Chris Carter
Thursday 18 March:
Panel discussion
Chris Carter is from London, and is best known for being a founder member of Throbbing Gristle and one half of electronic duo Chris & Cosey (aka: Carter Tutti). His long time partner Cosey Fanni Tutti is the mother of his son, Nick and also a member of Throbbing Gristle.
He began his career in the late 1960's working for various TV stations (Thames, Granada and LWT) as a sound engineer on numerous TV shows and documentaries. This gave him an invaluable grounding in working with sound, audio techniques and theories. He also got more involved in the visual side of entertainment and performance, which eventually progressed into designing and presenting light shows and visual effects for numerous festivals, events and performances, including bands as diverse as Yes and Hawkwind. This work led to commissions for BBC TV shows, Colour Me Pop and The Old Grey Whistle Test.
By the early 1970's Carter was touring universities and colleges with a solo, multimedia show playing self-built synthesizers and keyboards and incorporating a myriad of lighting effects gleaned from his previous work. During this time he also worked extensively with visual artist John Lacey on many 8mm and 16mm experimental films and multimedia presentations. In the mid 1970’s, and through his connection with John Lacey, Chris began an experimental music/sound collaboration with Cosey Fanni Tutti and Genesis P-Orridge, who at the time were also performing as COUM Transmissions with Peter Christopherson.
The result of this musical collaboration was the creation of the now legendary Throbbing Gristle, Industrial Records and the birth of the 'Industrial Music' phenomenon. In 1976 Chris 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 Chris recorded his first solo album for Industrial Records titled The Space Between, (now available on Mute Records). Shortly after the demise of Throbbing Gristle in 1982 Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti formed the Conspiracy International record label CTI (with backing from Rough Trade Records) and began working together as Chris & Cosey and also as CTI. Initially releasing only music they 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 have also remixed tracks for Mortal Loom and Erasure. In 1994 he moved also into journalism and regularly has technical articles and reviews published in UK magazine Sound On Sound.
Carter is also a keen photographer and graphic designer and in collaboration with Cosey Fanni Tutti has designed and produced numerous album covers, posters and art works. In 1995 he returned to solo performance work after a gap of some 15 years. In 1998 he released a compilation CD of tracks from his 1995 Disobey tour: Disobedient, and in 2000 he released a solo studio album, Small Moon. 1998 also saw the release of Caged, a collaboration album with electro musician Ian Boddy.
In 2000 Carter, in collaboration with Cosey Fanni Tutti, began producing and releasing a series albums titled Electronic Ambient Remixes. The first of these, EAR ONE, consisted of remixes of his 1980 The Space Between album. In 2002 he released EAR THREE a further solo ambient CD, which consists of remixes of his original Throbbing Gristle industrial rhythm tracks. In 2003 Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti stopped releasing material and performing as Chris & Cosey and now produce all their work under the title of CARTER TUTTI. Their most recent performance was in February 2005 at the LA MOCA See Hear Now festival, in Los Angeles.
Chris Carter and the other original members of Throbbing Gristle regrouped in 2002 for a series of Throbbing Gristle related releases and events. These include the TG24 CD boxed set and accompanying art exhibition in London and performances in 2004 at the Astoria, London, Camber Sands, Sussex and Turin, Italy in 2005.
In 2006 Carter Tutti performed in Pisa, Venice, Madrid, Barcelona and Athens. They also appeared on the recent Current 93 album Black Ships Ate The Sky and are currently working with a number of other musicians on collaborations, projects and remixes for Kenneth Anger, Syd Barrett, John Cage, Excepter and Liars.
During 2007 Chris 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 London. Carter was also central to the technical realisation of the TG/Cerith Wyn Evans collaborative audio sculpture A=p=p=a=r=i=t=i=o=n.
2007 also saw the release of the most recent Carter Tutti album Feral Vapours of the Silver Ether, which has been heaped with praise and rave reviews and is being acclaimed as "their finest album yet".
During 2008 and 2009 Chris Carter performed (as part of Carter Tutti and Throbbing Gristle) in Barcelona, Paris, London, Athens, Berlin, Wroclaw, New York, Chicago, Coachella, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Glasgow and Copenhagen. It was also during 2009 that Carter worked extensively with Christiaan Virant (FM3) in designing and developing the hugely popular Gristleism handheld loop playback unit for Industrial Records & Throbbing Gristle.
Chris continues to work with both Cosey and Throbbing Gristle and is also currently working on a new solo experimental audio project entitled Chemistry Lessons.
Carsten Nicolai aka alva noto, unitxt, 2009.
Photo Dieter Wuschanski
