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Current 93

Overview

Current 93 are an eclectic British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...

experimental music

Experimental music

Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-twentieth century, particularly in North America, and whose most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...

group, working since the early 1980s in folk

Folk music

The term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...

-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet

David Tibet

David Tibet is a British poet and artist who founded the music group Current 93, of which he is the only full-time member. He had earlier collaborated with Psychic TV and 23 Skidoo...

(né David Michael Bunting, renamed 'Tibet' by Genesis P-Orridge

Genesis P-Orridge

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is an English performer, musician, writer and artist. His early confrontational performance work in COUM Transmissions in the late 1960s and early 1970s along with the industrial band Throbbing Gristle, which dealt with subjects such as prostitution, pornography, serial...

sometime prior to forming the group).

Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton

Steven Stapleton

Steven Peter Stapleton is a British musician and the only constant member of experimental improv outfit Nurse With Wound...

(of Nurse with Wound

Nurse with Wound

Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak...

) has appeared on nearly every Current 93 release. Michael Cashmore

Michael Cashmore

Michael Cashmore is a British composer and musician who has created music under the name of Nature And Organisation and more recently under his own name.Cashmore has also been a member of the group Current 93 since the late 1980s...

has also been a constant contributor since Thunder Perfect Mind

Thunder Perfect Mind (album)

Thunder Perfect Mind is an album by the English group Current 93. It contains two tracks based on the Gnostic poem The Thunder, Perfect Mind, which also gave the album its name...

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Encyclopedia

Current 93 are an eclectic British

United Kingdom

experimental music

Experimental music

group, working since the early 1980s in folk

Folk music

-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet

David Tibet

David Tibet is a British poet and artist who founded the music group Current 93, of which he is the only full-time member. He had earlier collaborated with Psychic TV and 23 Skidoo...

(né David Michael Bunting, renamed 'Tibet' by Genesis P-Orridge

Genesis P-Orridge

sometime prior to forming the group).

Background

Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton

Steven Stapleton

Steven Peter Stapleton is a British musician and the only constant member of experimental improv outfit Nurse With Wound...

(of Nurse with Wound

Nurse with Wound

Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak...

) has appeared on nearly every Current 93 release. Michael Cashmore

Michael Cashmore

has also been a constant contributor since Thunder Perfect Mind

Thunder Perfect Mind (album)

Thunder Perfect Mind is an album by the English group Current 93. It contains two tracks based on the Gnostic poem The Thunder, Perfect Mind, which also gave the album its name...

. Douglas P.

Douglas P.

Douglas P. , is an English folk musician, record label owner, photographer and actor who records under the name Death In June. He was born in Sheerwater in Woking, Surrey, and resides in Australia. Douglas P...

of Death In June

Death in June

Death in June is a post-industrial music group led by English folk musician Douglas Pearce, better known as Douglas P. The band was originally formed in Britain in 1981 as a trio, but after the other members left in 1985 to work on other projects, the group became the work of Douglas P. and various...

has played on well over a dozen Current 93 releases, and Steve Ignorant

Steve Ignorant

Steve Ignorant is a singer and artist.He co-founded the anarcho-punk band Crass with Penny Rimbaud in 1977. After Crass stopped performing in 1984, he has worked with other groups including Conflict, Schwartzeneggar , The Stratford Mercenaries, Current 93 , US punk band Thought Crime, as well as...

of Crass

Crass

Crass were an English punk band, formed in 1977, which promoted anarchism as a political ideology, way of living, and as a resistance movement. Crass popularized the seminal anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, and advocated direct action, animal rights, and environmentalism...

(using the name Stephen Intelligent), Boyd Rice

Boyd Rice

Boyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound artist under the moniker of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and current staff writer for Modern Drunkard Magazine.
, runologist Freya Aswynn

Freya Aswynn

Freya Aswynn is the pen name of Elizabeth Hooijschuur , a Dutch musician, painter, astrologist and author for Llewellyn Worldwide...

http://www.aswynn.co.uk/, Nick Cave

Nick Cave

Nicholas Edward Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and musical styles...

