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Chris Carter | |
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 Chris Carter with Throbbing Gristle (2009). | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 28 January 1953 Islington, North London, England |
| Genres | Electronic, industrial |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, engineer, producer |
| Instrument(s) | Synthesizer, keyboards, programming, sampler |
| Labels | Third Mind |
Chris Carter (born 28 January 1953) is an English musician, best known for being a member of Throbbing Gristle and the duo Chris & Cosey, both with his longtime partner Cosey Fanni Tutti.
Carter was born 28 January 1953 in Islington, North London and educated at Friern Barnet Grammar School. [1]
He began his career in the late 1960s working for various UK TV stations (Thames, Granada and LWT) as a sound engineer on numerous TV shows and documentaries. This gave him an invaluable grounding in audio techniques and theories. He also found himself getting more involved in the visual side of entertainment, which eventually progressed into designing and presenting light shows and visual effects for numerous festivals, events and gigs, including for bands as diverse as Yes and Hawkwind. This led to commissions for the BBC Television shows Colour Me Pop and The Old Grey Whistle Test . By the early 1970s Carter was touring universities and colleges with a solo multimedia show, playing self-built synthesizers and keyboards and incorporating myriad lighting effects learned from his previous work. During this time he also worked extensively with visual artist John Lacey on many 8 mm & 16 mm experimental films and multimedia presentations.
In the mid-1970s, through his connection with Lacey, Carter began an experimental music/sound collaboration with Cosey Fanni Tutti and Genesis P-Orridge, who were also working at the time as performance art group COUM Transmissions along with Peter Christopherson. The results of this musical collaboration were the creation of the group Throbbing Gristle, of the music label Industrial Records, and the birth of the 'Industrial Music' genre.
In 1976 Carter also worked at the London bureau of the ABC News agency as a sound engineer and during that time designed and constructed their London radio studio. In 1977 he was offered a contract to build another ABC studio in Rome but turned it down to continue his involvement as a member of Throbbing Gristle.
During the early years of Throbbing Gristle, the four members each continued with other solo projects and work. It was during this period (1980) when Carter recorded his first solo album for Industrial Records called The Space Between, which is now available on Mute Records. Shortly after the demise of Throbbing Gristle in 1981, and with help and backing from Rough Trade Records, Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti formed their Conspiracy International (CTI) record label, and began working together as Chris & Cosey and CTI. Initially they released only music, but soon moved into producing video works, and with the help of Doublevision released a number of CTI experimental video films and soundtracks. In 1985 Carter released his second solo album Mondo Beat.
As well as successfully touring all over the world, Chris & Cosey also recorded and collaborated on innumerable releases, most notably with Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, Robert Wyatt, Coil, Boyd Rice, Lustmord, Monte Cazazza and many more. Chris & Cosey and Carter Tutti have also remixed tracks for Mortal Loom and Erasure, Pantaleimon, Throbbing Gristle, John Cage, Current 93 and Chris Ewan (FBH).
In 1994 Carter also moved into journalism, and regularly has technical articles and reviews published in the magazine Sound on Sound . He is additionally a keen photographer and graphic designer, and in collaboration with Cosey Fanni Tutti has designed and produced numerous album covers, posters and art works. Carter returned to solo performance work in 1995 after a gap of 15 years. His performances included subtle references to his earlier works, but with obvious influences from his more recent collaborations. In 1998 Carter released a compilation CD entitled Disobedient, consisting of tracks from his 1995 Disobey tour (produced by Paul Smith). In 2000 he released a solo studio album, Small Moon. In 1998 the album Caged, a collaboration with electronic musician Ian Boddy, was released on the DiN label.
In 2000 Carter, in collaboration with Cosey Fanni Tutti, began producing and releasing a series of albums titled: Electronic Ambient Remixes. The first of these, EAR ONE, consisted of dark ambient remixes of his 1980 The Space Between album. In 2002 he released EAR THREE, a further solo ambient CD, which consists of radical remixes of original Throbbing Gristle industrial rhythm tracks.
In 2003 Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti stopped releasing material and performing as Chris & Cosey, and began producing all their work under the title of Carter Tutti. One of their first appearances as Carter Tutti was a special quadraphonic performance in the Disney Theatre at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2005. Carter and the other original members of Throbbing Gristle regrouped the band in 2003 and released the TG24 CD boxed set, with an accompanying art exhibition in London. TG performances followed in London, Camber Sands, Turin, Berlin, Barcelona and Paris.
During 2007 Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti again worked on numerous Throbbing Gristle projects, recordings, installations, exhibitions and performances. These included their groundbreaking audio/visual performance at Tate Modern turbine hall and their three-day 'public recording session' at the ICA in London. Carter worked on a Carter Tutti album entitled Feral Vapours of the Silver Ether, which is released in 2007 on the Conspiracy International label. Carter continues to work and collaborate with both Cosey Fanni Tutti and Throbbing Gristle. He is also working on a solo experimental audio project titled CCCL, and produced a new Carter Tutti film, released on DVD in 2008.
