Chris Carter's Blog

Live Premiere of TG's Desertshore Album at AV Festival

2012-01-12T11:23:00.000Z

Wishful Thinking: In Remembrance of Peter Christopherson.

Sat 17th March 2012, 8pm–12am

Myself and Cosey Fanni Tutti will premiere a selection of live remixes from ‘TG’s Desertshore - The Final Report’. These will be preceded by a rare screening of Philippe Garrel’s ‘The Inner Scar’, for which Desertshore was soundtrack and inspiration.

More details and ticket info available here > http://www.avfestival.co.uk

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A New Year… and the final TG album

2012-01-04T18:53:00.000Z

The New Year dawns and it finds me and Cosey already in the studio since late December working on TG’s ‘final’ studio album ‘Desertshore’. In case you don’t know, our Desertshore project is a cover version of Nico’s entire 1970 seminal Desertshore album. ‘TG’s Desertshore - The Final Report’ (to give it its full title) was conceived by Sleazy on a long flight from Bangkok to Berlin in the winter of 2006, and we’ve been recording elements of the album since then.

And since then a lot happened…
Most of you probably know some of the story and some of you may know most of the story: Genesis walked out on TG at the beginning of the 2010 tour in November (we still have no idea why!) and we three attempted to recover from that disaster with a couple of X-TG shows. Feeling both deflated at TG ending and elated that he didn't have to work with Genesis again Sleazy returned to Bangkok later that month to work on Desertshore using new gear he’d bought for the project and to begin recording the guest vocalists. He died before he worked on a single note.

2011 was probably our busiest year since touring as Chris & Cosey in the 1980s' and 90s' and honestly we're not sure why this should be. You'd think as you get older things would begin to slow down a bit, but they haven't. Ironically we've also had to turn down more offers, projects and shows than ever before - we've felt close to burn-out a few times last year, after all we're only human and there are only 24 hours in a day, but we got through it, just.
All that aside, last year we managed to get all our Desertshore guest vocalists recorded for the album, some were done here at our studio, some in Europe and a few in the USA. Everyone we asked to collaborate said yes and everyone has done a fabulous vocal, Sleazy would be very happy. Sleazy could bluff for England and although when asked "how's the album coming along Sleazy?" he'd appease us with a "fine, I'll have some new mixes ready soon" it transpires that most of the work done on Desertshore was either done here in Norfolk by the three of us or stopped being done by Sleazy in Bangkok sometime in 2009. Oh Sleazy, Sleazy…

Which brings us to now…
All of the Desertshore material that was in Ableton Live (Sleazy's DAW of choice) has been reconformed for Logic Pro (our DAW of choice) - a laborious process! To say these are early days would be a gross understatement, there is still a mountain of work to do - for a start we're still trying to formulate six years worth of existing recordings, audio sketches, rough mixes, scribbled notes, endless lists and recalling things suggested at many, many 'Desertshore discussions' had over a cuppa or three.

Our (self-imposed) schedule is to have the album finished by July for release late 2012 - maybe that's being optimistic, who knows? but we do have a career outside TG and we'd like to get back to it at some point.

The Guardian - Music Weekly Podcast

2011-11-05T09:50:00.000Z

" /> Me and Cosey Fanni Tutti discuss Throbbing Gristle and the remastered album reissues with Alexis Petridis, music critic for The Guardian.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE GUARDIAN WEBITE TO LISTEN

In Conversation With TG, at Rough Trade

2011-11-01T07:49:00.000Z

" /> WED 2ND NOV, 7PM
To celebrate the release of the remastered TG back catalogue Cosey and myself are doing an ‘In-Store’ at Rough Trade East in London on 2nd November. There will be a Q&A chaired by Luke Turner (The Quietus) and we’ll be “discussing the rich and unique history of TG” and we’ll also be available to sign albums.
Get your free wristbands here... www.roughtrade.com

Trying to avoid burning out

2011-10-03T08:22:00.000+01:00

" /> Well after many months of intense work (February to September!) the remastered Throbbing Gristle albums have finally been completed and have gone into production (see the TG website for release dates).
We decided very early on (even before dear Sleazy passed) that the albums would be remastered and rereleased specifically for each format - Vinyl, CD and DDL. So each of the five vinyl albums comes with an 8-page booklet, as do the five double-CD editions - which include different 8-page booklets to the vinyl. The five digital albums also include 6-page PDF booklets, which are different from the vinyl and CD booklets. So as you can see, this project meant the not inconsiderable task of remastering 20 different album masters, compiling, editing and laying out 100 pages of graphics and photos, and reconstructing (visually remastering) fifteen different 20-year old album covers.

