Carter Tutti Void: 'Transverse'

First published as Dummy's album of the week

Carter Tutti Void
Transverse
Mute

The notion of the legendary gig, that unmissable moment you inevitably missed, seems to belong to a previous era. The Sex Pistols at Manchester's Free Trade Hall, Public Enemy at Hammersmith Odeon in '87, Throbbing Gristle's 'Prostitution Show' at the ICA – take the venue's capacity and double it, and that's the number of people who'll swear, “I was there.”

Talking of Throbbing Gristle – those perverse pioneers of avant-garde noise and what became known as 'industrial' – the latest release from the group's alumni is a recording made at the Mute label's Short Circuit festival at the Roundhouse last May. Performing in the venue's tiny secondary space rather than the main hall, only a few hundred of the festival's ticketholders bore witness to Carter Tutti Void on stage, but now Mute is releasing the performance – four tracks over 40 minutes, plus an extra studio version of the final track – for general consumption.

Comprising Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti of TG and Nik Void of industrial resurrectionists Factory Floor, 'Transverse' is a guttural rasp from the ravaged carcass of machine music, a white-hot flash of metal-on-metal that leaves blistered skin and ears in its wake. You probably weren't there, but with this bleak and visceral artefact of performance (beautifully mastered, by the way) you can at least make an passable pretence of having being exposed to it in the flesh.

It's Doom. And Ghostface. But not quite Doom&Ghostface. LIVE!!!

One of a few reviews and features taken from the end-of-year issue of Loud And Quiet, available throughout December.


Doom and Ghostface at the Roundhouse
5th November 2011

The man formerly known as MF Doom returns to the Roundhouse for a sold-out show, barely a year after his debut European performance in the same venue. Carting round the UK for a few weeks, the masked and multi-monikered rapper’s schedule happens to coincide with that of his on-off collaborator, the man formerly known as Ghostface Killah. And lo! A co-headline date is squeezed in, to the delight of the uniform legions of polite-looking dudes in New Era caps and flannel shirts, all of whom seem happy to give up their fireworks in the hope of hearing material from the long-awaited DoomStarks collaboration.

Unlucky. The intended running times fall victim to hip hop standards of punctuality as they take their sweet time on the solo sets, leaving us with just a few closing minutes of shared stage antics, back-slapping and big-ups.

But we make do. Both provide blistering run-throughs of their best bits, Doom stuffing his half with snippets from across his catalogue, including Dangerdoom and King Geedorah material plus tasty treats from Mm.. Food. He flomps across the stage with relaxed authority, face hidden behind the gold mask and sizeable pot belly poking out from an Army surplus camouflage net. Big Benn Klingon provides the usual hype man business with gusto to match his gut, and backpacks bump heartily with recognition of each rhyme.

Ghostface gives us an equally satisfying selection, throwing in material from Fishscale and Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx as well as some classic Wu Tang. “Who copped the first Wu album?” he barks, provoking whoops that would indicate some of this crowd were seriously gangsta as six-year-olds. Annoyingly, the corporate gloss of the Roundhouse doesn’t extend to the sound quality, despite there being little more than a backing track and a few gruff voices to amplify. Familiar beats ricochet around the ovoid tramshed like bullets in a tin submarine, while the muffled bass rumbles underfoot as if emanating from a passing rudeboy’s ride. The rappers’ white-hot aura keeps us perky, but when it takes Ghostface shouting “Dollar dollar bill y’all!” to realise you’re listening to ‘C.R.E.A.M.’, you can’t help but feel a little cheated.

The Good, The Bad And The Queen @ The Roundhouse, 26/10/06

The Good, The Bad And The Queen + Jamie T
The Roundhouse
26th October 2007

The most anticipated night of the BBC Electric Proms is also The Good, The Bad And The Queen’s first ever London gig. The band, named after all those who dwell in the capital’s shadow, is a supergroup proper, comprising Damon Albarn of Blur, Paul Simonon of The Clash, Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen of Fela Kuti and Simon Tong from The Verve.

It’s also one of the first gigs at the reopened Roundhouse in Camden, originally famous for hosting Jimi Hendrix, the Ramones, Patti Smith, and rather a lot of ‘quirky’ experimental theatre. Hard to imagine ‘Gloria’ clattering off the walls now though as the ambience is less intimate rock’n’roll club than Victorian engine shed, which unsurprisingly was the building’s original purpose.

A lad in a baseball cap wanders on stage and it’s the support. Jamie T, for those who only know that song about Sheila, is an unlucky Lahndahn rude boy who’s still a bit cross about getting a bass guitar last birthday instead of a Nova. The bonuses for young Jamie, though, are threefold – without a sound system he’s escaped an ASBO, written an album’s worth of catchy Streets-a-like urchin-pop and will no doubt sell enough copies to get himself that car. The girls love him, too.

On to the main draw then, and Zane Lowe appears to introduce them. Paul Simonon takes the stage and to my girlish glee is almost as cool as he was in 1977; almost, because the same part of me that cringes at my dad’s dancing gets me blushing as he jerks his bass about and creeps across the stage. Given Paul’s love of reggae, Damon’s recent trips to Mali and the presence of Tony Allen, I’d half expected two hours of extended dub jams and African percussion solos. Happily, the songs are somewhere between Think Tank and Sandinista!, with piano-led melodies and Damon’s wistful vocals melting sweetly into syncopated beats and computer blips and beeps.

A few songs in though, and Damon isn’t happy. ‘Shit! This is shit! We can do this so much better!’ he snaps, so his band start the song again. Once would be unlucky, but they have to try a few songs twice and I can’t help thinking they should have spent more time practising and less time making the lovely bunting that hangs across the backdrop, a painting of Simonon’s.

They wrap things up without an encore, sadly ignoring my silent wish for an impromptu ‘Police and Thieves’, but I’m confident that the album, not out until March, might just be worth the wait.