single // Warm Leatherette / TVOD
You can scarcely begin to imagine just how cool this release must have been back in 1978 - white backdrop, black and white British Safety photograph, minimal lettering, and the proclamation - 'This is a Mute record'. Imagine picking up this 7" when it came out, imagine seeing that proclamation and wondering whether this wasn't some artsy prank record with no music on it; a mute record indeed.
But this was not in any way silent. The debut release on his nascent Mute label, the two tracks here - 'Warm Leatherette' and 'TVOD' - were written and recorded by erstwhile punk Daniel Miller. Sickening and confrontational in the same breath, these tracks were also catchy in some obscure, alternative pop fashion. Pop, that is, as conceived in New York's Bowery by Martin Rev and Alan Vega as Suicide some years earlier. This one solitary single from Miller as The Normal pretty much set out his range of collective influences, which would guide the early roster of the Mute label - synths, Krautrock-style motorik rhythms, and a punk spirit.
'Warm Leatherette', later covered by Grace Jones, is pure JG Ballard - a track about the erotic possibilities of the car crash, this controversial song would probably have riled Mary Whitehouse something rotten if she'd ever got to hear it. Repetitive and minimal, the track is constructed around a central, chugging electro percussion rhythm upon which Nitzer Ebb would found their earliest material, and some synths sounding like human breathing. 'Quick, let's make love / Before you die' Miller intones toward the end of the track.
'TVOD' has slightly more depth, but is no less repetitive with its arpeggiating high synth melody. More inspired by David Lynch than Ballard, this finds our narrator conducting TV signals by inserting the aerial directly into his skin. Ouch. Miller's voice, delivered in a half-spoken fashion, combines the sophistication of Malcolm McLaren with the roboticism of Kraftwerk. The track also deploys 'samples' from real TV broadcasts, and concludes with some modulating white noise as the television overdose finally becomes too much. Social commentary or anti-social practices? Who knows.
Less a fanfare heralding what was to become the UK's biggest indie label, this was a statement of very serious intent. Classic.