In the past this amount of workload for this type of project would have been split between myself, Cosey, Sleazy and Mute (as with TGV, TG24 etc.). But having left Mute last year, and with Sleazy refusing to work from the afterlife, Cosey and myself decided to undertake the bulk of the work ourselves. Although I guess you may be asking yourself why didn’t we ‘farm out’ some, or all of the work to an outside design/production company? Well there are a number of issues to consider that would be familiar to anyone running an independent label. Obviously a major factor for not using an outside company (or even friends/acquaintances) would be the considerable additional costs for so much high quality production work. But also… historically TG (and Chris & Cosey) have functioned independently in as many areas as possible and between us we have acquired an extensive skill-set to cope with producing these kinds of projects. In fact you name it and one of us has probably done it, or would be willing to learn how to do it. But… this approach also has its drawbacks, as we’ve become ‘control freaks’ and any work we do assign to outsiders or non-TG-extended-family ends up going through endless revisions, tweaks, adjustments and rewrites… or is just rejected. Years ago we realised that for the majority of what we ‘do’ it’s often a lot faster and more cost effective in the long run to just “do it yourself”.

Which brings me back to the TG catalogue. Because, the remastered albums aside, there are still a few choice projects left to be released on Industrial Records from our reacquired Throbbing Gristle archive. The first of these will be TG’s Desertshore project in 2012, which me and Cosey (and a few friends) have been continuing to work on this year, between the TG remastering. Hopefully in 2013 we should be in a position to release the ‘TG in Berlin’ project (recorded 2005-06) and recordings and videos from our TG 2009 USA tour.

Well now I say ‘hopefully’ because Cosey and me also have to factor in our own non-TG projects, which are many. Even without all the TG work we’ve done, this year has been unbelievably busy for us - with Chris & Cosey and Carter Tutti performances, projects, collaborations and remixes and of course Cosey’s own successful Art career. Basically what I’m saying is be patient and bear with us, we’re doing the best we can but we’re only human and are trying to avoid burning out to soon.

btw: Genesis’ contribution to the ‘TG Remastered’ project was to offer some photos from his archive, which we agreed to… but he sent us nothing.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Chris Carter are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Industrial Records Ltd.

Last Chris & Cosey/Carter Tutti performances of this year

2011-09-29T08:22:00.000+01:00

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Carter Tutti at Sonic City Festival - Kortrijk, Belgium
Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter will be performing their new CARTER TUTTI/HARMONIC COACTION set at the Liars curated Sonic City Festival, Belgium on 29th October. Please visit the www.soniccity.be site for more details.
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Chris & Cosey at Unsound Festival - Krakow, Poland
Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter will be playing their new CHRIS & COSEY set at the Unsound Festival in Poland on 15th October. Please visit the Unsound website for more details.
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Chris & Cosey at Bodies of Babel Festival - Frankfurt, Germany
We’ll be playing our new CHRIS & COSEY set at the Bodies of Babel Festival in Frankfurt on 29th September.
Please visit the Mousonturm.de website for more details.
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New Look Chris & Cosey Website

2011-09-22T15:08:00.000+01:00

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The new Chris & Cosey / Carter Tutti website is now up and running. The site contains many new features, including free audio and video clips, extensive discographies, interviews and photos. www.chrisandcosey.com

The Wire - Invisible Jukebox

2011-09-02T15:07:00.000+01:00

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Cosey and myself took part in an 'Invisible Jukebox' session for the October issue of The Wire. Details here.

The Wire are also hosting two previously unreleased Carter Tutti tracks, which can be streamed via this link.

S.C.U.M. Remixed by Carter Tutti

2011-08-02T15:07:00.000+01:00

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Me and Cosey have recently remixed the new S.C.U.M. track Whitechapel, from their debut album Again Into Eyes. It is available now on 12" vinyl. Listen to the remix HERE.

The Opiates Remix

2011-07-01T15:06:00.000+01:00

Myself and Cosey have an exclusive Chris & Cosey remix on The Opiates (Billie Ray Martin) new 'Rainy Days and Remixes' EP. For more details click HERE. To hear the track click HERE

Goodbye MySpace...

