David Tibet's project, Current 93,
that often employed Nurse With Wound's Steve Stapleton,
Coil's John Balance and/or 23 Skidoo's Fritz Haaman,
centered on lugubrious ceremonies.
Nature Unveiled (1984), the quintessence of Tibet's black masses,
fusing mantra and Gregorian invocations, "unveiled" an ode to eternal suffering,
a terrifying fresco of the Universal Judgement. His experiments on the human
voice peaked with Dogs Blood Rising (1985), another sonic puzzle aimed at creating sinister atmospheres.
Tibet's new course was announced by Imperium (1987), a suite of sepulchral elegies imbued of themes from medieval Christianity, set to the usual sound of hell, and embellished with instruments of the Renaissance.
This bard of apocalyptic folk-rock ballads set out to bridge esoteric music of the 1980s and hippy communes of the 1960s, particularly with the psychedelic piece Hitler As Kalki, from Thunder Perfect Mind (1992).
David Tibet's pagan acoustic folk (reminiscent of the Incredible String Band),
hardly related to his beginnings, would become a genre of its own.
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David Tibet e` il tetro sacerdote dei piu` imponenti
rituali di occultismo e misticismo della storia del rock.
Membro dei Nurse With Wound e degli
Psychic TV, nel 1982 ha fondato i
Current 93, un collettivo che si ispira ai cerimoniali di magia sessuale
del guru Aleister Crowley ("The 93rd Current" e` la definizione
della religione Thelema).
I principali partecipanti sono
Steve Stapleton
( Nurse With Wound ,
John Balance (Coil), e Fritz Haaman
(23 Skidoo).
Le suite Alone Into Alone e Only Shadows Of Hooks, sulla
cassetta
Maldoror Is Dead (Laylah, 1983),
costituiscono un primo sinistro vertice della saga satanica dei Current 93.
Nello stesso periodo uscirono il 12" Ekki Er Allt Gull e la cassetta
dell'amico Tiny Tim.
L'EP Lashtal (Laylah, 1983), dedicato agli esperimeni di magia
sessuale che Crawley compi` in Sicilia, funse da manifesto ideologico.
Tibet esegui` alcuni concerti con il nome Dogs Blood Order, le cui registrazioni
vedranno la luce su Current 93 Presents Dogs Blood Order (Durtro, 1997).
Nature Unveiled (Laylah, 1984) e` la quintessenza della messa nera dei
Current 93, un disco che stabilisce uno standard di riferimento per tutto
il rock esoterico del futuro.
The Mystical Body Of Christ In Chorazaim e soprattutto
Ach Golgota
compongono un inno
infernale all'Anti-Cristo, alla perdizione universale e all'apocalisse
sacrilega, una sinfonia per voci d'oltretomba che fonde invocazioni
mantra e gregoriane in un concentrato di perversione,
un macabro excursus in gironi infernali rigurgitanti di dannati,
un'ode al dolore eterno, un affresco spaventoso del Giudizio Universale.
Dogs Blood Rising (Laylah, 1985), forte di uno sperimentalismo
canoro ancor piu` pronunciato,
affonda senza reticenze nelle catacombe della musica occulta. Il cerimoniale
si sgretola in un lugubre magma di voci filtrate e di rumori elettronici,
squarciato da improvvise esplosioni di violenza alla Diamanda Galas.
La liturgia infernale procede per quadri "horror" di inaudita ferocia e
malvagita`: nei vortici buii e angosciosi di
Falling Back In Fields Of Rape e soprattutto di Raio No Terrasu
rivolvono dannati, sacerdoti, demoni, profeti e bambini, tutti deformati e
sfigurati dai riverberi e dalle alternanze dell'elettronica.
La produzione si fa elefantiaca, e meno pregnante, con Killkillkilly,
sull'EP Nightmare Culture (Layla, 1986), e i mediocri e ripetitivi
In Menstrual Night (United Dairies, 1986), condizionato dalla
presenza dell'amico Steve Stapleton (spartito fra la
cacofonica Sucking Up Souls e la
percussiva To Feed The Moon)
e Dawn (Mimort, 1987), uno sterile riepilogo delle tecniche di loop e
di collage, comprendente una versione di
Maldoror Is Dead e una meccanica
Great Black Time.
Una nuova fase ha infatti inizio con Imperium (Maldoror, 1987),
una raccolta di elegie sepolcrali recitate sul solito sfondo
rumoristico-infernale, un poema musicale in quattro movimenti
suggestionato dai temi lugubri del cristianesimo medievale e
immerso in climi da song elisabettiana, fra flauti e liuti, anche se ancora molto "sintetico".
