events marking MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW), launches on Tuesday 16 October, with Yazoo’s Upstairs at Eric’s. At these unique events, listeners are invited to enjoy the album in full without distraction, in a pitchblack room (blindfolds are optional!) on The Lexi’s immersive cinema soundsystem.

Mute also announces a collaboration with 1 of 100, a specially designed t-shirt based on the The Normal T.V.O.D artwork which will be available in a strictly limited edition of 100, each shirt made to order in your chosen size, numbered and printed on organic, climate neutral cotton. The t-shirts will be available to order in the coming weeks from https://weare1of100.co.uk/mute-records-the-normal/ 

Forthcoming releases that tie in with Mute 4.0 include artists from across Mute’s catalogue as well as newer signings to the label.

Today, 12 October will see the release of special vinyl editions for Mute 4.0: “probably the world’s first teenage electronic pop group”, Silicon Teens, and their one and only album ‘Music For Parties’; Mute’s first signing, Fad Gadget - ‘Fireside Favourites’; Josh T. Pearson’s lauded ‘Last Of The Country Gentlemen’, Apparat - ‘The Devil’s Walk’; Vince Clarke and Martin Gore’s project, VCMG - ‘Ssss’ and A Certain Ratio - ‘The Graveyard & The Ballroom’. Pearson will be released on gold vinyl, Apparat on violet and the rest will be on very limited Mute 4.0 orange vinyl.

In addition, A Certain Ratio’s ACR:SET is out on today and features two new tracks from the band and Barry Adamson’s Memento Mori Anthology 1978-2018 – which includes a brand new track - is out on 26 October. Those releases will be followed in November by brand new albums from Irmin Schmidt (Klavierstucke 5), Mick Harvey & Christopher Richard Barker’s opus The Fall and Rise of Edgar Bourchier and the Horrors of War plus Laibach’s long awaited The Sound of Music. January 2019 will see the release of Lost Under Heaven’s second album, Love Hates What You Become and Mark Stewart has recently announced the definitive reissue of his debut solo album, Learning To Cope With Cowardice, available with newly discovered unreleased tracks.

Mute / BMG releases include Yazoo’s Four Pieces vinyl set and Three Pieces (CD set), both collating their two albums alongside the BBC sessions (available for the first time in full), remixes and rarities (out on 26 Oct); Grinderman’s debut album, released on limited edition green vinyl on 26 October and Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ soundtrack for The Proposition, available on vinyl for the first time on 2 November.

Further releases include Mute Synth 4.0, the third handheld analogue synth collaboration between Mute, Adrian Shaughnessy and Dirty Electronics.

“From The Port To The Bridge”, a retrospective exhibition of the work of Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, is at the Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock until 28 October. The exhibition will include a new film about Leer and Rental featuring interviews with Daniel Miller, Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti, JD Twitch (Optimo), family members and more. Their groundbreaking work was a huge influence on early 80s synth pop and the independent music scene in the late 70s. Daniel Miller met Robert Rental at a Throbbing Gristle performance and then went on to work with Rental (releasing Live At West Runton Pavilion, 6-3-79 on Rough Trade in 1980) and release music by both Robert Rental and Thomas Leer. Robert Rental's classic double a-side single ‘Double Heart’ / ‘On Location’, was Mute's 10th single in 1980.

Mute and Thames & Hudson recently worked together on Mute: A Visual Document, a visual history of the label. One of Uncut and Rough Trade’s Books of the Year, it was described by the shop as “Beautifully bound, this book is as iconic and dynamic as Mute's musical past”. Learn more about the publication here: http://smarturl.it/MuteBook 

MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW) acknowledges the launch of a label that started out of necessilty rather than design (to release the 7” single by The Normal, ‘T.V.O.D.’ / ‘Warm Leatherette’, recorded by Daniel Miller on a KORG 700S keyboard with a TEAC four-track recorder), and marks the past 40 years, but crucially, looks forward to the label’s many years to come as it travels unapologetically into tomorrow.

New Mute merchandise will be launched in the coming months, and future announcements will include a specially commissioned release well as unique events and evenings.

Visit the recently relaunched MuteBank site: https://www.mutebank.co.uk/ 

Pre-order the Mute 4.0 special editions - http://smarturl.it/MUTE4.0

www.mute.com

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MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW) ANTI-VERSARY EVENTS AND RELEASES

MUTE and specifically the influential independent British label’s founder, Daniel Miller, have never been ones for looking back. The label has always sought ways to celebrate all of its varied artists, but there has never been a focus on just the label.  MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW) is not about to change that, but it has prompted the idea of creating a series of special events and releases that will go further than 2018 with plans for 2019 and beyond.

MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW) acknowledges the launch of a label that started out of necessity rather than design (to release the 7” single by The Normal, ‘T.V.O.D.’ / ‘Warm Leatherette’, recorded by Daniel Miller on a KORG 700S keyboard with a TEAC four-track recorder), and marks the past 40 years, but crucially, looks forward to the label’s many years to come as it travels unapologetically into tomorrow.

This month, Mute will be at Sea Change festival in Totnes on 24/25 August alongside Mute artists Josh T. Pearson, Chris Carter, Daniel Blumberg, Can’s Damo Suzuki and Lost Under Heaven, all performing live - and Cosey Fanni Tutti, who will be in conversation with Emma Warren.

On Saturday 13 October, Mute will take over Rough Trade East in London for a whole day of performances, including a lunchtime modular set from Chris Carter plus shopscapes from Simon Fisher Turner.  In the evening, A Certain Ratio and Lost Under Heaven will play live, and Maps will be DJing. The bar will be open, and everyone’s welcome!