2011-07-01T08:39:00.001+01:00

From Friday July 1st 2011 my Chris Carter MySpace pages will no longer be updated or maintained. This includes MySpace mailing lists, Bulletins and Blogs - NO further mail-shots or newsletters will be sent using MySpace and emails and messages will NOT be read or answered.

To subscribe to the combined Carter Tutti & CTI mailing lists please visit:
http://chrisandcosey.com/mailinglist/mailinglist.html

For all the latest information on my activities please continue to use my official website right here.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REDISTRIBUTE THIS INFORMATION

Chris & Cosey at MIMI Festival, France

2011-07-01T08:37:00.001+01:00

Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter will be performing their new Chris & Cosey set IMI Festival, Marsaille, France - 7th July

Festival LINK - and HERE.

Chris & Cosey at Wave Gothic Festival

2011-06-04T11:45:00.004+01:00

Me and Cosey Fanni Tutti (left) will be performing our new Chris & Cosey set at the Wave Gothic Festival in Leipzig, Germany on 13th June - FESTIVAL LINK.

More Chris & Cosey photos here: http://www.flickr.com
and here: http://www.flickr.com

Collaborating With Factory Floor

2011-05-10T18:15:00.002+01:00

As exclusively reported by The Quietus earlier today I am excited to announce that anyone at the Primavera Festival or Chris Cunningham's Roundhouse extravaganza will be lucky enough to see two unique collaborations between myself and Factory Floor. Due to Factory Floor's electronics guru Dominic Butler being unavailable for the two dates, I will be temporarily taking over as the third part of their immovable pyramid.

Of course it's no secret that I am a fan of FF and this weekend at the Mute Short Circuit Festival will see Factory Floor return the favour as they lend guitarist/vocalist Nik Void to Carter Tutti for another one-off collaborative performance. FESTIVAL LINK

Factory Floor play the ATP Stage on the Thursday night of Primavera, and open for Chris Cunnigham's Roundhouse AV performance on June 1st. For information and tickets go here.

Carter Tutti - Harmonic Coaction Three

2011-05-03T09:11:00.001+01:00

Harmonic Coaction Three (live excerpt) by chris_carter

This is a short clip (actually it’s Part 6 of 8) from a live performance of Harmonic Coaction by myself and Cosey Fanni Tutti at the Avatarium Festival in St Etienne, France on 16th April 2011.

The visuals and some of the sounds you hear are edited and manipulated from field recordings and photos made at the location of the performance prior to the concert.

VBS.TV - Electric Independence: Chris & Cosey Docu

2011-04-11T10:26:00.002+01:00

text from VBS.TV:
"It’s not everyday you get to meet two of your favorite, honest to god heroes. But on a recent trip to Norfolk in the United Kindom, we got the chance to spend some time at the country house of the music making powerhouse – and long time couple – Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti.

Not only did Carter and Tutti change the entire electronic music game as founding members of the legendary avant-garde industrial group Throbbing Gristle: they continued their love affair with music, gear and each other over the next 30-odd years with their mind-blowing, ahead-of-the-curve approach to drum machines, sampling and all manner of electronic skullduggery.

Between the electro-pop of Chris & Cosey, the spooky ambience of Carter Tutti or their continuing aural experiments under their mysterious ‘CTI’ moniker, these two epitomize artistic overachievement and we salute and thank them for it.

They took us for a spin around the home studio they’ve been recording in for 25 years, demonstrated some of the bits and pieces they’re using in their current incarnation, performed a special improvised track for us, and taught us how to give an asthmatic cat his daily dosage of medicine."

http://www.vbs.tv/en-gb/watch/motherboard/mbd-vbs-elec-indy-chris-and-cosey

Upcoming Chris & Cosey and Carter Tutti Performances

2011-03-23T16:14:00.003Z

photo by Julie Kane

Throughout 2011 myself and Cosey Fanni Tutti will be performing together as Carter Tutti and Chris & Cosey and also collaborating with other artists and musicians. This page will be updated in the coming weeks with info regarding dates and locations of these performances. . See above...
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CARTER TUTTI - 'HARMONIC COACTION'
Avatarium 12 Festival, St Etienne, France - 16th APRIL
FESTIVAL LINK

CARTER TUTTI & YANN MARUSSICH - 'CRÉATION'
Electron Festival, Geneva, Switzerland - 21st/22nd/23rd APRIL
FESTIVAL LINK

CARTER TUTTI & NIK VOID
Mute at Short Circuit, Roundhouse, London - 13th MAY
FESTIVAL LINK

CARTER TUTTI PLAY CHRIS & COSEY
Wave Gothic Festival, Leipzig, Germany - 13th June
Festival LINK - ticket link soon...