, Björk

Björk

Björk Guðmundsdóttir is a critically acclaimed Icelandic avant-garde singer-songwriter, composer, actress and music producer, whose work includes seven solo albums and two film soundtracks....

, Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K. is an entertainer and rock musician from the United States.-Biography:Andrew W.K. was born in Stanford, California, and grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan....

, Will Oldham

Will Oldham

Will Oldham, a.k.a. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy , is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. From 1993 to 1997 he performed and recorded under variations of the Palace name, including the Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, and Palace Music.-Music:Will Oldham is known for his "do-it-yourself punk aesthetic...

, Ben Chasny

Ben Chasny

Ben Chasny is an indie rock and psych folk guitarist. His primary projects are Six Organs of Admittance and Comets on Fire . He made his recording debut in 1996 with his heavy, free rock project Plague Lounge on "The Wicker Image", an LP released conjointly between the New World of Sound and Holy...

, Rose McDowall

Rose McDowall

Rose McDowall is a Scottish musician, most notably as a vocalist in the pop band Strawberry Switchblade.-History:...

, Tiny Tim

Tiny Tim (musician)

Herbert Khaury , better known by the stage name Tiny Tim, was an American singer, ukulele player, and musical archivist. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice...

, Tony Wakeford

Tony Wakeford

Anthony Charles "Tony" Wakeford is an English folk and neoclassical musician who primarily records under the name Sol Invictus....

of Sol Invictus

Sol Invictus (band)

Sol Invictus is an English neofolk and neoclassical group fronted by Tony Wakeford. Beginning with electronic experimentation combined with folk-influenced guitar work, the sound of Sol Invictus has become considerably more neoclassical over the years and has had a large amount of influence on the...

, Marc Almond

Marc Almond

Marc Almond is an English singer, songwriter and recording artist, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell. He has sold over 30 million records worldwide...

, John Balance

John Balance

John Balance , born in Mansfield, England, was the founder of the experimental music group Coil, along with his partner Peter Christopherson. He was responsible for vocals, lyrics, chants, synthetics and various esoteric sound-making instruments and devices...

of Coil

Coil (band)

Coil were an English cross-genre, industrial experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed...

and Ian Read

Ian Read (musician)

-History:At the age of 16, Read became an adherent of Germanic neopaganism and began studying Germanic paganism. He was particularly interested in galdor or magical metrical poetry and the runes. Read learned to speak and read Old Norse and Old English in addition to German to further his studies...

of Fire + Ice have also lent their talents over the years. Tibet is fond of the works of American writer Thomas Ligotti

Thomas Ligotti

Thomas Ligotti is a writer of horror stories.Something of a cult figure, Ligotti is rather little known, but has seen high praise as one of the most effective and unique horror writers of recent decades: The Washington Post called him "the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction"; another...

, and invited him to collaborate with Current 93.

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

Hafler Trio

The Hafler Trio is a conceptual and sound art collaborative between Andrew M. McKenzie, the only permanent member, and guest musicians. The project has seen the release of numerous albums and CDs in experimental musical styles ranging from electronica, cut-up, ambient, environmental soundscape,...

.

Much of Current 93's early work was similar to late 1970s and early 1980s industrial music

Industrial music

Industrial music is an experimental music style, often including electronic music, that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s to describe Industrial Records artists...

: abrasive tape loop

Tape loop

Tape loops are loops of prerecorded magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound. Contemporary composers such as Steve Reich and Karlheinz Stockhausen used tape loops to create phase patterns and rhythms...

s, droning synthesizer

Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument that is capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies...

noises and Tibet's distorted, excoriating vocals. This early work became influential with the goth

Goth subculture

The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...

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

Nursery rhyme

The term nursery rhyme is used for ‘traditional’ songs for young children in Britain and many English speaking countries, but usage only dates from the nineteenth century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...

-influenced singing and primarily acoustic folk

Folk music

-styled music.

Tibet's lyrics have been fairly consistent, regardless of delivery: The earlier recordings reflect his preoccupation with death

Death

Death is the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical...

, Christ

Christ

Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed". It is a translation of the Hebrew . The term "Christ" was a title rather than a proper name. In the four gospels in the New Testament, the word "Christ" is nearly always preceded by the definite article...

