Chris and Cosey
Regular price
$25.00
When Throbbing Gristle broke up in 1981, Carter and Tutti signed with Rough Trade Records and began recording as Chris & Cosey. They recorded four albums for the label using electronics, sampling, Cosey's vocals and cornet playing. In 1983, they formed their own independent record label Creative Technology Institute (aka CTI) to release more experimental works and collaborations. The first CTI projects, Elemental 7 and European Rendezvous, were released through Cabaret Voltaire's DoubleVision label.
"The front cover was an image of the first scan of our child, the title, Heartbeat, a reference to our new 'life'. We recorded the baby's heartbeat and used it on the title track and dedicated the album to Tremble (Cosey's dog)"
Regarding their first releases landed on the famous UK records company, Rough Trade and coming from a widely industrial vein, Chris and Cosey’s music becomes more electronic. Cosey’s voice perfectly links to Chris’s samplers. Four albums will be born throughout this collaboration, between 81 and 85, including hits : Songs Of Love & Lust, and Technø Primitiv. Meanwhile, Rough Trade gave to the duo sufficient faith to open their own records company, which they call Conspiracy International. A new playground where they can offload an excessive amount of experiments engendered by their uncontrollable pulsions for years now – more experimental thus less digestible for the most fragile of us. Albums come one after another counting releases on the label Play It Again Sam (Belgium)
Dancing Ghosts' by CTI is possibly the first ever 303 track. "It was really difficult because it was expensive. We did try and get a Roland deal, TG trying to get a Roland deal, and we did a really sort of kitsch promo photo and sent it in. That was something that we used to enjoy doing things like that because we knew it was a hiding to nothing, really. But yes, it was very difficult. When Chris got the 808 it was just like, he was just so excited. He rushed down to Rod Argent’s because he was the one who got the first ones in the UK and Chris got one of the first ones. It was very difficult because we had no money, basically. Chris used to make all our stuff but that's where the sound came from as well. It wasn't a hardship in a way because even when we bought the gear Chris would modify it, we wouldn't use it out the box." RBMA: You were very early adopters of the 303 and the 808 as well, what did you want to do with them when you first got them? COSEY FANNI TUTTI: We played with them at first as a novelty. Like, ”Listen to this. It sounds just like…” You know? But then Chris started doing it for real and giving it the TG edge and that's when it sort of came into its own for us, really.
