Current 93
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Current 93 | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Origin | ? | |
| Genre(s) | Experimental | |
| Years active | 1982 – Present | |
| Label(s) | Durtro | |
| Members | ||
| David Tibet Steven Stapleton Michael Cashmore |
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| Former members | ||
| Douglas P. Rose McDowall Christoph Heemann |
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Current 93 are an eclectic British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet (né David Michael Bunting, renamed 'Tibet' by Genesis P-Orridge sometime prior to forming the group).
Contents |
[edit] 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. 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 [1], Nick Cave, Björk, Rose McDowall, Tiny Tim, Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus, John Balance of Coil and Ian Read of Fire + Ice have also lent their talents over the years. Tibet is fond of the works of American writer Thomas Ligotti, and invited him to collaborate with Current 93.
Current 93 have released some twenty albums, and many singles, as well as having been a guest on many of the above listed artists' records, and others' such as Nature and Organisation and The Hafler Trio.
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, ranting vocals. This early work became influential with the goth scene. Later works found Tibet mostly casting off such trappings in favor of a more organic sound, labeled by some as "apocalyptic folk" music, occasionally featuring his sinister nursery rhyme-influenced singing and primarily acoustic folk-styled music.
The later 1990's music has shifted from the sound to more complex and orchestated sound
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 [2] 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. Tibet has stated that he now identifies as a Christian. [3].
Literary influences include Lautreamont's Les Chants de Maldoror, The Bible, The Poetic Eddas, Francis Parker Yockey's Imperium, Hildegard von Bingen, John Dee, Heptarchia Mystica, The Thunder, Perfect Mind, William Blake, Louis Wain, writer Thomas Ligotti, M.R. James's various ghost stories, The Cloud of Unknowing, and Count Eric Stenbock.
Musical influences include religious chants, traditional folk music, The Tam Lin ballad, The Incredible String Band, Sand, Comus, Blue Öyster Cult, Love, Shirley Collins, and the Parsi composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
Recommended further reading: England's Hidden Reverse - A Secret History of the Esoteric Underground by David Keenan (SAF Publishing 2003)
[edit] Discography
| Year | Title | Format and special notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Mi-Mort | cassette split with Nurse With Wound |
| 1984 | LAShTAL | 12" |
| 1984 | No Hiding from the Blackbird | 7" split w/ Nurse With Wound |
| 1984 | Nature Unveiled | LP (reissued on CD,1992) |
| 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, 1992, 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, 1988,1993) |
| 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 1990, 1992 |
| 1990 | 1888 | split EP with Death In June |
| 1990 | Horse | LP (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 | Current 93/Death In June/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 |
| 1994 | Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre | LP/CD |
| 1994 | Lucifer Over London | EP/CD |
| 1994 | The Fire of the Mind | CD |
| 1994 | Tamlin | 12"/CDS |
| 1995 | Where The Long Shadows Fall (Beforetheinmostlight) | 12"/CDS |
| 1996 | All The Pretty Little Horses: The Inmost Light | LP/CD |
| 1996 | The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home (Theinmostlightthirdandfinal) | 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, May 3 1997) |
| 2001 | Bright Yellow Moon | 2X 12"/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 |
| 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 | 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, June 18-19 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 (Moonsongs For Jhonn Balance) | 2XCD/2xLP (ltd. 1200)/2xLP+7" (ltd. 200), a remixed version of In Menstrual Night |
| 2006 | Black Ships Ate the Sky | CD / 2xLP |
| 2006 | Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun (Blackship Shrinebuilder) | Split 10" with Om |
| 2006 | Black Ships Eat the Sky | CD - Alternate mixes |
[edit] Compilation appearances
- "Black Ships Ate The Sky (Alternate Mix)" on Brainwaves (2006)
[edit] 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
[edit] External links
- Durtro Records homepage Official Durtro and Current 93 homepage
- Official archive, extensive discography, live information archive, related literary sources.
- Interview with David Tibet (May 2006)
