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Well we've done it... an actual, finished production copy of TGV is sitting here in front of me on my desk... and it's bloody brilliant!
Hat's off to Paul Taylor (in particular) and all those at Mute and Technicolor who really (and I mean REALLY) pushed the boat out over the last month or so to make this beautiful package a reality.
But as Paul said earlier today: "I'm not sure I can watch it again for a little while though".
I know exactly what you mean mate, I guess you know when you've overdone it (especially on something as intense as TGV) when even your dreams (mine) start including TG gigs, TG people, TG graphics, TG sounds (you name it!) that you've been working on for so long.
Time for a festive TG break I think. ;-)
BTW: Pre-ordered copies are being mailed as I write this.
I was saddened to hear about the death of Stockhausen. A true genius and a hero of mine for many years. Myself and Cosey last saw him perform in London in 2005 when he staged Kontakte and Octphonie. It was a wonderous, enthralling evening of sublime experimental music.
By coincidence this week I recorded the first piece for my CCCL project, details are HERE I am dedicating the recording the Stockhausen.
The inception of TGV started after our TG 're-grouping' performance at the Astoria in May 2004 (on disc 6, I think). That show alone was a major milestone for TG as, apart from being 'free', it was our first show for 25 years or more, started the TGV ball rolling and we somehow accumulated a paid crew of around 40 people. Which was a big change from the 1970s' & 80s' when we just had a handful of volunteer helpers.
Naturally there was a film crew: consisting of a dozen or so camera operators dedicated to filming the whole thing on stage and back stage, the 'FX Rentals crew': who were recording everything onto 24-track and binaurally, a 'second unit / just in case' crew from Mute studios: who were piggy-back recording onto another 24-track, a hardcore FOH 'seen it all before' PA crew (TG's first encounter with Charlie Poulet, who's now become our regular FOH engineer). Plus of course, what was to become the current 'TG entourage' made up from: TG ourselves, our manager, tour manager, onstage & road crew, the Mute PR & merch teams and various but essential friends and family. And it's this entourage that has been our ongoing 'TG support structure' since the Astoria. So if you've ever wondered why TG don't perform live quite as much as you'd expect us to it's because (apart from following our own non-TG careers) this 'not so little lot' costs an absolute fortune in transport, airline tickets and hotel bills. Plus there's the matter of a TG fee of course! That's why we have yet to play in the USA this time around, partly because most of TG and our entourage are based in the UK and there don't seem to be (so far) any US promoters prepared to cover our substantial costs, plus the continuing demise of the Dollar exchange rate has to be factored in too. So, so far we've only played festivals in Europe or large or unusual venues like Tate Modern and the ICA where things like 'finance budgets' aren't such an issue. I guess a re-grouped TG playing in the USA would be another milestone wouldn't it?
I've put up the pre-order pages and links for the new Throbbing Gristle TGV, 7-disc DVD boxed set. Which roughly equates to... TGV has almost reached its final milestone and is now 98% closer to being a real-life physical product, and a major step-up from what seemed like the eternal limbo of compiling, editing, mastering, authoring, beta testing, bug fixing, tweaking and test viewing. TGV pre-order page.
Last week our new Carter Tutti album Feral Vapours of the Silver Ether... was released in the USA by Divine Frequency. It's hard to believe but this is our first US 'domestic' release since we were signed to (the now defunct) Wax Trax in the 90s'. Between then and now all our CD releases were exported from Europe by (the also now defunct) World Serpent. Of course the most obvious consequence of this is that the CD will (should) be a available in more US stores, so our music gets to by a wider audience and our fans and admirers won't have to pay inflated 'import CD' prices. Which has to be good news for everyone. www.divinefrequency.com
OK, so I'm going into blatant self-promotion mode::::
Our new CarterTutti album Feral Vapours of the Silver Ether is now available from iTunes and will be available on CD from next week in UK/Europe and in a couple of weeks in the USA. This album has taken us over two years to record, the longest it's ever taken us to finish a mainstream project. And even though I say so myself (I know your thinking "he would say that wouldn't he") it is definitely our most acomplished album... ever. But judge for yourselves, if you go to our MySpace page, or even better visit iTunes, you can hear clips of all the tracks. If you like what you hear please buy a copy... because this is how we make a living. Actually, in a couple of days we'll be opening our new CTI Web Store so if you prefer physical product you can order a CD directly from the artist (us).