, mysticism

Mysticism

Mysticism is the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. Mysticism usually centers on a practice or practices intended to nurture those experiences or...

, Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, was an English occultist, writer, mountaineer, poet, yogi, and possibly a spy...

(Tibet borrowed the term "93 Current" from Crowley - the 93 Current http://www.93current.de/ being the current of Thelema

Thelema

Thelema is a Magickal Philosophy based on the dictum, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. ... Love is the law, love under will," as presented in Aleister Crowley's Liber AL vel Legis ...

or Agape

Agape

Agape is one of several Greek words translated into English as love. Many have thought that this word represents divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love...

), Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India...

, Gnosticism

Gnosticism

Gnosticism refers to diverse, syncretistic religious movements in antiquity consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a material world created by an imperfect god, the demiurge; this being is frequently identified with the...

, runes, swastika

Swastika

The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form or its mirrored left-facing form. Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period and was first found in the Indus Valley Civilization of the Indian...

s, Noddy

Noddy

Noddy is a character created by British children's author Enid Blyton, originally published between 1949 and 1963. The television show based on the character is the longest running show in British television since 1955, and continues to appear to this day....

, The Wicker Man
The Wicker Man
The Wicker Man is a 1973 British film shot in Scotland, combining thriller, existential horror and musical genres, directed by Robin Hardy and written by Anthony Shaffer. The film stars Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt and Britt Ekland. Paul Giovanni composed the...

, and a variety of occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

notions. The later to present-day period of Current 93's recordings increasingly reflect Tibet's interest in Christian mysticism

Christian mysticism

Christian mysticism refers to the practice and experiential knowledge of deep prayer involving the person of Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. This approach and lifestyle is distinguished from more "mainstream" forms of Christian practice by its aim and depth of devotion...

. Tibet has stated that he now identifies as a Christian. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/37055/Interview_Interview_Current_93.

Literary influences include Lautreamont's Les Chants de Maldoror
Les Chants de Maldoror
Les Chants de Maldoror is a poetic novel consisting of six cantos. It was written between 1868 and 1869 by the Comte de Lautréamont, the pseudonym of Isidore Lucien Ducasse...

, The Bible, The Poetic Edda
Poetic Edda
The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends.Codex Regius was written in the...

s, Francis Parker Yockey

Francis Parker Yockey

Francis Parker Yockey, , was an American political thinker and polemicist best known for his neo-Spenglerian book Imperium, published under the pen name Ulick Varange in 1948. This 600-page book argues for a race-based, totalitarian path for the preservation of Western culture...

's Imperium

Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics

Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics is a book by American political philosopher and ideologue Francis Parker Yockey ....

, Hildegard von Bingen, John Dee

John Dee (mathematician)

John Dee was a noted mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy....

, Heptarchia Mystica, The Thunder, Perfect Mind

The Thunder, Perfect Mind

The Thunder, Perfect Mind is a poem discovered among the Gnostic manuscripts at Nag Hammadi in 1945.Thunder Perfect Mind , takes the form of an extended, riddling monologue, in which an immanent saviour speaks a series of paradoxical statements concerning the divine feminine nature...

, William Blake

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the...

, Louis Wain

Louis Wain

Louis Wain was an English artist best known for his drawings, which consistently featured anthropomorphised large-eyed cats and kittens. In his later years he suffered from schizophrenia, which, according to some psychologists, can be seen in his works.- Life and work :Louis William Wain was...

, writer

Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...

Thomas Ligotti

, occult British author Arthur Machen

Arthur Machen

Arthur Machen was a leading Welsh author of the 1890s. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction...

(originator of the title "The Inmost Light"), M.R. James's various ghost stories

Ghost story

A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. Colloquially, the term can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has...

, The Cloud of Unknowing
The Cloud of Unknowing
The Cloud of Unknowing is an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. The text is a spiritual guide on contemplative prayer and the esoteric techniques and meanings of late medieval monasticism....

, Count Eric Stenbock

Eric Stenbock

Count Eric Stanislaus Stenbock was a Baltic German poet and writer of macabre fantastic fiction.-Life:Stenbock was the count of Bogesund and the heir to an estate near Kolga in Estonia...

