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Bloody hell, it's been two months since I posted anything on here. So I think my apologies are the order of the day... for being so outrageously lax. But to say I've been busy would be an understatement, of the greatest degree. There have been various ongoing (and unfinished) Carter Tutti projects, filming and remixes - assisting Cosey in her many solo endeavors and of course the ever present enterprises of TG. Of which the release of our new little musical box 'Gristleism' has been the most time consuming. But I'm not going to go on at any length, yet... as I'm in the process of designing and building a new website to replace this one you are on right now and I'll be updating my blog in the process. Check back here sometime in January 2010.
GRISTLEISM - So that cat is out of the bag: you can see some of its colour, its ears and the top of its head but it's not meowing yet and you don't know what kind of cat it is, so to speak. All I can say right now (am allowed to) is that it's a Throbbing Gristle product and it will be released by Industrial Records (cat no. IR2009005). An 'exclusive' edition will be available for pre-order in September from the TG Web Store and a regular edition will be available shortly afterwards Worldwide.
I can also tell you that we've been secretly working on this project for many months with Christiaan Viarant. I'm making an educated guess that many of you will figure out even more from these basic details I've given. But anyway you won't have long to wait... in the meantime go here: http://www.gristleism.com
Flikr photo set http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_carter_/sets/72157622568217418/
I can't remember the last time Cosey and I were this busy, probably during our early to mid Nineties period. But then it was recording, performing and working on projects almost exclusively related to Chris & Cosey. And although we've always had Cosey's solo Art career running in parallel with what the two of us work on together it's since 2002 that we've had to factor in ever increasing amounts of Throbbing Gristle and Industrial Records related work and projects. But during the last 12 months TG & IR has at times almost taken over our lives (well mine & Cosey's at least) and has impacted our own solo and CarterTutti projects pretty drastically.
Even if you haven't read the TG book 'The Wreckers of Civilization' you may know that the core of TG/IR (the TG four) has always been run as a democratic co-oprative cottage industry. In as much that everything we do is decided by a majority vote, all our income is shared equally and we try keep as much as possible of what we do and how we do it 'in-house' - or 'in the family'. No matter what it may appear like to outsiders the realm of TG/IR is not a dictatorship, and it never has been. In the early days: the 1970s' & 80s', that literally meant everything, well except physically pressing records. We even ran our own cassette duplication facility, churning out thousands of cassettes and covers from a converted kitchen in Hackney. I used to rent or borrow vans and Genesis and me would deliver vinyl, cassettes, t-shirts and merch in person all over London. This was apart from all the equipment building, recording, editing, mastering, filming, videoing, performing and self-promotion we did. And for most of that period we all had regular day-jobs too.
So here we are in 2009... and there are obviously still aspects and areas within TG & IR that we individually excel at or specialise in, or are sometimes co-opted into out of necessity. But it seems a lot of what we do nowadays, to keep TG running smoothly (or at all) falls on the shoulders of Cosey and me. And if we didn't 'step up to the plate' as often as we do (which is pretty much all the time) I honestly think TG would fade out of existence and cease to exist as a living, working collective.
Just telling it like it is....
A=P=P=A=R=I=T=I=O=N, our TG sculptural collaboration with Cerith Wyn Evans is now on exhibition at the enormous Tramway gallery in Glasgow. If you get the chance please visit this for a truly unique TG audio experience. A=P=P=A=R=I=T=I=O=N is TG being restrained and ethereal... delicate almost. It is very hard to describe an encounter with the sculpture: it uses multi-channel, highly polished, highly directional audio spotlights to project sound in a slowly, ever moving collage that seems to appear and disappear in mid air and from many directions simultaneously.
Like I said totally unique. We are all hoping that A=P=P=A=R=I=T=I=O=N will travel next year, and although there's no definite info yet as soon as we do know we'll make an announcement. - More Tramway details here.
A=P=P=A=R=I=T=I=O=N photos on Flikr.
Excepter 12" (a future now series).
A project we've been working on with the band Excepter which is being released by Rvng, a small Brooklyn-based record label. This limited edition 12" is the first release in the series and features collaborations from NYC's industrial pranksters Excepter with Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti (of Throbbing Gristle, Chris & Cosey, Carter Tutti), JG Thirwell of Foetus and his many alter egos, and Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto. exceptor.com
I've recently deleted all my photos from this site and moved most of them onto my Flikr pages.
I have had a Flikr site for a year or so and any photos (or videos) I wish to share have lately been posted straight onto it, and viewers can leave comments (unlike here), so it didn't make sense having my photos spread across two sites any longer. I still haven't moved some of the travel, international and architectural images, but I will as soon as I get the time.
You don't need a Flikr account to view my photos but without a Flickr account you cannot leave comments, send me messages or access my fetish & bondage photo sets (link), which are tagged as 'restricted' by Flikr. Also if you wish to view my 'restricted' images and you have a Flikr account you may need to reset your preferences. My 'restricted' images are also not accessible if you are located in Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany or Korea: sorry, It's not my fault, that's just how Flikr works.
I can tell from my Flikr stats figures that a lot of people are viewing my photos (another good reason for moving my images from here), this includes the 'restricted' fetish & bondage sets, which is only to be expected I guess but PLEASE do not berate me for using Flikr as I'm happy using it (and I don't care what you experience is with it) and don't ask me to host my' images ('restricted or otherwise) on another 'photo sharing' site (way too much hard work) or to send copies to you by email as I don't (or will ever) have the time.