Oh... and over there in the left-hand column is my CCCL tab, where you will find a couple of recent updates.
Wow! it's been almost six weeks since I posted any updates here, very remiss of me I must say.
My excuse is that we've been busy finishing our new album (and its variations) and adjusting and tweaking it for final release... i.e.: so it is ready for the various production facilities, factories, printers and pressing plants etc. Which is now about 98% done. In fact as I write this I'm waiting for the door bell to ring with a delivery of the first batch from the CD factory.
We've also been gearing up for the inevitable (but essential) promotional push... which translates to: new photos, press releases, promo lists, advertising (web, viral and print) AND setting up our new mail-order site. Yes, after three years or so we're going back into the mail order business. Which means from October (ish) you'll be able to buy Carter Tutti, C&C and CTI physical product directly from us (new and back catalogue CDs to you and me).
Plus we're updating the Carter Tutti / C&C web site with a makeover.
TTFN
Krems was great, the Tate was amazing and the I.C.A. installation was brilliant, productive and exhausting. But now we are all back in our respective homes: Sleazy has returned to Bangkok, Gen to NY, we two to Norfolk and the intensity and madness of TG has subsided... almost.
The I.C.A. 12 CD wallet is pretty much done, just a few tweaks left then it goes into production early next week. Sleazy will be returning to us in Norfolk in a couple of weeks so (amongst other things) we can complete the final stages of TGV... hopefully for an Xmas release!
Cosey and myself have a batch of Carter Tutti projects to finish (new tracks & mixes for compilations mainly) and Cosey has some work to complete for some upcoming exhibitions. Then we are taking a well earned break. More news, titbits and updates in the coming weeks.
New photos from Tate & I.C.A are now available on my Flikr pages.
In the next few months I will be transfering all my photos from this site to my Flickr account.
Some new photos from our recent TG trip to the Donau Festival are now available to view on my Flikr pages.
Flikr LINK
I have also posted the same Donau photos on my MySpace pages for those without a Flickr account.
MySpace LINK
Cosey and myself are deep in preps for the upcoming TG events (first up are the two shows at Donau Festival) and it's all sounding fabulous. Sleazy arrives at our place on Monday, so things will notch up a gear once the three of us begin seriously working out a final TG set.
A couple of things to note:
We three have all changed significant elements of our performance set up (again) and TG will not be playing material from the new album. Think 'new retro'....
For info and pictures on the current renewed 'Gristleizer' interest please go to:
Matrixsynth blogspot: HERE
The new 'Official' Gristelizer page is: HERE
MySpace Gristelizer photos/info: HERE (this link only works for MySpace friends)
I've posted some photos on Flikr from the recent 24-hour (and what will probably become legendary) Mute '4298607' party. FYI the '4298607' numbers refer to (in this order) the Mute building number in the Harrow Road, the year Mute moved into the building and the year they move out (and go to EMI).
And what an utterly weird experience it was walking through the doors into that building again. It had been transformed from busy record company offices into what looked like a twisted post-apocalyptic 'industrial party' film set. Bunches of severed cables hanging out of ceilings and walls, discarded odds & sods and paperwork on the floors and dozens of empty offices. The place had no signs of fixtures, fittings and furniture, just lots of bean bags, old sofas, spot lights, strobes, video projectors, make-shift drinks bars, a barbecue in the car park, 3 or 4 DJ systems on different floors, a fully equipped stage in the warehouse and people, kids, drinks, food, more people and cameras everywhere you looked (plus the presence of a slightly menacing security crew constantly wandering around, I guess to stop anyone walking off with what little 'Mute souvenirs' were left).
