Chris Carter

Chris Carter

Chris Carter is a UK industrial musician from Islington, London, born in 1953. He is best known as a synthesist and founder member of Throbbing Gristle, and as one half of the electronic duo Chris & Cosey, also known as Carter Tutti.

Early work and Throbbing Gristle

He begins his career in the late 1960s as a sound engineer for television stations including Thames, Granada and LWT, working on programmes and documentaries. This gives him a practical grounding in sound, audio techniques and theory. He also develops work in visual performance, designing and presenting light shows and visual effects for festivals, events and performances, including work connected with Yes and Hawkwind, and he receives commissions for BBC television shows including Colour Me Pop and The Old Grey Whistle Test.

By the early 1970s he tours universities and colleges with a solo multimedia show using self-built synthesizers and keyboards alongside lighting effects. He also works with visual artist John Lacey on experimental 8mm and 16mm films and multimedia presentations. In the mid-1970s, through that connection, he begins experimental music and sound collaboration with Cosey Fanni Tutti and Genesis P-Orridge, alongside Peter Christopherson in COUM Transmissions, leading to the formation of Throbbing Gristle, Industrial Records and the development of industrial music.

Solo work and labels

In 1980 he releases his first solo album, The Space Between, on Industrial Records, later available on Mute Records. After Throbbing Gristle ends in 1982, he and Cosey Fanni Tutti form CTI, short for Conspiracy International, with backing from Rough Trade Records. Through CTI and under the names Chris and Cosey and later Carter Tutti, they release music and also produce video works, including experimental films and soundtracks with Doublevision. His second solo album, Mondo Beat, follows in 1985.

He returns to solo performance in 1995 after a long gap. Later solo releases include the compilation Disobedient, drawn from his 1995 Disobey tour, the studio album Small Moon, and EAR THREE, part of the Electronic Ambient Remixes series. He also releases EAR ONE, a set of remixes of The Space Between, and Caged, a collaboration album with electro musician Ian Boddy.

Chris & Cosey, Carter Tutti and collaborations

With Cosey Fanni Tutti, Carter works extensively as Chris and Cosey and later as Carter Tutti. Their collaborations include worldwide touring and recordings with Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart, Robert Wyatt, Coil, Boyd Rice, Lustmord and Monte Cazazza, among others. They also remix tracks for Mortal Loom, Erasure, Pantaleimon, Throbbing Gristle, John Cage, Current 93 and Chris Ewan. In 2003 they stop releasing and performing as Chris and Cosey and continue under the Carter Tutti name. Their performances include a quadraphonic show at the Disney Theatre at MOCA in Los Angeles, and later appearances in cities including Los Angeles, Pisa, Venice, Madrid, Barcelona, Athens, London, Berlin and Poland. They also take part in Throbbing Gristle projects, recordings, installations, exhibitions and performances, including an audio-visual performance at Tate Modern’s turbine hall and a public recording session at the ICA in London.

Other work

In 1976 he works for the London bureau of ABC News as a sound engineer and designs and builds its London radio studio. He later turns down a contract to build another ABC studio in Rome so that he can continue with Throbbing Gristle. From 1994 he also writes technical articles and reviews for Sound On Sound. He works as a photographer and graphic designer, and with Cosey Fanni Tutti designs album covers, posters and artworks. He also continues to work on a solo experimental audio project titled CCCL.

Related artist note

A separate musician and DJ with the same name also releases breakbeat and dance music, but the Chris Carter identified here is the industrial and electronic musician from Throbbing Gristle, Chris & Cosey, CTI, X-TG and Carter Tutti Void.