, and Russell Hoban

Russell Hoban

Russell Conwell Hoban is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, mainstream fiction, magic realism, poetry, and children's books who lives in England.-Biography:...

's Riddley Walker

Riddley Walker

Riddley Walker is a novel by Russell Hoban, first published in 1980. It is generally regarded as science fiction, and won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel in 1982, as well as an Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award in 1983...

http://www.graphesthesia.com/rw/titles.html.

Musical influences include religious chants, traditional folk music

Folk music

, The Tam Lin

Tam Lin

Tam Lin is the hero of a folkloric legend originating from the Scottish Borders with England. The story revolves around fairies and mortal men...

ballad, The Incredible String Band

Incredible String Band

The Incredible String Band were a psychedelic folk band formed in Scotland in 1965. The band built a considerable following, especially within British counter-culture before splitting up in 1974...

, Sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.As the term is used by geologists, sand particles range in diameter from 0.0625 to 2 millimeters. An individual particle in this range size is termed a sand grain...

, Comus

Comus (band)

Comus is a British progressive rock / folk band which had a brief career in the early 1970s; their first album, First Utterance, gave them a cult following which persists. They have revived in the late 2000s and played several festivals.-History:...

, Blue Öyster Cult

Blue Öyster Cult

Blue Öyster Cult is an American rock band formed in New York in 1967 and still active in 2009. The group is especially well known for songs including " The Reaper", "Astronomy", "Godzilla", and "Burnin' for You". They have sold over 14 million albums worldwide, including 7 million in the U.S.A...

, Love

Love (band)

Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer, songwriter and guitarist Arthur Lee and the group's second songwriter, guitarist Bryan MacLean...

, Shirley Collins

Shirley Collins

Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1950s and 1960s...

, and the Parsi composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was a British composer of Parsi origin. He was a music journalist and pianist....

Recommended further reading: England's Hidden Reverse - A Secret History of the Esoteric Underground by David Keenan

David Keenan

David Keenan is a Scottish author, critic and musician. He is the author of England's Hidden Reverse, a biography of Coil, Current 93 and Nurse With Wound, a regular contributor to The Wire since 1995, and proprietor of Volcanic Tongue, a shop, distributor, record label and mailorder business that...

(SAF Publishing 2003)