I hope you enjoy them... (link)
As part of my ongoing CCCL project I recently recorded a short video of some experimental sounds as a 'tribute' to the experimental work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop who staged a performance in London on the 17th May, that I couldn't attend. All the sounds and loops originate from a BC8 synth, a Gakken SX-150 synth and BugBrand Weevil synths. All the effects and processing is done with Boss pedals.
Longer HD clip on Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/4706722
Shorter lo-res clip on Flikr: www.flickr.com/photos/chris_carter_/3541773057/
Photo still with notes on what was used: www.flickr.com/photos/chris_carter_/3541773771/
An audio only MP3 edit of the track can be heard > HERE <
So the TG USA tour is over and here I am back in front of my computer screen (not my laptop screen). The tour was fantastic, although the schedule was a little gruelling at times. I don't think Cosey & I have traveled quite so much in so little time since touring as Chris & Cosey in the 1990s'. Still, we all had a fabulous time and the shows were great and the response was overwhelmingly positive. We met some amazing people, reconnected with many friends we hadn't seen for a long while and made some wonderful new friends along the way.
During the trip I was documenting as much as possible with my cameras and feeding a (fairly constant) flow of information to Twitter for fans to keep up with our progress. The photos can be seen on my FLIKR pages, videos can bee seen on my VIMEO pages and here is my Twitter page
Right now I am going through all the live audio recordings I made of each show on my portable recorder, which we'll hopefully be making available as downloads from our web store, along with a few other merchandise items remaining from the tour.
Here's a short (very short) video clip of my ongoing/current preps for the forthcoming TG 2009 tour:
FLIKR video. Longer version here Vimeo video.
And here is a photo of what gear I will and won't be taking on the tour: FLIKR photo.
Descriptions and info are on the individual Flikr pages. More to come in the following weeks...
I've posted some photos (and a video clip) from Cosey's recent COH plays COSEY performance at the Brussels Electronic Music Festival on my Flikr pages.
Follow this link to view them: FLIKR
OK so I've succumbed to more technological doodabbery, namely Twitter. Honestly I'm not sure how long I will be able to keep up a constant, or even steady stream of Twits (is that the right terminology?) but I should be able to post a few a day (is that too hopeful? probably). As I'm mostly tied up with TG and Cosey FT related activities from now until we leave for the States mid-April most of my Twits (?) will be focused those activities.
My Twitter link: twitter.com/chris_carter_
A project I'm working on at the moment is a tribute to the late J.G. Ballard. This will (hopefully) take form as a double-sided 12" vinyl release featuring a track by myself on one side and a track by Richard H. Kirk on the other. My track is about 75% complete, more release details when I have the info.
Cosey and myself are still (yes still!) working on our Feral Vapours film, currently re-shooting and re-editing various parts but ultimately getting there. I'm hoping for an early 2010 release, but then again I said that this time last year. Ho hum...
I've been getting inundated with collaboration requests lately, well since the TG tour. So if you are reading this and you've written to me with a project proposal please bear with me and I will get back to asap, I promise: even if it's to say "sorry but no".
I really can't remember a time when we've been this busy, and so consistently throughout the year. Not that I'm complaining (much) as I guess we're lucky to be earning a living in a recession. But some time off for even a short break would be nice once in a while.
I recently found this shot in our archive on a strip of TG negatives.
It's my studio in our apartment in Crouch End, North London and was taken shortly after TG split-up (first time) in 1981. This was the TG / Chris & Cosey crossover period and a few weeks before I got my Roland MC-8 MicroComposer.
Everything in this photo was used on later TG material and early Chris & Cosey releases and while I no longer own the majority of the gear I still have the Boss pedals, the Auratone speakers and the chair.
The modular system on the right consists of three Roland 190 racks and two 191J racks containing: two 182 Step Sequencers, 121 Dual VCF, 130 Dual VCA, 112 Dual VCO, 150 Ring Mod/Noise/S&H/LFO, 110 VCO/VCF/VCA, 172 Audio Delay/Phaser/LFO/Gate Delay.
Also included in the Roland racks were a number of my own self-built modules, including a: Digisound Dual VCO, Digisound Dual VCF, Digisound Dual VCA, Digisound Dual ADSR, Digisound Dual RM, Blacet variable clock/divider, a Gristleizer module and (in the top rack) a flanger/delay and a dual phaser/flanger/delay.
Under the modular system is a Boss DR-55 Dr. Rhythm (sitting on top of) a Roland CSQ-600 Digital Sequencer, a Roland TR-808 (one of the first in the UK I might add), a Sinclair frequency meter (for tuning) and a Roland 181 Controller Keyboard.
To the right of the modular (top to bottom) are a small sub-mixer, a Sinclair mutli-meter, a Leak power amp, s Boss KM-4 a Leak FM tuner and a custom digital delay line and a custom 10-band EQ unit (both self-built). In front of those are two Seck 6.2 mixers.
On the far right of the desk are (top to bottom) three Accessit compressors, a Roland SRE-555 Chorus Echo, H&H Slide Echo.
In the foreground are a couple of Roland Flanger pedals, a Boss micro Amp pedal and an Electro-Harmonix Gate pedal.
Also in shot are a Tandberg stereo reel-ree, a Tandberg cassette deck, a Warfdale cassette deck, a pair of self-built 8" speakers and a pair of Auratone 5C Super-Sound-Cubes.
Techy photo note: the photo was taken with a Nikon F2 using a 50mm 1.4 lens on Ilford FP4 film using available light.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_carter_/3263010726/sizes/o/
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