In addition, Alt-Classic Album Playback will present a playback of Swans’ 1996 album, Soundtracks for the Blind, recently reissued on vinyl for the first time on Mute. Nick Soulsby, author of Swans: Sacrifice and Transcendence, will be guest speaker at the event taking place on 23 September at Shacklewell Arms. Future playbacks will include a series with Pitchblack Playback, details to be announced.

Forthcoming releases that tie in with Mute 4.0 include artists from across Mute’s catalogue as well as newer signings to the label – A Certain Ratio’s ACR:SET is out on 12 October and features two new tracks from the band, Barry Adamson’s Memento Mori Anthology 1978-2018 is out on 26 October and features a brand new track and Yazoo release Four Pieces, a four disc box set collecting their two albums alongside remixes and rarities and their BBC Sessions collected together for the first time. More releases will be announced in the coming weeks.

A special series of reissues on limited edition coloured vinyl are planned for October, and will include “probably the world’s first teenage electronic pop group”, Silicon Teens, and their one and only album ‘Music For Parties’; Mute’s first signing, Fad Gadget - ‘Fireside Favourites’; Josh T. Pearson’s lauded ‘Last Of The Country Gentlemen’, Apparat - ‘The Devil’s Walk’; Vince Clarke and Martin Gore’s project, VCMG - ‘Ssss’ and A Certain Ratio - ‘The Graveyard & The Ballroom’. Pearson will be released on gold vinyl, Apparat on violet and the rest will be on very limited Mute 4.0 orange vinyl.

Further releases to be announced include Mute Synth 4.0, the third handheld analogue synth collaboration between Mute, Adrian Shaughnessy and Dirty Electronics.

“From The Port To The Bridge”, a retrospective exhibition of the work of Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, is at the Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock from 2-28 October. The exhibition will include a new film about Leer and Rental featuring interviews with Daniel Miller, Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti, JD Twitch (Optimo), family members and more. Their groundbreaking work was a huge influence on early 80s synth pop and the independent music scene in the late 70s. Daniel Miller met Robert Rental at a Throbbing Gristle performance and then went on to work with Rental (releasing Live At West Runton Pavilion, 6-3-79 on Rough Trade in 1980) and release music by both Robert Rental and Thomas Leer. Robert Rental's classic double a-side single ‘Double Heart’ / ‘On Location’, was Mute's 10th single in 1980.

Mute and Thames & Hudson recently worked together on Mute: A Visual Document, a visual history of the label. One of Uncut and Rough Trade’s Books of the Year, it was described by the shop as “Beautifully bound, this book is as iconic and dynamic as Mute's musical past”. Learn more about the publication here: http://smarturl.it/MuteBook 

New Mute merchandise will be launched in the coming months, and future announcements will include a specially commissioned release well as unique events and evenings.

Pre-order - http://smarturl.it/MUTE4.0

www.mute.com

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Book Review: Terry Burrows with Daniel Miller – 'Mute: A Visual Document (From 1978 – Tomorrow)'

TERRY BURROWS with DANIEL MILLER
'Mute: A Visual Document (From 1978 – Tomorrow)'
THAMES & HUDSON

Mute records is quite simply one of the most important labels in music ever. Having been at the forefront of the electronic music innovation of the late 70s, they were instrumental at propelling it into the mainstream in the 1980s, continuing to diversify it in the 90s and in the new millennium have also found themselves as curators of some the most important catalogues in the genre.

We've had phenomenal live festivals such as 2011's Short Circuit. There has also been impressive collections including 'Mute Audio Documents', and numerous references in books and documentaries. But for the first time we have the story in an official capacity in the form of 'Mute: A Visual Document (From 1978 – Tomorrow)'.

This book written by label founder Daniel Miller (also of The Normal and Silicon Teens) along with respected author (and experimental electronic musician in his own right) Terry Burrows charts the rise of the label as a small vanity project, to a world wide phenomenon. Accompanied by a designer's wet dream of visuals including concepts and test pieces from some of the most iconic artwork in the label's vaults.

The book isn't ridiculously text heavy – it could very well become that with gleeful nerdy abandon – but it is instead anecdotal for the most part, almost like a documentary. Reading it you can hear the tracks playing and if you were around at the gigs and tours it mentions you'll probably be hit with happy memories. Where the information does get quite heavy, visuals of timelines, logos, artwork and photos break it up well so as not to bombard you. But otherwise it is an easy read that doesn't get overtly nerdy, but instead opens the doors on the rise, near fall, and continued success of one of music's most unique labels.

The book itself is a thing of beauty. Not only is the subject matter visually beautifully represented on the pages in full colour and great detail. But the embossed hard cover, stitched spine with 'Mute' proudly emblazoned on it, and the thick paper all make this feel like a work of art. Just as the Mute Synth and 'Audio Document' collections before it, this feels like a great quality and collectable item before you even get round to reading the text and looking at the art inside.

Any fan of electronic music will be familiar with Mute Records and the artists that have graced it over the years. In 'Mute: A Visual Document (From 1978 – Tomorrow)' you get not only a visual retrospective but a biography of the label itself, it's successes, its troubles and ultimately the passion of everyone involved in it. It has been a fascinating journey from one man's attempt to put a record out, to a globally recognised leader in electronic music, and long may it continue. Fans of the label, fans of the bands, fans of great design, and even anyone out there toying with the idea of getting into the music industry will find this a great read and a treasure trove of ideas.  

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