Discography

Year	Title	Format and special notes
1983	Mi-Mort Mi-Mort Mi-Mort is the first release by Current 93, and is a split with Nurse With Wound. It contains one track by Current 93 and four tracks by Nurse With Wound...	cassette split with Nurse With Wound Nurse with Wound Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak...
1984	LAShTAL LAShTAL LAShTAL is the second release by Current 93, the first Mi-Mort was a split-album. The album features musicians Fritz Häaman and John Balance in addition to the primary Current 93 member David Tibet...	12"
1984	Nature Unveiled Nature Unveiled -Pressing:1984 12" 1000 black vinyl in regular sleeve 1984 12" 1000 black vinyl in regular sleeve -Pressing:1984 12" 1000 black vinyl in regular sleeve (L.A.Y.L.A.H. Antirecords LAY4)1984 12" 1000 black vinyl in regular sleeve (2nd pressing) -Pressing:*1984 12" 1000 black vinyl in regular...	LP (reissued on CD,1992)
1984	No Hiding from the Blackbird No Hiding from the Blackbird No Hiding from the Blackbird is the fourth release by Current 93, and is a 7" split record with Nurse With Wound. The full title is actually "No Hiding from the Blackbird / The Burial of the Stoned Sardine".-Track listing:Side A...	7" split w/ Nurse With Wound
1984	Dogs Blood Rising Dogs Blood Rising -Pressings:1984 12" black vinyl in regular sleeve 1985 cassette in regular cassette box *1988 12" black vinyl in regular sleeve...	LP (reissued on CD, 1988 and 1995)
1985	Live at Bar Maldoror	LP (reissued on CD 1990 and 1994)
1985	Nightmare Culture Nightmare Culture Nightmare Culture was a 12" split vinyl by Current 93 and Sickness Of Snakes. This was the only release for "Sickness Of Snakes" as members John Balance and Peter Christopherson formed Coil by the time this record was originally pressed...	EP split with Sickness of Snakes (Coil Coil (band) Coil were an English cross-genre, industrial experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed... /Boyd Rice Boyd Rice Boyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound artist under the moniker of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and current staff writer for Modern Drunkard Magazine. )
1986	In Menstrual Night	LP (reissued on CD, 1994)
1986	NL Centrum-Amsterdam	live cassette split w/ Nurse With Wound
1987	Happy Birthday	12"
1987	Dawn Dawn (Current 93 album) Dawn is an album by the English group Current 93. It is among the earlier releases of Current 93 and has a more industrial sound, compared to the band's current apocalyptic folk sound. Originally released in 1987 as an LP on the Maldoror label, it was reissued in 1989 on CD by Durtro. This reissue...	LP (reissued on CD, 1994)
1987	Imperium Imperium (album) Imperium is an album by the English group Current 93. It was made during a musical style shift between the earlier industrial sound of Current 93 and the current more neofolk inspired. It was originally released as an LP in 1987 on the Maldoror label, but in 1992 it was also released as a CD on...	LP (reissued on CD, 2001)
1987	Crowleymass Crowleymass Crowleymass was an EP released in 1987 by the English group Current 93, led by David Tibet. Crowleymass originally appeared on a 12” vinyl record through Maldoror and was later reissued in 1997 on CD format through Durtro, the record company owned by David Tibet... (with HÖH Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson also known as HÖH , is a musician, an art director, and allsherjargoði of Ásatrúarfélagið .... )	12"/CDS (reissued in 1997)
1988	Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow Christ And The Pale Queens Mighty In Sorrow is an album by the English group Current 93. Like Imperium it was made during a musical style shift between the earlier industrial sound of Current 93 and the current more neofolk inspired...	2xLP (reissued on CD, 1994)
1988	The Red Face of God	12" (reissued on CD with above, 1994)
1988	Swastikas for Noddy Swastikas For Noddy Swastikas for Noddy is a 1988 album by English music group Current 93.The lineup for the recording was: David Tibet, Steven Stapleton, Jhon Balance, Rose McDowall, Boyd Rice, HÖH, Ian Read, Freya Aswynn, and Douglas P., Gary Carey and Bee....	LP (reissued on CD as Swastikas for Goddy, 1993)
1988	Faith's Favourites	12" split with Nurse With Wound Nurse with Wound Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak...
1988	Earth Covers Earth	LP (reissued on CD, 1992) (limited LP reissue, 2005)
1989	Rome/Hourglass for Diana/Fields of Rape	7" (live)
1989	She Is Dead and All Fall Down	limited edition 7"
1989	Crooked Crosses for the Nodding God Crooked Crosses for the Nodding God Crooked Crosses for the Nodding God is an album by the English group Current 93. The album contains music reworked and rerecorded from their 1988 album Swastikas for Noddy.-Track listing:# "He Is Everywhere Nowhere" - 2:55# "Northforth" - 0:38...	CD
1990	Looney Runes	LP, CD 1992
1990	1888 1888 (Death In June/Current 93 split release) 1888 is a split 12" vinyl between Death In June and Current 93.-Pressings:1990 12" UK New European Recordings BAD VC 693: Black vinyl copies in embossed sleeve1991 12" UK New European Recordings BAD VC 693: 1000 Red vinyl copies in embossed sleeve...	split EP with Death In June Death in June Death in June is a post-industrial music group led by English folk musician Douglas Pearce, better known as Douglas P. The band was originally formed in Britain in 1981 as a trio, but after the other members left in 1985 to work on other projects, the group became the work of Douglas P. and various...
1990	Horse	LP, part of a box set/split with Sol Invictus Sol Invictus Sol Invictus was the Roman state-supported sun god created by the emperor Aurelian in 274 and continued, overshadowing other Eastern cults in importance, until the abolition of paganism under Theodosius I... and Nurse With Wound Nurse with Wound Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak... (reissued on CD as Horsey with extra/reworked tracks, 1997)
