Current 93
Current 93 | |
|---|---|
 Current 93 in 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Great Britain |
| Genres | Apocalyptic folk, experimental music, dark ambient, neofolk, post-industrial |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Labels | Coptic Cat Durtro United Dairies Jnana L.A.Y.L.A.H. Antirecords Beta-lactam Ring Records |
| Members | David Tibet Steven Stapleton Michael Cashmore |
| Past members | Douglas P. Rose McDowall Christoph Heemann |
Current 93 is an electric British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982[1] by David Tibet (né David Michael Bunting, renamed 'Tibet' by Genesis P-Orridge[2] sometime prior to forming the group).
Background
Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton (of Nurse with Wound) has appeared on nearly every Current 93 release.[3] Michael Cashmore has also been a constant contributor since Thunder Perfect Mind. Douglas P. of Death in June has played on well over a dozen Current 93 releases, and Steve Ignorant of Crass (using the name Stephen Intelligent), Boyd Rice, runologist Freya Aswynn, Nick Cave, Björk, Andrew W.K., Will Oldham, Ben Chasny, Rose McDowall, Hank Williams III, among others.
Current 93 have released over twenty albums and many singles as well.
Much of Current 93's early work was similar to late 1970s and early 1980s industrial music: abrasive tape loops, droning synthesizer noises and Tibet's distorted, excoriating vocals.
Tibet's lyrics have been fairly consistent, regardless of delivery: The earlier recordings reflect his preoccupation with death, Christ, mysticism, Aleister Crowley (Tibet borrowed the term "93 Current" from Crowley – the 93 Current being the current of Thelema or Agape), Tibetan Buddhism, Gnosticism, runes, swastikas, Noddy, The Wicker Man, and a variety of occult notions. The later to present-day period of Current 93's recordings increasingly reflect Tibet's interest in Christian mysticism and apocalypse. Tibet has stated that he identifies himself as a Christian.[4]
Literary influences include Lautreamont's Les Chants de Maldoror, the Bible, The Poetic Eddas, Hildegard von Bingen, John Dee, Heptarchia Mystica, The Thunder, Perfect Mind, William Blake, Louis Wain, writer Thomas Ligotti, occult British author Arthur Machen (originator of the title "The Inmost Light"), M.R. James's various ghost stories, The Cloud of Unknowing, Count Eric Stenbock, and Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker.[5]
Discography
Primary, full-length, Current 93 studio albums
Full discography
| Year | Title | Format and special notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Mi-Mort | cassette split with Nurse with Wound |
| 1984 | LAShTAL | 12" |
| 1984 | Nature Unveiled | LP (reissued on CD,1992) |
| 1984 | No Hiding from the Blackbird | 7" split w/ Nurse With Wound |
| 1984 | Dogs Blood Rising | LP (reissued on CD, 1988 and 1995) |
| 1985 | Live at Bar Maldoror | LP (reissued on CD 1990 and 1994) |
| 1985 | Nightmare Culture | EP split with Sickness of Snakes (Coil/Boyd Rice) |
| 1986 | In Menstrual Night | LP (reissued on CD, 1994) |
| 1986 | NL Centrum-Amsterdam | live cassette split w/ Nurse With Wound |
| 1987 | Happy Birthday | 12" |
| 1987 | Dawn | LP (reissued on CD, 1994) |
| 1987 | Imperium | LP (reissued on CD, 2001) |
| 1987 | Crowleymass (with HÖH) | 12"/CDS (reissued in 1997) |
| 1988 | Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow | 2xLP (reissued on CD, 1994) |
| 1988 | The Red Face of God | 12" (reissued on CD with above, 1994) |
| 1988 | Swastikas for Noddy | LP (reissued on CD as Swastikas for Goddy, 1993) |
