Current 93

{{Short description|English experimental music group}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2013}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Current 93

| image = Current 93 at All Tomorrow's Parties 17 May 2007, cropped and colour fixed.jpg

| landscape = yes

| caption = Current 93 in 2006

| origin = London, England

| genre = {{Flatlist|

}}

| label = {{Flatlist|

}}

| years_active = 1982–present

| current_members = *David Tibet

| past_members = *Steven Stapleton

}}

Current 93 are an English experimental music group, founded in 1982 by David Tibet. 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. In the mid-'80s, Current 93's sound shifted to a style Tibet has called "apocalyptic folk", combining folk music with industrial elements. Tibet has been the only constant member of Current 93, with a wide variety of collaborators joining in over the years. They have released over twenty full-length albums, as well as many other recordings.

Background

Current 93 initially consisted of Tibet, fellow Psychic TV alumnus Jhonn Balance, and 23 Skidoo member Fritz Catlin. Tibet has been the only constant member in the group, though Steven Stapleton (of Nurse with Wound) appeared on nearly every Current 93 release until 2010.{{cite web|title=Current 93|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/current-93-mn0000114708|work=All Music|publisher=Rovi Corp|access-date=29 July 2012|archive-date=18 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818061712/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/current-93-mn0000114708|url-status=live}} Michael Cashmore was also a long-term contributor starting with Thunder Perfect Mind. Douglas P. of Death in June has played on well over a dozen Current 93 releases.

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 as a Christian.{{cite web |url=http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/6426-current-93/ |title=Interviews: Current 93 |publisher=Pitchfork |date=11 September 2006 |access-date=22 December 2011 |archive-date=13 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111213153227/http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/6426-current-93/ |url-status=dead }}

Literary influences include Lautreamont's Les Chants de Maldoror, the Bible and its apocrypha, The Poetic Eddas, the Child Ballads,{{cite book | last=Thompson | first=Dave | title=An Evolving Tradition: The Child Ballads in Modern Folk and Rock Music | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield | publication-place=Essex, Connecticut | date=2023-07-15 | isbn=978-1-4930-6824-1 | pages=385–391|chapter=Murderous Ballads}} Hildegard von Bingen, Yukio Mishima, John Dee's De 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.graphesthesia.com/rw/titles.html |title=Riddley Walker – Related Works |publisher=Graphesthesia.com |access-date=18 April 2010 |archive-date=19 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619043325/http://www.graphesthesia.com/rw/titles.html |url-status=dead }}

Discography

=Primary, full-length, Current 93 studio albums=

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|*Nature Unveiled (1984)

}}

=Full discography=

class="wikitable"
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/sheet music, (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

2018

| The Light Is Leaving Us All

| CD/LP

2019

| Invocations of Almost

| CD/LP (the 12" LP has a slightly shorter version and mix than the 59-minute CD)

2022

| If a City Is Set Upon a Hill

| CD/LP

=Compilation appearances=

  • "Black Ships Ate the Sky (Alternate Mix)" on Brainwaves (2006)

=''Current 93 Presents'' releases=

Members and collaborators

=Timeline=

Only long-term contributors are included in the chart below.

{{#tag:timeline|

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20

PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:5 right:10

Alignbars = justify

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy

Period = from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/2023

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom

ScaleMajor = increment:4 start:1982

ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1982

Colors =

id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals

id:instruments value:blue legend:Instruments

id:mixing value:green legend:Electronics,_mixing,_and_production

id:albums value:black legend:Studio_album

id:bars value:gray(0.95)

BackgroundColors = bars:bars

LineData =

color:albums layer:back

at:01/01/1984

at:01/01/1987

at:01/01/1988

at:01/01/1989

at:01/01/1990

at:01/01/1992

at:01/01/1994

at:01/01/1996

at:01/01/1998

at:07/01/2000

at:05/23/2006

at:05/01/2009

at:05/01/2010

at:03/01/2011

at:02/01/2014

at:10/13/2018

at:03/12/2022

BarData =

bar:Tibet text:"David Tibet"

bar:Stapleton text:"Steven Stapleton"

bar:Pierce text:"Douglas P."