1991	Island (with HÖH)	LP/CD
1991	As the World Disappears (live)	CD
1992	Thunder Perfect Mind Thunder Perfect Mind (album) Thunder Perfect Mind is an album by the English group Current 93. It contains two tracks based on the Gnostic poem The Thunder, Perfect Mind, which also gave the album its name...	2xLP/CD (reissued, 1994)
1992	Current 93/Death In June/Sol Invictus (live)	Recorded in Frankfurt Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2008 population of 670,000. The urban area had an estimated population of 2.26 million in 2001... , Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,... , 1991. Originally a bootleg called Day of Dawn, officially reissued on CD.
1993	Emblems: The Menstrual Years	LP, issued as 2xCD retrospective
1993	Hitler as Kalki	CD
1994	Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre - The Broken Heart of Man is an album by English band Current 93. Although musically one of Current 93's gentlest albums it is also lyrically very dark, prominently featuring the motif of blood, menstrual and otherwise...	LP/CD
1994	Lucifer Over London	EP/CD
1994	The Fire of the Mind	CD
1994	Tamlin	12"/CDS
1995	Where The Long Shadows Fall (Beforetheinmostlight) Where The Long Shadows Fall (Beforetheinmostlight) Where The Long Shadows Fall is an EP by English band Current 93. It forms the first part of the Inmost Light trilogy; the second being 1996's All The Pretty Little Horses: The Inmost Light and the last being 1996's The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home ...	12"/CDS
1996	All The Pretty Little Horses: The Inmost Light All the Pretty Little Horses All the Pretty Little Horses: The Inmost Light is an album by English band Current 93. It forms the second part of the Inmost Light trilogy; the first being 1995's Where the Long Shadows Fall and the last being 1996's The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home ...	LP/CD
1996	The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home (Theinmostlightthirdandfinal)	12"/CDS
1996	Untitled, a.k.a. Seven Seals	CD-EP with Tiny Tim Tiny Tim (musician) Herbert Khaury , better known by the stage name Tiny Tim, was an American singer, ukulele player, and musical archivist. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice... , Nurse with Wound Nurse with Wound Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak... and Nature and Organization
1997	In a Foreign Town, in a Foreign Land	limited CD, accompanied Thomas Ligotti Thomas Ligotti Thomas Ligotti is a writer of horror stories.Something of a cult figure, Ligotti is rather little known, but has seen high praise as one of the most effective and unique horror writers of recent decades: The Washington Post called him "the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction"; another... book of same name
1998	Soft Black Stars Soft Black Stars Soft Black Stars is an album by Current 93. All of the music on the album was written and adapted by Michael Cashmore, David Tibet and Maja Elliott with the exception of "Judas as Black Moth", "A Gothic Love Song" and "Whilst The Night Rejoices Profound And Still" the music for which was written by...	LP/CD, (reissued on CD in 2005)
1999	Calling for Vanished Faces	2xCD retrospective
1999	An Introduction to Suffering	Current 93/Michael Cashmore/Christoph Heemann LP/CD
1999	Misery Farm	CDS
1999	All Dolled Up Like Christ	2x Live CD
2000	I Have a Special Plan for This World I Have a Special Plan for This World "I Have A Special Plan For This World" is a longform single by the English band Current 93. The lyrics are taken from a poem of the same name by the author Thomas Ligotti and spoken by David Tibet. Additional sound treatments are credited to Current 93. The single was released on limited edition...	12"/CD, Thomas Ligotti Thomas Ligotti Thomas Ligotti is a writer of horror stories.Something of a cult figure, Ligotti is rather little known, but has seen high praise as one of the most effective and unique horror writers of recent decades: The Washington Post called him "the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction"; another... prose poem read by Tibet, treated by Current 93
2000	Sleep Has His House Sleep Has His House Sleep Has His House is an album released in 2000 by English apocalyptic folk group Current 93. The album was written and recorded as a reaction to the death of David Tibet's father and prominently features harmonium...	LP/CD
2000	Faust	LP/CD
2001	The Great in the Small	LP/CD
2001	Cats Drunk on Copper Cats Drunk on Copper Cats Drunk on Copper is a live CD album by Current 93. David Tibet is the only official member of Current 93; he was accompanied by the following performers during the Current 93 act: John Balance, Joolie Wood, Karl Blake, Michael Cashmore, Rose McDowall....	CD (Live at the Union Chapel, London, May 3 1997)
2001	Bright Yellow Moon	2x12"/CD Current 93/Nurse with Wound
2001	Purtle	CD Split w/ Nurse with Wound Nurse with Wound Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak...
2001	This Degenerate Little Town	CD with Thomas Ligotti Thomas Ligotti Thomas Ligotti is a writer of horror stories.Something of a cult figure, Ligotti is rather little known, but has seen high praise as one of the most effective and unique horror writers of recent decades: The Washington Post called him "the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction"; another...
2002	The Seahorse Rears to Oblivion	12"/CD
2002	Music for the Horse Hospital	2xCD Current 93/Nurse with Wound
2003	A Little Menstrual Night Music	CD containing remixes of tracks from In Menstrual Night
2003	Calling For Vanished Faces/Virgin Mary	7" split with Antony and the Johnsons Antony and the Johnsons Antony and the Johnsons is a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.-Career:British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Antony's music through his Durtro label. The debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released... ; UK PanDurtro 008
