Chris Carter must have ears like no-one else. The fact that his last album (EAR 1) sounded nothing like its original source (1979's groundbreaking 'The Space Between') must attest to this. It just shows how important he actually was to Throbbing Gristle.

 

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Chris Carter - Electronic Ambient Remixes Three

Many of the original TG songs he has 'remixed' often had a paralysing sense of claustrophobia that could have been down to the 8-track media, but more likely to the result of 4 intent people trying to find their way through listener's ear. Now Carter has removed the elements of three of them, and gives his original programming and synth tracks—which could have often stood on their own from their density and richness of sound—huge spaces to breathe. Dub-like drones of subsonic bass appear occasionally, robotic 4/4 rhythms become ludicrously complex polyrhythms, the whole album constantly exhales where the original songs hold or hyperventilate. 'Indisciplined' is the best example; the pounding, staccato rhythm of the original is melted and re-shaped into an Aphex-esque pulse-ridden aria.
I half-suspected while I listened to this that maybe Carter thought that some TG fans wouldn't be so keen on the project, so he's re-titled the songs—possibly as a comment on people's attitude's to TG, or just to remind us that he has a sense of humor too.


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