Armed with a soldering iron and a stack of ABBA singles, Chris Carter became one of the founders of Industrial Records, a member of Throbbing Gristle, and an innovator who has explored the extremities of sound. His legacy includes a music genre, a novel effects unit, and a body of work that is uniquely evocative.
Carter trained as a sound technician with various TV companies before joining TG. This practical experience gave him a foundation as a tinkerer and an income to purchase synthesisers and drum machines, which became his instrument of choice. One of Carter’s most famous creations was the Gristleizer, which processed sounds for TG on stage and in the studio.
When TG terminated its mission, Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti established themselves as a household and an act. The bedrock of the Chris & Cosey sound was the electronic pattern generation that Carter had developed for TG, fused with Cosey’s sensual vocals. The love affair between the duo provided inspiration, alongside the horror films and tabloid sensations that fed the industrial genre. They also launched a label (Conspiracy International) to release their own works and collaborations, and sometimes presented themselves as The Creative Technology Institute.
C&C became Carter Tutti in the early 2000s, as the pair started to revisit and reinterpret their original works. New ideas and new technologies allowed them to pull apart their songs and reassemble them. At the same time, they found space to work on their own material. For Carter, that included a collaboration with Ian Boddy, the Small Moon EP, and the album, Chris Carter’s Chemistry Lessons, Volume 1.
Carter remains an in-demand remixer, having reworked songs for Erasure, S’Express, Lone Swordsman, Chris Liebing, and Factory Floor. He has also worked on the development of unique synth modules for Future Sound Systems. These include a Eurorack version of the Gristleizer, which allows owners to become “wreckers of civilisation” at home.
10. Throbbing Gristle – Adrenalin
With songs like “United” and “Hot on the Wheels of Love,” Throbbing Gristle were able to demonstrate serious electronic credentials. Although known best for putting into practice the slogan, “entertainment through pain,” the band were able to leverage Carter’s synth skills for sweet instrumentals and “Tesco disco” tracks.
Paired with “Distant Dreams (Part Two),” the “Adrenalin” single featured the modular and home-made kit that Carter had assembled in the band’s Hackney studio.
9. Throbbing Gristle – AB/7A
Carter’s love of ABBA is well-documented. It wasn’t through irony that he crafted this homage for the 1978 album, DOA.
8. Chris & Cosey – Just Like You
Throbbing Gristle contained the seeds of its own destruction. Like the Smurfs, there was only one female character, and her affections were reserved for Chris. That was an issue for the Genesis P-Orridge, with whom Cosey had been entangled from pre-TG days. A split occurred and the couple emerged as Chris & Cosey.
The first C&C album marked a change in direction. Without the baggage and compromised compromises of TG, Carter was able to give full throat to his synths. The result was a screaming, energetic sense of release.
7. Chris & Cosey – Mary
The European Rendezvous album captured Chris & Cosey playing live during their 1983 tour.
6. Chris Carter – Beat
Originally released as a cassette on TG’s Industrial Records label, Carter’s first solo album, The Space Between, included this excellent track.
5. Carter Tutti – Retrodect
The original version was released as a bonus track on the US version of the “Synaesthesia” single and the cassette edition. This take was included on the Carter Tutti Play Chris & Cosey album, released in 2016. One of the features of Chris & Cosey’s work has been the enthusiasm with which they return to their own material to dissect and rearrange it into new creations.
4. Erasure – Reason (Carter Tutti Remix)
Carter’s touch is sought after by electronic music artists for a twist on commerciality. Carter Tutti have done two remixes for Mute stalwarts, Erasure – the other being a take on “SOS” for the latter’s album, ABBA-esque.
3. Carter Tutti Void – V2
The Short Circuit Festival in 2011, celebrating Mute, provided the setting for a live collaboration between Carter Tutti and Nik Colk Void. The recordings were issued the following year as Transverse. Carter oversaw the technical side of the show, which maintained a balance between the three artists on a knife-edge.
2. Ian Boddy & Chris Carter – Caged
In 2000, Carter worked with British synthesist, Ian Boddy, on a set of songs that were cast as “proto-dub.” The album is being reissused by Mute imprint, The Grey Area, in a 25th anniversary edition with additiomal material.
1. Chris Carter – Moonlight
The romantic side of Carter’s work is essential to its force. Is it linked to his admiration for ABBA? Hard to tell, but Benny and Björn never got sounds from their synths like this.