2003	Live at St. Olave's Live at St. Olave's Live At Saint Olave's Church was released in 2003 on the branch label PanDurtro of David Tibet's of Current 93's label Durtro.-Track listing:# Antony and the Johnsons - "You Stand Above Me" – 1:36# Antony and the Johnsons - "The Lake" – 4:48...	CD EP split with Antony and the Johnsons Antony and the Johnsons Antony and the Johnsons is a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.-Career:British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Antony's music through his Durtro label. The debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released... ; UK PanDurtro 007
2004	Halo Halo (album) Halo is a live album, released in 2004, by Current 93.-Track listing:# "Halo"# "Alone"# "Mary Waits in Silence"# "Calling for Vanished Faces II"# "Signs in the Stars"# "All This World Makes Great Blood"# "Good Morning, Great Moloch"...	CD
2004	SixSixSix: SickSickSick	CD compilation of Tamlin, Lucifer over London, Misery Farm, and two pieces from Looney Runes
2005	How I Devoured Apocalypse Balloon	2xCD (Live at St. George The Martyr Anglican Church, Toronto, June 18-19 2004)
2005	ⲛⲧⲛⲁⲩ ⲛϩⲱⲧⲡ ⲙⲡⲣⲏ ⲁϩⲉⲛⲉϫⲏⲩ ⲉⲩⲕⲏⲙ ⲟⲩⲉⲙ ⲧⲡⲉ	CDS (promo for Black Ships Ate the Sky Black Ships Ate the Sky Black Ships Ate the Sky is a 2006 album by Current 93. The album features numerous guest vocalists, such as Antony Hegarty, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Marc Almond, and Shirley Collins. It features nine versions of the 1763 Methodist hymn "Idumæa", with lyrics by Charles Wesley, each featuring vocals by... ; the Coptic Coptic language Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the final stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the seventeenth century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the first century... title reads "At Sunset Black Ships Ate The Sky")
2005	Judas as Black Moth Judas as Black Moth Judas as Black Moth is a 2005 compilation of previously released tracks by the English group, Current 93.-Disc one:# "The Long Shadow Falls"# "Good Morning, Great Moloch"# "Mockingbird"# "Mary Waits in Silence"# "Sunset"# "Alone"... (Hallucinatory Patripassianist Song)	2xCD "best of"/introduction to C93's works
2005	How He Loved The Moon (Moonsongs For Jhonn Balance) How He Loved the Moon (Moonsongs for Jhonn Balance) How He Loved The Moon is a 2005 tribute album to John Balance by the English group, Current 93.-2X12":Limited edition of 1200 copies pressed on black vinyl. Packaged in a full-color gatefold sleeve and printed inner sleeves....	2xCD/2xLP (ltd. 1200)/2xLP+7" (ltd. 200), a remixed version of In Menstrual Night
2005	Hypnagogue/Hypnagogue II	CD
2006	Black Ships Ate the Sky Black Ships Ate the Sky Black Ships Ate the Sky is a 2006 album by Current 93. The album features numerous guest vocalists, such as Antony Hegarty, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Marc Almond, and Shirley Collins. It features nine versions of the 1763 Methodist hymn "Idumæa", with lyrics by Charles Wesley, each featuring vocals by...	CD / 2xLP
2006	Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun (Blackship Shrinebuilder) Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun (Blackship Shrinebuilder) Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun is a split EP by the bands Om and Current 93. It was released in 2006 on the Neurot record label.The US pressing was limited to 1500 copies on 10" clear green vinyl...	Split 10" with Om Om (band) Om is a duo formed in 2003 by the rhythm section of the disbanded stoner doom metal band Sleep. The band's first three albums feature Al Cisneros on vocals and bass and Chris Hakius on drums. Their music is similar in structure to Tibetan chanting....
2006	Black Ships Eat the Sky	CD - Alternate mixes
2007	The Inmost Light	3xCD/2xLP reissue of Where The Long Shadows Fall Where The Long Shadows Fall (Beforetheinmostlight) Where The Long Shadows Fall is an EP by English band Current 93. It forms the first part of the Inmost Light trilogy; the second being 1996's All The Pretty Little Horses: The Inmost Light and the last being 1996's The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home ... , All the Pretty Little Horses All the Pretty Little Horses All the Pretty Little Horses: The Inmost Light is an album by English band Current 93. It forms the second part of the Inmost Light trilogy; the first being 1995's Where the Long Shadows Fall and the last being 1996's The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home ... , and The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home
2007	Birdsong in The Empire	Live CD (ltd. 1200)Recorded in Toronto Toronto Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America... , Canada Canada Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean... , 2005
2008	Black Ships Heat the Dancefloor	Blue 12" single/DualDisc DualDisc DualDisc is a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and 5.1 Entertainment Group and now under the aegis of the Recording Industry Association of America... , remixes by JG Thirlwell J. G. Thirlwell James George Thirlwell , aka Clint Ruin, aka Frank Want, aka Foetus, is an Australian vocalist, composer and record producer... and Matmos Matmos Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing in Baltimore signed to the Matador Records label. M. C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances, including...
2008	Birth Canal Blues	Live CD Recorded in Europe, April 2008
2009	Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain is a studio album by British experimental band Current 93, released in May 2009 on Coptic Cat Records.There is also a limited edition of the recording for subscribers who paid in advance including a second CD with a rough mix of the tracks and also a monphonic...	CD /LP