| 1988 | Faith's Favourites | 12" split with Nurse with Wound |
| 1988 | Earth Covers Earth | LP (reissued on CD, 1992) (limited LP reissue, 2005) |
| 1989 | Rome/Hourglass for Diana/Fields of Rape | 7" (live) |
| 1989 | She Is Dead and All Fall Down | limited edition 7" |
| 1989 | Crooked Crosses for the Nodding God | CD |
| 1990 | Looney Runes | LP, CD 1992 |
| 1990 | 1888 | split EP with Death in June |
| 1990 | Horse | LP, part of a box set/split with Sol Invictus and Nurse With Wound (reissued on CD as Horsey with extra/reworked tracks, 1997) |
| 1991 | Island (with HÖH) | LP/CD |
| 1991 | As the World Disappears (live) | CD |
| 1992 | Thunder Perfect Mind | 2xLP/CD (reissued, 1994) |
| 1992 | Death in June / Current 93 / Sol Invictus (live) | Recorded in Frankfurt, Germany, 1991. Originally a bootleg called Day of Dawn, officially reissued on CD. |
| 1993 | Emblems: The Menstrual Years | LP, issued as 2xCD retrospective |
| 1993 | Hitler as Kalki | CD |
| 1994 | Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre | LP/CD |
| 1994 | The Fire of the Mind | CD/MiniAlbum |
| 1994 | Lucifer Over London | EP/CD |
| 1994 | Tamlin | 12"/CDS |
| 1995 | Where The Long Shadows Fall | 12"/CDS |
| 1996 | All The Pretty Little Horses: The Inmost Light | LP/CD |
| 1996 | The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home | 12"/CDS |
| 1996 | Untitled, a.k.a. Seven Seals | CD-EP with Tiny Tim, Nurse with Wound and Nature and Organization |
| 1997 | In a Foreign Town, in a Foreign Land | limited CD, accompanied Thomas Ligotti book of same name |
| 1998 | Soft Black Stars | LP/CD, (reissued on CD in 2005) |
| 1999 | Calling for Vanished Faces | 2xCD retrospective |
| 1999 | An Introduction to Suffering | Current 93/Michael Cashmore/Christoph Heemann LP/CD |
| 1999 | Misery Farm | CDS |
| 1999 | All Dolled Up Like Christ | 2x Live CD |
| 2000 | I Have a Special Plan for This World | 12"/CD, Thomas Ligotti prose poem read by Tibet, treated by Current 93 |
| 2000 | Sleep Has His House | LP/CD |
| 2000 | Faust | LP/CD |
| 2001 | The Great in the Small | LP/CD |
| 2001 | Cats Drunk on Copper | CD (Live at the Union Chapel, London, 3 May 1997) |
| 2001 | Bright Yellow Moon | 2x12"/CD Current 93/Nurse with Wound |
| 2001 | Purtle | CD Split w/ Nurse with Wound |
| 2001 | This Degenerate Little Town | CD with Thomas Ligotti |
| 2002 | The Seahorse Rears to Oblivion | 12"/CD |
| 2002 | Music for the Horse Hospital | 2xCD Current 93/Nurse with Wound |
| 2003 | A Little Menstrual Night Music | CD containing remixes of tracks from In Menstrual Night |
| 2003 | Calling For Vanished Faces/Virgin Mary | 7" split with Antony and the Johnsons; UK PanDurtro 008 |
| 2003 | Live at St. Olave's | CD EP split with Antony and the Johnsons; UK PanDurtro 007 |
| 2004 | Halo | Live CD |
| 2004 | SixSixSix: SickSickSick | CD compilation of Tamlin, Lucifer over London, Misery Farm, and two pieces from Looney Runes |
| 2005 | How I Devoured Apocalypse Balloon | 2xCD (Live at St. George The Martyr Anglican Church, Toronto, 18–19 June 2004) |
| 2005 | ⲛⲧⲛⲁⲩ ⲛϩⲱⲧⲡ ⲙⲡⲣⲏ ⲁϩⲉⲛⲉϫⲏⲩ ⲉⲩⲕⲏⲙ ⲟⲩⲉⲙ ⲧⲡⲉ | CDS (promo for Black Ships Ate the Sky; the Coptic title reads "At Sunset Black Ships Ate The Sky") |
| 2005 | Judas as Black Moth (Hallucinatory Patripassianist Song) | 2xCD "best of"/introduction to C93's works |
| 2005 | How He Loved The Moon | 2xCD/2xLP (ltd. 1200)/2xLP+7" (ltd. 200), a remixed version of In Menstrual Night |
| 2005 | Hypnagogue/Hypnagogue II | CD |
| 2006 | Black Ships Ate the Sky | CD / 2xLP |