bar:Cashmore text:"Michael Cashmore"

bar:Degens text:"Andria Degens"

bar:Chasny text:"Ben Chasny"

bar:Dee text:"Baby Dee"

bar:Antony text:"Antony"

bar:Blackshaw text:"James Blackshaw"

bar:Liles text:"Andrew Liles"

bar:Brown text:"Ossian Brown"

bar:Cave text:"Nick Cave"

PlotData =

width:11

bar:Tibet from:start till:end color:vocals

bar:Stapleton from:start till:01/01/2010 color:instruments

bar:Stapleton from:start till:01/01/2010 color:mixing width:3

bar:Cashmore from:01/01/1992 till:end color:instruments

bar:Pierce from:01/01/1987 till:01/01/1993 color:instruments

bar:Liles from:05/01/2009 till:end color:instruments

bar:Liles from:05/01/2009 till:end color:mixing width:3

bar:Brown from:02/01/2014 till:end color:instruments

bar:Chasny from:05/23/2006 till:end color:instruments

bar:Blackshaw from:05/01/2009 till:02/01/2014 color:instruments

bar:Dee from:05/23/2006 till:02/01/2014 color:instruments

bar:Dee from:05/23/2006 till:02/01/2014 color:vocals width:3

bar:Antony from:05/23/2006 till:02/01/2014 color:vocals

bar:Degens from:01/01/1996 till:05/01/2009 color:vocals

bar:Cave from:01/01/1996 till:01/30/1996 color:vocals

bar:Cave from:02/01/2014 till:02/28/2014 color:vocals

}}

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • {{cite book | last=Thompson | first=Dave | title=Alternative Rock | publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation | publication-place=San Francisco : Berkeley, CA : Milwaukee, WI | date=2000 | isbn=978-0-87930-607-6 | chapter=Current 93|pages=308–310|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHP-r9-eqdAC&dq=%22current%2093%22&pg=PA308}}
  • {{cite magazine| url=https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/interviews/invisible-jukebox_current-93|title=Invisible Jukebox: Current 93|magazine=The Wire|issue=207|pages=20–23|first=Mike|last=Barnes|date=May 2001}}
  • {{cite book | last=Buckley | first=Peter |chapter=Current 93| title=The Rough Guide to Rock | publisher=Rough Guides | publication-place=London; New York | date=2003 | isbn=978-1-85828-457-6 | oclc=ocm52830850 | pages=259–258}}
  • {{cite book | last=Keenan | first=David | title=England's Hidden Reverse: Coil, Current 93, Nurse with Wound: a Secret History of the Esoteric Underground | publisher=SAF Publishing | date=2003 | isbn=978-0-946719-40-2 | page=}}
  • {{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070910120249/http://monkeyhouse-recordings.co.uk/JK2CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=713&Itemid=38|url=http://monkeyhouse-recordings.co.uk/JK2CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=713&Itemid=38|title=David Tibet – C93 interview|work=Judas Kiss|date=2006|archive-date=2007-09-10|first=Lee|last=Powell|url-status=dead}}
  • {{cite magazine| last=Moline |first=Keith| title=The Road to Salvation: Current 93|magazine=The Wire|issue=269|pages=28–33|date=July 2006}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Hegarty | first1=Paul | last2=Halliwell | first2=Martin | title=Beyond and Before: Progressive Rock Since the 1960s | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA | publication-place=New York | date=2011-06-23 | isbn=978-0-8264-2332-0 | oclc=741683751 | pages=245–248, 283|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VpcyEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22current%2093%22&pg=PT129|chapter=The Return of Folk}}
  • {{cite book | last=Bayer | first=Ruth | title=Skipping to Armageddon: Photographs of Current 93 and Friends | publisher=MIT Press | date=2019-04-23 | isbn=978-1-907222-45-0 | page=}}