A new episode of Electric Independence has gone online at VBS.tv, and it features an excellent interview with Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti (aka Carter-Tutti/Chris & Cosey) seminal electronic musicians and one half of Throbbing Gristle. We find out how the couple met, how they were introduced to electronic music and their life in (and after) Throbbing Gristle. Gear heads are also in for a treat as the duo talk about the synths and equipment they use and have used, including some rare home made synths by Carter. It’s also heartening to see them keeping bang up to date with technology, including the use of Kaoss pads and BC8 synths, and recording their music with Ableton Live on a MacBook.
Founding member (along with his partner Cosey Fanni Tutti) of Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey (now Carter Tutti), inventor of the Gristleizer and seminal influence on both the electronic and industrial scenes, today is Chris Carter’s birthday.
Which gives me the perfect excuse to mention his recent The Spaces Between album re-issue. His first ever solo album, it was originally released in 1980 on cassette only. In 2010 it was issued on vinyl for the first time ever by Optimo Music (the same Optimo who supplied the excellent ambient-not-ambient mix I posted at the start of the week). It has been trimmed down from 15 tracks to 6, and now includes the track “Climbing” which was not on the original album.
Here’s what Optimo Music have to say:
Originally recorded between 1974 and 1978 at Industrial Records studio in London ‘The Space Between’ album was first released as a 90 minute cassette in 1980 on Throbbing Gristle’s Industrial Records label. It wasn’t until 1991 that it was again released by Mute Records on CD. Although tracks from ‘The Space Between’ have appeared on numerous compilations since its release, the album has never been available on vinyl until now.
This new vinyl edition on Optimo Music, now retitled ‘The Spaces Between’, doesn’t include all the tracks of the original album but has been enhanced and remastered from the original two-track master tapes and has new cover artwork especially for this release. All tracks have been remastered by Chris Carter in 2009 for this release.
Chris Carter - Interloop
Chris Carter - Solidit
The Spaces Between is available to buy on vinyl and download from Boomkat in the UK. Chris & Cosey are in the middle of re-issuing their back catalog too, but I will save that for another post.
Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson, founding member of Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, and Coil, died in his sleep yesterday, 24 November, at his home in Thailand, he was 55.
The initial announcement was made by Throbbing Gristle members Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter who tweeted the same message:
Our dearest beautiful Sleazy left this mortal coil as he slept in peace last night.words cannot express our grief.
Throbbing Gristle’s official website has been updated with the message
We are saddened to announce the death of Peter Christopherson.
The question of whether or not Genesis Breyer P-Orridge has quit Throbbing Gristle remains not fully answered. Despite Thee Deevelopment, TGers Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson, Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti have gone on to fulfill their early-November live TG obligations in Italy and Portugal as X-TG. The group has uploaded some media from those shows on their new site.
P-Orridge’s ambivalent statement on the matter was offset by “Unkle Sleazy’s” take, and there’s likely debate as to how much value a P-Orridge-less TG holds. I’d think the excerpts below from the two shows speak for themselves.
Throbbing Gristle’s Chris Carter puts a new audio device in his high tech arsenal through the paces:
The Dirty-Carter Experimental Sound Generating Instrument uses a dual 4-stage shift register. Each register is controlled independently. Two oscillators are used per register: one as a clock, the other as input data that is cascaded through the four stages. The outputs from the stages are mixed together. A fast clock rate produces a crude form of wavetable synthesis, whilst a slow clock rate creates audible pulses and clicks. The clock speed and the data input’s frequency are controlled by touch electrodes/pads. By tilting the instrument, sound from both the 4-stage shift registers can be mixed together. Glitchy noise, deep drones and percussive peeps!