| 2006 | Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun | Split 10" with Om |
| 2006 | Black Ships Eat the Sky | CD – Alternate mixes |
| 2007 | The Inmost Light | 3xCD/2xLP reissue of Where The Long Shadows Fall, All the Pretty Little Horses, and The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home |
| 2007 | Birdsong in The Empire | Live CD (ltd. 1200) Recorded in Toronto, Canada, 2005 |
| 2008 | Black Ships Heat the Dancefloor | Blue 12" single/DualDisc, remixes by JG Thirlwell and Matmos |
| 2008 | Birth Canal Blues | CD EP April 2008 |
| 2009 | Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain | CD/LP |
| 2010 | Baalstorm, Sing Omega | CD/LP |
| 2010 | Haunted Waves, Moving Graves | Limited-edition CD (999 copies) and 12" picture disc (666 copies). Both editions have different track listings. |
| 2010 | When the May Rain Comes | 12" purple & white vinyl (200 copies). 12" purple vinyl (300 copies). 12" black vinyl (500 copies). CD EP (Deluxe Digipak 6 panel). |
| 2011 | HoneySuckle Æons | Released 24 March 2011 |
| 2012 | When Rome Falls, Falls the World | Live CD |
| 2014 | I Am the Last of All the Field That Fell: A Channel | CD/LP |
| 2015 | The Moons At Your Door | CD/LP |
Compilation appearances
- "Black Ships Ate The Sky (Alternate Mix)" on Brainwaves (2006)
Current 93 Presents releases
- 1986 Aleister Crowley – The Hastings Archives/The World As Power LP
- 1988 The Venerable 'Chi.med Rig. 'dzin Lama, Rinpoche – Tantric rNying.ma Chant of Tibet LP/CD
- 1990 Harry Oldfield – Crystal LP/CD
- 1990 Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson – Edda LP/CD
- 1992 Shirley Collins – Fountain of Snow CD
- 1995 Tiny Tim – Songs of an Impotent Troubadour CD
- 1997 The Aryan Aquarians – Meet Their Waterloo LP/CD
See also
References
- ^ Brandon Stosuy (11 September 2006). "Current 93". Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media Inc. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- ^ Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (November 2010). "Genesis P-Orridge Pays Tribute To Sleazy". The Quietus. thequietus.com. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
- ^ "Current 93". All Music. Rovi Corp. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- ^ "Pitchfork: Interviews: Current 93". Pitchforkmedia.com. 11 September 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
- ^ "Riddley Walker – Related Works". Graphesthesia.com. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
External links
- Coptic Cat homepage Official Coptic Cat homepage
- Official archive, extensive discography, live information archive, related literary sources.
- David Tibet – C93 interview extensive interview with David Tibet from the Judas Kiss site, conducted in 2006
- Current 93 discography at MusicBrainz
Reviews
- Black Ships Ate The Sky
- Birdsong in the Empire From the Judas Kiss website
- Of Ruine Or Some Blazing Starre from the Judas Kiss
- ‘Sleep has His House’ 3-CD (mail order edition) from the Judas Kiss
- Nature Unveiled 2-CD re-issue edition from the Judas Kiss
- Dogs Blood Rising 2-CD re-issue edition from the Judas Kiss
- Black Ships Heat The Dancefloor CD/DVD from the Judas Kiss
- Birth Canal Blues CD from the Judas Kiss
- 3D ANOKPE CURRENT 93 'BIRTH CANAL BLUES' LIVE CD from the Judas Kiss
- Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain CD from the Judas kiss
- Baalstorm, Sing Omega CD/LP from the Judas kiss
- Haunted Waves, Moving Graves’ CD/12” from the Judas Kiss
- Larsen and Friends, featuring David Tibet – ‘Abeceda’ LP from the Judas Kiss
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