CARTER TUTTI PLAY CHRIS & COSEY
Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland - 25th June
Tramway LINK

CARTER TUTTI PLAY CHRIS & COSEY
MIMI Festival, Marsaille, France - 7th July
Festival LINK - and HERE

further announcements soon...

Eureka moment

2011-02-14T11:10:00.002Z

Recently while reorganising a studio cupboard I came across an old Korg MS20 USB controller. This reduced sized facsimile of the original MS20 synth was intended as a hardware controller for the MS20 soft synth plug-in that was part of the Korg Legacy Collection, back in 2004. But in one of those classic Eureka moments I wondered if there was a chance it would work with the new Korg iMS20 iPad app. And it does, perfectly.

Actually the reason this remote possibility even popped into my head was by way of a similar occurrence a few weeks earlier, when I found out my new Roland V-Synth XT (while in retro D-50 mode) could be controlled by the original 25 year old Roland PG-1000 controller - sorry to digress.

Anyway... as fascinating as this is to me I think most people find it all a bit too techy and nerdy so I’ll continue it over on my Chemistry Lessons blog.

Quietus Mix008 by Chris Carter & Cosey Fanni Tutti

2011-01-21T07:27:00.000Z

To start the New Year off we have compiled a 90 minute ‘mix tape’ for The Quietus from some of our favourite tracks. You can listen to it on Mixcloud for free right now... right here > The Quietus Mix 008: Chris & Cosey

"Memories! You're talking about memories!"

2010-11-26T09:00:00.000Z

I first met Sleazy in 1975 when we were both in our early twenties. We immediately hit it off - talking endlessly about films, the merits of John Barry or Martin Denny's arrangements, the aesthetics of gay vs straight porn, the why's & wherefores of programming in Basic, or the best place in London to get a decent ice cream sundae. Sleazy was the first person to give me an Abba album, in 1976 - and it being Sleazy it was of course a 'signed' copy.
Over the 30 odd years we knew each other mine and Cosey's relationship with him got closer as we grew older and spent more time together - lately comparing our various ailments and aches & pains, or the latest Apple gadget. There was (there is) nobody else on this little blue rock that I shared such disparate and diverse interests with, no one.

I last saw Sleazy about a week ago, just before he left for home to his beloved Bangkok. He was clutching a bag full of Apple goodies and he never looked happier or, ironically, healthier. He had new schemes and plans for X-TG's future and was looking forward to finishing the Desertshore project and playing us rough mixes of "his baby". He gave Cosey and me each a kiss and one of his infamous 'bear hugs', jumped in a waiting taxi and was gone… forever.

To quote the same movie three times (including the title):

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain..."

"The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly…"

c
x

Sleazy...

2010-11-25T08:08:00.005Z

Our dearest beautiful Sleazy left this mortal coil as he slept in peace last night.
Words cannot express our grief...

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Peter ‘ Sleazy’ Christopherson

1955 - 2010

Book of condolence at http://unklesleazy.tv
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throbbing-gristle.com
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Statement by Chris Carter & Cosey Fanni Tutti , TG / X-TG
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Peter Christopherson's final blog
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thresholdhouse.com
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flickr.com
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Wikipedia
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Guardian Newspaper Obituary
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independent Newspaper Obituary
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BBC Obituary
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Guardian Music Obituary
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Chris & Cosey Remastered Vinyl

2010-10-30T16:27:00.000+01:00

REMASTERED COLOURED VINYL REISSUES

The first two of four Chris & Cosey remastered vinyl reissues - HEARTBEAT and TRANCE - are now available from all good record stores.
Rather than blow our trumpets here please visit these links and read the fairly extensive press releases.
The second pair of releases - SONGS OF LOVE & LUST and EXOTIKA - will be available from 10th January 2011.

http://www.cargorecords.co.uk/release/13900

http://www.cargorecords.co.uk/release/13901

Read full review of Trance - CHRIS & COSEY on Boomkat.com ©

Read full review of Heartbeat - CHRIS & COSEY on Boomkat.com ©

Announcement Regarding Throbbing Gristle

2010-10-28T17:04:00.000+01:00

In the evening 27th October TG members and their associated managements received two emails from Genesis P-Orridge stating he was no longer willing to perform in Throbbing Gristle and returned to his home in New York.

