Last night (March 17th) in Newcastle’s Tyneside Cinema, Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti premiered new tracks from Throbbing Gristle’s ‘Final Report’ and release, a reworking of Nico’s 1970 album, Desertshore. This was a project that had been begun by Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson before he passed on in November 2010.
Part of the 2012 AV Festival, Wishful Thinking: In Remembrance Of Peter Christopherson began with a meditative, room-shaking tribute in voice by Attila Csihar (Sunn O))), Mayhem) and a sound recording of Durham Cathedral by Chris Watson. During this, erotic prints by Alex Rose were projected on a screen at the back of the room. Carter and Tutti then took to the stage for what was billed as the Desertshore ‘live remix’. Introducing the piece, Tutti said that each would begin with initial sketches laid down by Christopherson in order that he would in some way be present.
As had originally been intended by Christopherson, TG’s Desertshore will feature a number of guest vocalists. Three of these were announced by being played at the AV Festival event: Einsturzende Neubauten’s Blixa Bargeld features on ‘Abschied’, film director Gasper Noé’s voice was subsumed into the hard electronics that make up ‘Le Petit Chevalier’, while Antony Hegarty has delivered a stunning ‘Janitor Of Lunacy’ that’s among the best vocal performances we’ve ever heard from him. Cosey Fanni Tutti herself sang TG’s version of ‘My Only Child’. The performance ended with a non-Nico piece in tribute to Christopherson, with the voices of many of those who knew and were close to him speaking the line "meet me on the desertshore".
Carter and Tutti go back into the studio this week to record further guest vocalists for the Desertshore project, which they will release on Industrial Records in 2012. Look out for a full report on Desertshore and the AV Festival on the Quietus in the next few days.