Compilation appearances

"Black Ships Ate The Sky (Alternate Mix)" on Brainwaves
Brainwaves (compilation)
Brainwaves is a compilation album put together by Brainwashed.com to commemorate the Brainwaves festival. The album is a 3 CD set, limited to 500 copies and comes with a Brainwaves logo badge...

(2006)

Current 93 Presents releases

1986 Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, was an English occultist, writer, mountaineer, poet, yogi, and possibly a spy...

- The Hastings Archives/The World As Power LP

1988 The Venerable 'Chi.med Rig. 'dzin Lama, Rinpoche - Tantric rNying.ma Chant of Tibet LP/CD

1990 Harry Oldfield - Crystal LP/CD

1990 Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson , a native of Iceland, was instrumental in helping to gain recognition by the Icelandic government for the pre-Christian Norse religion...

- Edda LP/CD

1992 Shirley Collins
Shirley Collins
Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1950s and 1960s...

- Fountain of Snow CD

1995 Tiny Tim
Tiny Tim (musician)
Herbert Khaury , better known by the stage name Tiny Tim, was an American singer, ukulele player, and musical archivist. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice...

- Songs of an Impotent Troubadour CD

1997 The Aryan Aquarians - Meet Their Waterloo LP/CD

External links

Durtro Records homepage Official Durtro
Durtro
Durtro is an independent record label established by British poet, singer and artist David Tibet in 1988 to publish his own work and that of fellow friends and musicians.Nearly every release of Tibet's band Current 93 has been published by the label from 1988...

and Current 93 homepage
Official archive, extensive discography, live information archive, related literary sources.
Interview with David Tibet (May 2006)

Reviews

Black Ships Ate The Sky