Current 93 – L.A.Y.L.A.H Records – 1983

Lashtal

Salt / Caresse

Uploaded tonight the debut vinyl release by Current 93. Appearing on this 12″ release are Coil’s John Balance, 23 Skidoo’s Fritz Haaman and David Tibet. The track ‘Caresse’ is in honour of Genesis P’s first born daughter of the same name.

The first two Current 93 LP’s ‘Nature Unveiled’ and ‘Dogs Blood Rising’, both on L.A.Y.L.A.H records are classics of the industrialgoth genre and are well worth trying to get hold of if you have the £££ to spare for a secondhand copy. They have recently both been repressed on Durtro Records so these versions will set you back a little less £££.

Personally I feel that the work Current 93 has completed in the last four years is absolutely the pinnacle of the long and establised career for this ‘band’ and certainly the last batch of LP’s released on Durtro Records,  ‘Black Ships Ate The Sky’, ‘The Inmost Light’ and ‘Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain’ are among my favorite LP releases of the last few years in any musical genre. The artwork for these beautifully packaged LP’s is top notch too.

Text below ripped from wikki pear dear.

Current 93 are an eclectic British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet (né David Michael Bunting, renamed ‘Tibet’ by Genesis P-Orridge sometime prior to forming the group).

With a glut of industrial-pop hybrids on the market in the 1980s, several bands stayed true to the experimental nature of early industrial music. The Psychic TV axis alone spawned many creative artists, including Current 93’s David Tibet, who blends Gothic chanting and haunting atmospherics with industrial noisescapes courtesy of tape loops and synthesizers.

Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton (of Nurse with Wound) has appeared on nearly every Current 93 release. A favor which David Tibet returns by working with Stapleton on most projects by Nurse with Wound.

Michael Cashmore has also been a constant contributor since Thunder Perfect Mind. Douglas Pearce of Death In June has played on well over a dozen Current 93 releases, and Steve Ignorant of Crass (using the name Stephen Intelligent), ex-Psychic TV compatriot John Balance (more famous for his work with Peter Christopherson in Coil), Boyd Rice, runeologist Freya Aswynn, Nick Cave, Fritz Haaman, formerly of 23 Skidoo, Björk, Andrew W.K., Will Oldham, Ben Chasny, Rose McDowall, Tiny Tim, Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus, Marc Almond and Ian Read of Fire and Ice have also lent their talents over the years. Tibet is also fond of the works of American writer Thomas Ligotti, and invited him to collaborate with Current 93.

The trio of Tibet, Balance, and Haaman debuted in 1983 by recording the 12″ single ‘Lashtah’  for L.A.Y.L.A.H Records. Until the end of the ’80s, Tibet — utilizing the various lineups — recorded at a frenetic pace, issuing more than two albums per year for both L.A.Y.L.A.H and the Maldoror label.

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 Nature and Organisation and The Hafler Trio.

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. This early work became influential with the goth scene. Later works found Tibet mostly casting off such trappings in favor of a more organic sound, labeled by some as “apocalyptic folk” music, occasionally featuring his sinister nursery rhyme-influenced singing and primarily acoustic folk-styled music.

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. Tibet has stated that he now identifies as a Christian.

By the ’90s, Tibet’s output and style changed slightly: his productivity slowed somewhat, and the sound grew more subdued, encompassing acoustic folk in its most sinister permutations. Productivity picked up in the 2000s with more Current 93 material being recorded and reissued. Tibet also designed a bottle label for the Absinthe liquor company in 2005. 2006 saw the release of both ‘Black Ships Ate the Sky’ and ‘Sleep Has His House’ on Durtro Records, followed by ‘Inmost Light’ in April 2007. The latter record marked a new direction for Current 93.

In 2009, they released ‘Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain’ amid a flurry of other activity including Tibet’s art exhibitions and touring. Though it kept its mostly acoustic dreamy feel, Tibet expanded his sonic palette and added some real electric, nightmarish rock on this set. Some of its special guests included guitarist James Blackshaw, Rickie Lee Jones, and Andrew W.K.

Current 93 – Dogs Blood Rising upload HERE on this site.