Cosey, Sleazy & Chris have concluded that once more, and for the time being, Throbbing Gristle has Ceased to Exist, at least as a live entity.

Therefore, and with deepest apologies, TG must cancel their scheduled performance at Archa Theatre, in Prague, Czech Republic on 30th October.
It being too short notice to offer an alternative set.

In order not to disappoint fans of the old quartet, Cosey, Peter & Chris will perform live under the name X-TG at Arena Del Sole, Bologna, Italy on 2nd November & at Casa Musica, Porto, Portugal on 5th November.

We hope fans will appreciate and enjoy this new project and the trio is looking forward to performing exciting new and radical electronic musics together.

Full refunds are available at the point of purchase if required.

Industrial Records Ltd, London. 29th October 2010

• industrial-records.com • throbbing-gristle.com •

Tutti Box

2010-10-16T13:59:00.000+01:00

I have put a short explanation of the inner workings of the Tutti Box experimental sound generator on my CCCL (Chris Carter's Chemistry Lessons) blog - link below.

http://chriscarterchemistrylessons.blogspot.com

The missadventures of Chris Carter

2010-10-16T13:26:00.002+01:00

or Carry On Circuit Bending

For the last week or so I’ve been head down, hard at work building a custom sound generator for Cosey to perform with at the upcoming Throbbing Gristle shows (details at throbbing-gristle.com).

Things started out well, if a little slowly as I haven’t put soldering iron to component for quite a while. Anyway by Monday we had an unfinished but functioning box of sonic tricks that sounded pretty good to us. The penultimate stage was mostly cosmetic, with Cosey choosing the colour of various LEDs, buttons and the type of control knobs. On Tuesday I was finishing it all off and finally putting the last few components in place.

So there I was in the kitchen - no I don’t have an underground lair or mountaintop laboratory... yet, though I do have a snazzy white lab coat. So I’m drilling a small 3mm hole in a nice piece of vintage 1970s’ copper covered circuit board while holding it in place when (and this all happened in a split second) the drill bit snapped, the drill jumped across the board and continued drilling through the nail of my middle finger with what was left of the broken drill bit.

I can’t remember exactly what happened immediately following this mishap, it seems I went into shock from the pain, then passed out. Weirdly I remember standing in the kitchen looking at my drilled and bloody finger then the next moment I was sitting in our car on my way to hospital wondering how on earth I’d got there. That oddly dislocated feeling is how I imagine one would feel when time travelling or teleporting - well apart from the searing pain.

So after being administered the usual x-rays, bandages and meds in the A&E department, and endless waiting around, I was sent home with a diagnosis of “a nasty hole but no broken bones”. Next morning I got a worried phone call from the hospital - by a doctor who was supposed to have checked me over in A&E but for whatever reason didn’t - telling me to return immediately for more treatment as the x-rays showed my finger was broken. Well I could have bloody well told them that!

So fast forward to Thursday... I’m in full-on ‘clearing up’ mode vacuuming, putting away piles of odds n’ ends, spare parts, unused components and attempting to get our kitchen back to normal - basically with one and a half hands.

I have this very nice Italian folding desk that was given to me in the 1970s’, I use it regularly for projects as does Cosey, Nick and many house guests. And although it has a plastic worktop it’s heavy because the frame is made from chromed steel. I’ve unfolded/folded this desk a hundred times but with one hand, and half a hand, it is not so easy. To fold it involves a flipping action so that it goes from being a regular desk to being a completely flat frame you can tuck away anywhere. So I flipped it... but being too concerned about catching my drilled finger in the frame that I didn’t realise my little finger, my pinky, was lying somewhere between the two halves of the frame. With a dull snap and a loud shout my finger was crushed and in a split second it was broken, within 4 hours it was literally black and blue.

Apart from cracking a rib in the 70s I have never broken a bone in my body, then I break two fingers in two days, what are the chances? Well according to the three doctors and half a dozen nurses I’ve seen this week both injuries are apparently classic DIY mishaps and they see things like that all the time, though not usually twice in one week.

In future I’ll be more careful (much more) and even though these are not massive injuries they are bloody inconvenient!