Nel 1987 escono lavori confusi e approssimativi, in cui l'uomo sembra tanto
invasato della propria dottrina quanto incapace di articolarla musicalmente.
Il bizzarro album Christ And The Pale Queens Mighty In Sorrow (Maldoror)
e il singolo Breath And Pain Of God sono opere minori di una carriera
minore. Crowleymass (Layla, 1987) e` una sarcastica presa in giro dei seguaci del
profeta all'insegan di un synth-pop da cabaret.
L'EP blasfemo Happy Birthday Pigface Christus esce come strenna natalizia
alla fine dell'anno.
Swastikas For Noddy (Laylah, 1987)
completa l'involuzione verso la canzone normale di tre minuti, nonostante fra
gli ospiti si contino HoH (Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, ex Psychic TV) e Boyd Rice
(alias Non).
Black Flowers Please,
Stair Song e Oh Coal Black Smith sono quelle che rimarranno in
repertorio.
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Abandoning the horror overtones of his "industrial" phase, Tibet underwent
a cathartic process that harked back to the pagan roots of his land.
The mini-album
Earth Covers Earth (United Dairies, 1988 - Free Porcupine Society, 2005),
the second installment of Tibet's "apocalyptic folk", featuring the guitars of
Tony Wakeford (Sol Invictus) and Douglas P (Death In June), as well as
the occasional vocals of Rose MacDowell,
conjured folk-rock ballads sung as if the end of the world was rapidly
approaching
(She Is Dead And All Fall Down, Hourglass, the single
Horsey.
These two works bridged the (apparently dramatic) gap between the exoteric
commune of the 1980s and the hippy commune of the 1960s
(foremost among them, the Incredible String Band),
and, musically, bridged the gap between electronic industrial music
of the 1980s and chamber folk music of the 1960s.
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Lontani dalle morbose atmosfere magiche dei primi tempi, i Current 93 di questi
anni sono semplicemente il veicolo espressivo per il folk pagano acustico di David Tibet.
Dopo uno iato di tre anni, peraltro fitti di bootleg, antologie e album dal vivo,
nel 1991 Tibet aumenta il numero di collaboratori scandinavi (oltre a HoH) e registra
Island (United Diaries, 1991),
un euforico revival dei metodi di produzione della psichedelia degli anni '60,
che Tibet tenta di sposare al suo trasognato canzoniere
(The Dream Of A Shadow Of Smoke e Lament For My Suzanne).
La lunga suite psichedelica Hitler As Kalki su
Thunder Perfect Mind (Durtro, 1992 - Jnana, 2005),
for acoustic guitar, violin and flute,
apre cosi` una nuova stagione.
Con Stapleton e senza HoH, Tibet indovina due delle sue
migliori cantilene,
A Song For Douglas After He's Dead e All The Stars Are Dead Now.
E` un improvviso cambiamento di rotta nella carriera incostante di questo
confuso personaggio che si presenta sempre piu` come il trait d'union fra
l'Incredible String Band e i Legendary Pink Dots.
The lyrics shy away from the extreme occultism of Current 93's beginnings
and reach out for a confused Christian heretic ideology but ultimately
a more positive vision of the world.
Emblems (Durtro, 1993) e` un'antologia curata da Stapleton.
La lunga e monotona cerimonia pubblica di Tibet prosegue con
Of Ruine Or Some Blazing Starre (Durtro, 1994), fedele seguito di
Thunder, e con il minialbum
Lucifer Over London (Durtro, 1994),
il primo a tradire un minimo di rabbia e
passione e a tornare ai temi infernali.
The Fire of the Mind (Durtro, 1994) e` invece la musica di sottofondo
per le recite di tale James Low.
Come se non bastasse, con il mini-album Where The Long Shadows
Fall (Durtro, 1995) ha inizio la trilogia di
Inmost Light,
continuata da All The Pretty Little Horses (Durtro, 1996),
che e` una delle opere piu` compiute della maturita`, o
perlomeno quella in cui Tibet mette a frutto tanto i suoi trascorsi nella
musica d'avanguardia quanto la sua stagione di folksinger
(The Frolic,
la paurosa Twilight Twilight Nihil Nihil,
The Inmost Light Itself).
Il mini-album The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home (Durtro, 1996)
conclude la trilogia in tono minore.
The triple-CD Inmost Light Trilogy (Jnana, 2006) collects the
entire trilogy: Where The Long Shadows Fall,
All The Pretty Little Horses,
The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home.