I think the idea was to give what could have been a maudlin event a really positive spin, and it worked. Everyone was really buzzing and there were a lot of smiling faces and a lot of hugging going on. We were just Mute 'artists' and yet we bumped into quite a few 'former Mute employees' we hadn't seen for years. But Mute has employed a lot of people over the last two decades and it was great to see so many people turning up and seeing old friends and work-mates. Daniel (Miller, head honcho) even did the old 'meet and greet' routine on the door, classic! Never thought I'd see the day. We went along with Andria Degens (aka Pantaleimon), who used to be Daniel's PA and we all did a short contribution for the 'Mute video diary' that had been set up in the former studio on the top floor, the studio where TG recorded the TG Now album back in 2004. They also had a great room (actually I think it was Daniel's old office) with hundreds of 'Mute' photos covering 20 years pasted onto the walls. Nostalgia overload! But great. As we left dozens of people were still turning up and you could hear the noise way down the street.
Footnote:
The following week the building was demolished (and Mute were going to time-lapse film it for posterity). There's also talk of one of those blue memorial plaques going onto the new apartment block that's replacing it.
End of an era, new beginnings and all that...
Feral Vapours of The Silver Ether (our new Carter Tutti album) is 90% completed and everyone we've played it to so far loves it. We're just agonising over one last track as we're not happy with how it has worked out. So do we re-record it and include it, or do we just dump it and move on? Hmmm...
Anyway... for those who may not have heard, Cosey's adventures in LA went well but ended on a downer. She was 'removed' from her Virgin Atlantic flight home while the plane was waiting to take-off by ultra paranoid flight attendants and an armed security guard afraid that she 'might' have an in flight heart attack. In fact there was no risk of her having any kind of attack at all, but the Virgin staff wouldn't listen her (or the Doctor sat next to Cosey, who tried to calm their unfounded worries). Four days later and after a many calls, emails, faxes and documents had changed hands she was passed 'fit to fly' (which we all knew anyway!).
Back home we immediately started (and completed) our ColorField Remix contribution, ,which looks and sounds gorgeous.
We've been ensconced in the studio and recording continuously this month to complete our long delayed new Carter Tutti album. Cosey is off to LA for a couple of weeks to install her show at MOCA and visit friends while I stay behind to tweak the final production and finish the mastering (stereo & 5.1).
Numerous TG live events (and the release of the Part Two album) are looming very large on the horizon (see above) so I guess in some ironically mental way even our current intense workload could be considered the calm before the storm that is/will be TG in 2007. Oh what was it I once said many years ago about being in TG? ah yes.....
"it was the best of times, it was the worst of times". And I tell you it's never been truer!
Well, as a few people have asked here's a tiny glimpse of what I have been working on in my spare time between my various day jobs (Carter Tutti, recording, performing and TG etc.)
This project currently involves a fair bit of audio circuitry R&D, prototyping and building (click on the pic above) and a certain amount of retro circuit modification, although NO circuit bending is involved!
The ongoing results are interesting to say the least (IMO). Without giving too much away (because at this early stage it could all change direction completely) think along the lines of... a collection of original 1970s' analogue Gristleizers and TG noise units battling it out with a bunch of 21st Century sonic generators and manglers. But as I say the fruition of all this work and final outcome are still to be determined. Stay tuned, audio clips will folllow... - CCCL website LINK - CCCL MySpace LINK
Disclaimer: This project has no connection with Carter Tutti, Chris & Cosey or Throbbing Gristle.
2006 was an odd year for us, with some real highs (like our Carter Tutti gigs and Cosey's exhibitions and so on) but there were also a lot of unfinished and unresolved aspects to it. And it ended on a real emotional downer, with Nick (our Son) rushed into hospital. But... after a few setbacks he's finally on the road to a full recovery and his nurse says should be OK to go home next Sunday (Jan 7th). By the way, thanks again to all of you who sent wishes etc. they were very much appreciated.
This year should see some interesting developments. We're determined to get our long overdue second Carter Tutti album completed (well over a year late!), Cosey and I are working on a number of interesting 'collaborations and projects' that we'll be announcing soon, there are some 'significant' TG announcements (and releases) imminent and Cosey is in a major exhibition opening in LA, in the Spring.
Detailed updates on all these soon'ish...
Happy New Year...
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