Current 93
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Current 93 is a British music group founded in 1982 by David Tibet (née David Michael Bunting, renamed 'Tibet' by Genesis P-Orridge sometime prior to forming the group).
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. Later works found Tibet mostly casting off such trappings in favor of a more organic sound, labeled by some as "apocalyptic folk" music, featuring his sinister nursery rhyme-influenced singing and primarily acoustic folk-styled music.
Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound (who has appeared on nearly every Current 93 release, from the first cassette in 1983 to present) and Michael Cashmore are consistent collaborators. 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 Aeswynn [1] (http://www.aswynn.co.uk/), Nick Cave, Rose McDowall [2] (http://www.rosemcdowall.com/), Tiny Tim, and Ian Read of Fire + Ice have also lent their talents over the years.
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 Magic Lantern Cycle, Nature and Organization and The Hafler Trio.
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 [3] (http://www.93current.de/) being the current of Thelema or Agape), Tibetan Buddhism, Gnosticism, runes (particularly the swastika), 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.
Literary influences include Lautreamont's 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, James Joyce (esp. Finnegan's Wake), writer Thomas Ligotti, M.R. James's various ghost stories, The Cloud of Unknowing, 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 Kaikhosru Shapuji Sorabji (Spanish/Sicilian/Parsi composer, 1892-1988)
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, 19891994) |
| 1988 | Swastikas For Noddy | LP (reissued on CD as Swastikas For Goddy, 1988,1993) |
| 1988 | Faith's Favourites | 12" |
| 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 | EP split with Death in June |
| 1990 | Horse | reissued as Horsey,1987 with extra/reworked tracks. |
| 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 | 12"/CDS |
| 1996 | All The Pretty Little Horses | LP/CD |
| 1996 | The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home | 12"/CDS |
| 1996 | Untitled | CD 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 | EP/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 |
| 2004 | Halo | CD |
| 2004 | SixSixSix: SickSickSick | CD |
| 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") |
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 Sveinbjörn 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
External links
- Durtro Records homepage (http://www.durtro.com/) Official Durtro and Current 93 homepage
- Another official homepage (http://www.brainwashed.com/c93), extensive discography, live information archive, related literary sources. Site is current up to 2003, but is at present on hiatus
- FluxEuropa page (http://www.fluxeuropa.com/current93.htm)
- Ruth Bayer photo archive (http://www.skoob.com/bayer/)