CURRENT 93 レコード& CD

Review: Current 93's latest album, Sketches of My Nightmares, is a collection of fractured musical scribblings that evoke a sense of dreamlike wonder and disorientation. The album is a tapestry of skittering sounds, strange tape loops, and other outlandish noises that weave together to create a haunting and evocative atmosphere. One of the highlights of Sketches of My Nightmares is Tibet's haunting vocals. His voice is both ethereal and powerful, conveying a sense of vulnerability and longing. The lyrics, which are often cryptic and enigmatic, add to the album's dreamlike quality. Overall, Sketches of My Nightmares is a masterpiece of avant-garde music. It is a record that is both challenging and rewarding, and one that will leave a lasting impression on the listener.

Review: Yet another reissue to come out via David Tibet's current reissues occupation Cashen's Gap is the incredible eleventh Current 93 record Swastikas For Noddy. Playing up recurrent motifs of ruination and spoiling - always present in Tibet's music since early - every facet of this record seems to find an impertinent glee in juxtaposing the beautiful with the ominous, the dainty with the dearth. Perhaps it's a cursed record, as its intent spelt doom from the get-go: it first ran into copyright trouble after its title provoked the ire of writer Enid Blyton, who certainly did not appreciate the apparent Nazification of her beloved character. But over that hump came the real backstory: Tibet said, "I took a load of acid on the top of the house where Rose McDowall was living and I had a vision of Noddy crucified in the sky and it really impressed me...", which led to a crazed but short-lived Noddy consumer fanaticism on the artist's part. This record was of course born of that period of Noddy thrall; it nonetheless mystifies the gaudy children's character and toy's allure, couching it in bewitching pagan folk monodies and dastardly end-of-times industrial-hell crescendos. Perhaps when we forget Noddy, we forget the nation. Remastered by The Bricoleur at Bladud Flies!, and with the original artwork refreshed and reborn by Rob Hopeye, this 12" vinyl picture-disc comes in a full-colour die-cut sleeve, which is printed on both the outside and inside.

Review: First released in 2018, The Light Is Leaving Us All is one of Current 93's (David Tibet's) most up-to-date explorations in sound, and is noted by the artist himself as one of his most recent favourites. An expansive collaborative cluster of entities, some human and others perhaps not, assisted Tibet in the making of this morbid neofolk opus, which, when not indulging droning guitarscapes and dulcimer twinkles, humours a spoken word and found sound palette, constructing a conniving persona that perhaps farcically laments the loss of suburban niceties (clues in the track titles like 'The Birds Are Sweetly Singing', 'The Policeman Is Dead', 'The Postman Is Singing', 'The Milkmaid Sings' and 'A Thousand Witches' portray a macabre picture of the dead underside of sleepy hometown life). When Tibet sings, he brings a knowingly resigned tone to the record, sounding almost genderless in his evocation of experience and loss of domestic innocence.

Review: Embarking on a series of new Current 93 reissues via his own label Cashen's Gap, David Tibet here reminisces on the very second LP to be released under the moniker, Dogs Blood Rising. Said to have been "reeling in the weeks - which felt like years - after my first Current 93 album, I had started on the difficult second album" (Dogs Blood Rising) after "having been asked to appear on both Top Of The Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test 93 times in the same week". Cult mythologising aside, this five-track sonic gorgonesquerie is a fantastic primer in early occult industrial music, leading on the iconoclastic canto 'Christus Christus' and ending on the chamber-effected monologue 'St. Peters Keys All Bloody'. The songs cast implicit scorn on the popular imaginaria that insist that heaven and hell are divided; Tibet is keen to collapse them into one, devising a new sonic eschatology all unto his own.

Review: The reissue of Current 93's Nature Unveiled brings back an iconic album that first captivated listeners with its avant-garde sound. This album features two striking tracks: 'Ach Golgotha (Maldoror Is Dead)' and 'The Mystical Body Of Christ In Chorazaim (The Great In The Small).' 'Ach Golgotha (Maldoror Is Dead)' stands out as an irreverent celebration of orthodox liturgical rites, inspired by the demon Maldoror, a creation of French poet Lautreamont. This track, with its dark and mystical aura, reflects the early influences on Tibet, including the magician Aleister Crowley. Fans appreciate the eerie and otherworldly appeal of this piece, which retains its power and impact decades later. 'The Mystical Body Of Christ In Chorazaim (The Great In The Small)' complements the first track with its own haunting soundscapes. The album's ability to transport listeners to a realm of fantastic nightmares underscores Current 93's lasting influence in the experimental music scene. Pressed on picture disc, this version is extra special for collectors who look for unique music and packaging.

Review: David Michael Tibet's exploration of the arcane mysteries through Current 93 are an intriguing subculture all of their own, sat somewhere to the side of Coil and the other mystics of the post-industrial scene. In Menstrual Night was released in 1986 as two long form pieces that layer up voices into a mesmerising swirl. The cast of collaborators on the project include such luminaries as Steven Stapleton, Keiko Yoshida, Rose McDowall, Boyd Rice and the late John Balance. Now House Of Mythology have created a faithfully recreated picture disc vinyl edition, sure to be quickly gathered up by the faithful followers of this fascinating corner of electronic music.