La musica dei Current 93 e` un amalgama delle piu` suggestive espressioni sonore
della religione mondiale: canti gregoriani, mantra tibetani, litanie di muezzin,
shakuhachi, koto, musica classica da requiem.
Tibet e` dal canto suo il principale animatore dell'elettronica "nera".
Fra tante ingenuita` sensazionaliste, a lui si deve la scoperta
dell'elettronica come idioma dell'occulto.
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In A Foreign Town In A Foreign Land (Durtro, 1997) is the soundtrack
for the lyrics of Thomas Ligotti. The four extended pieces display Tibet's
most subliminal skills.
Tibet has become a sophisticated chansonnier and proves his subtlety first on
the EP A Gothic Love Song (Durtro, 1998) and then on the album
Soft Black Stars (Durtro, 1998), a cycle of piano lieder (mostly
spoken-word) accompanied by strings and winds, perhaps his most minimal work.
The author of the music is actually long-time collaborator
Micheal Cashmore of Nature And Organisation.
Calling For Vanished Faces (Durtro, 1999) is a double-disc anthology
of the entire Current 93 career.
Sleep Has His House (Durtro, 2000) includes
Tibet's tribute to his late father,
the 23-minute requiem Sleep Has His House.
The suite has its touching moments but would be more effective at one fourth of its length.
Acoustic folk has its limits.
To prove the sincerity of his grief, Tibet is also releasing the album as a limited-edition, super-expensive, colored-vynil collectors version...
Tibet finally returned to the malefic grandeur of Nature Unveiled
with his soundtrack for the Faust (Durtro, 2000).
Tibet summarized his career with a gigantic collage of all of the Current 93
albums, The Great In The Small (Durtro, 2001), certainly a first
(albeit a grotesque one) in the history of music.
Tibet almost died in the summer of 2000 and
Bright Yellow Moon (Durtro, 2001), officially
a collaboration between Current 93 and
Nurse With Wound,
was meant to be the "soundtrack" of that experience.
Stapleton's hell seems to prevail over Tibet's purgatory
in expressinistic collages like Mothering Sunday (possibly the standout)
while Tibet pours his heart in the lunar ballads
Nichts, Butterfly Drops and Walking Like Shadow.
The collaboration is most awe-inspiring in the solemn requiem
Disintegrate Blur 36 Page 03 (17 minutes), but the album overflows with
filler and half-baked ideas.
Tibet's apocalyptic folk is a bit of a jinx: as soon as he begins strumming
his guitar and uttering pretentious (and terribly banal) lyrics in his drowsy
(and terribly limited) voice, you know that the fun is over.
All Dolled Up and Cats Drunk On Copper are live albums.
In A Foreign Town In A Foreign Land (Durtro, 1997)
is basically the soundtrack to a novella by horror writer Thomas Ligotti
and marks a return to the bleak noise of early Current 93 albums.
The 40-minute suite Ares And Telos appeared on a split album with
Nurse With Wound (Durtro, 2002).
A Little Menstrual Night Music (United Durtro, 2003) is a remix of In Menstrual Night.
Halo (Durtro, 2004) is a live album.
How He Loved The Moon (Beta-Lactam Ring, 2005)
was introduced as a tribute to
Coil's John Balance, although it simply contains
four remixes of In Menstrual Night.
The double-cd
How I Devoured Apocalypse Balloon (Durtro Jhana, 2005) documents
live performances.
Judas As Black Moth (Castle, 2005) is a double-disc anthology of the
"chamber" decade 1995-2004.
The first really serious album by Current 93 since 2000,
Black Ships Ate The Sky (Durtro, 2006) is built around eight versions of Charles Wesley's hymn "Idumea" (1763), each delivered by a different singer
(Cosey Fanni Tutti,
Bonnie "Prince" Billy,
Antony,
Shirley Collins,
Marc Almond, etc).
Tibet's arrangements employed guitar (Michael Cashmore, Ben Chasny), cello (John Contreras), viola (William Breeze), harp, piano (Antony), harmonium and
electronic keyboards, a display of lush orchestration not witnessed since the early 1990s.
The apocalyptic tone of Tibet's sermons is diluted effectively in the
quasi-metal eleven-minute maelstrom of Black Ships Ate The Sky.
It swings like a ghost trapped in an intermediate dimension between the charming
eden of Bind Your Tortoise Mouth and the noisy purgatory of Vauvauvau.
The EP Inerrant Rays Of Infallible Sun (Neurot, 2006 - Durtro, 2006) is
a split with stoner-metal group Om.
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