Carter has invented a sound generator called The Dirty Carter Experimental Sound Generating Instrument, a circuit bending device with a tilt sensor. [2]
Carter also co-invented The Gristleizer, a sound effects unit based on the design of a guitar effects pedal from Roy Gwinn. [3] The Gristleizer effects unit is regarded as a major contributor to the Throbbing Gristle sound. [4] [5]
(NOT including Throbbing Gristle, Carter Tutti or Chris & Cosey releases)
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initially a blend of avant-garde electronics experiments and punk provocation". The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by members of Throbbing Gristle and Monte Cazazza. While the genre name originated with Throbbing Gristle's emergence in the United Kingdom, artists and labels vital to the genre also emerged in the United States and other countries.
Industrial Records is a record label established in 1976 by industrial music and visual arts group Throbbing Gristle. The group created the label primarily for self-releases but also signed several other groups and artists. The label gave a name to the industrial music genre.
Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, later joined by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of industrial music. Evolving from the experimental performance art group COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle made their public debut in October 1976 in the COUM exhibition Prostitution, and released their debut single "United/Zyklon B Zombie" and debut album The Second Annual Report the following year. P-Orridge's lyrics mainly revolved around mysticism, extremist political ideologies, sexuality, dark or underground aspects of society, and idiosyncratic manipulation of language inspired by the techniques of William S. Burroughs.
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge was an English singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmissions artistic collective and lead vocalist of seminal industrial band Throbbing Gristle. They were also a founding member of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth occult group, and fronted the experimental pop rock band Psychic TV.
COUM Transmissions was a music and performance art collective who operated in the United Kingdom from 1969 through to 1976. The collective was influenced by the Dada and surrealism artistic movements, the writers of the Beat Generation, and underground music. COUM were openly confrontational and subversive, challenging aspects of conventional British society. Founded in Hull, Yorkshire, by Genesis P-Orridge, other prominent early members included Cosey Fanni Tutti and Spydeee Gasmantell. Part-time members included Tim Poston, Brook Menzies, Haydn Robb, Les Maull, Ray Harvey, John (Jonji) Smith, Foxtrot Echo, Fizzy Paet, and John Gunni Busck. Later members included Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter, who together with P-Orridge and Tutti went on to found the pioneering industrial band Throbbing Gristle in 1976.
Brian Williams is a Welsh musician, sound designer and film score composer. He is often credited for creating the dark ambient genre with albums recorded under the name Lustmord. His experimental work has been described as "not traditionally 'musical'" with "more clearly visual aspects".
Cosey Fanni Tutti is an English performance artist, musician and writer, best known for her time in the avant-garde groups Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey.
Monte Cazazza was an American artist and composer best known for his seminal role in helping shape industrial music through recordings with the London-based Industrial Records in the mid-1970s.
Chris & Cosey, sometimes known as Carter Tutti, are a musical duo formed in 1981, consisting of couple Chris Carter (electronics) and Cosey Fanni Tutti, both previously members of industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle. Since the release of their 1981 debut album Heartbeat, the group have expanded on the rhythmic ideas of Throbbing Gristle while adding synthesized pop elements to their sound.
Part Two is an album by English industrial band Throbbing Gristle, released in 2007 through record label Mute Records.
20 Jazz Funk Greats is the third studio album by British industrial music group Throbbing Gristle, released in December 1979 by the band's Industrial Records label. Known for its tongue-in-cheek title and artwork, it has been hailed as the band's best work, with Fact naming it the best album of the 1970s and Pitchfork naming it the best industrial album of all time.
Unnatural History III, subtitled Joyful Participation in the Sorrows of the World, is the third and final release in the Unnatural History series of compilation albums by British experimental band Coil. Unlike the compilations Stolen & Contaminated Songs and Gold Is the Metal with the Broadest Shoulders, the Unnatural History albums collect songs from more than one era of Coil's work.
Heathen Earth is a live album by the English industrial band Throbbing Gristle, released in 1980 through Industrial Records.
TG+ is a box set by Throbbing Gristle. The 10-CD set contains Throbbing Gristle live performances, all digitally remastered by Chris Carter. The set is a follow-up to TG24. These recordings represent the final ten live TG recordings that were not included in the TG24 release. Other than CDs, the set contains an inlay with five laser cut metal plates that are about the size of a business card. Each plate is a variation of the TG logo.
"United/Zyklon B Zombie" is the debut single by industrial band Throbbing Gristle. It was released in 7" vinyl format in May 1978, through the band's own Industrial Records.
TG Now is an album by English industrial band Throbbing Gristle. It was released in 2004 through the band's own record label Industrial Records and was their first album of original material since 1982's Journey Through a Body.
The Second Annual Report is the debut album by English industrial music group Throbbing Gristle, released in November 1977 through Industrial Records. It is a combination of live and studio recordings made from October 1976 to September 1977. The Second Annual Report is considered to be influential within electronic music, being one of the first industrial music albums.
D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle is the second studio album by English industrial band Throbbing Gristle. It was released in 1978 by their Industrial Records label.
In the Shadow of the Sun is an improvised musical score by Throbbing Gristle for the 1981 Derek Jarman film of the same name.
Other, Like Me: The Oral History of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle, also shorter titled Other, Like Me, is a 2020 American-British documentary film on the music and art groups Throbbing Gristle and COUM Transmissions, which covers the history of both projects in archival film footage and photos and interviews with their members.
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