Current 93, "HoneySuckle Æons"

HONEYSUCKLE ÆONS

AMEN STAUROS

The new Current 93 album

The new album by C93 is titled HoneySuckle Æons. It will be released at the Athens show on 24 March 2011 and will be available at the other subsequent C93 concerts on the tour. It will also be available from the Coptic Cat shop and will be sent out on 24 March. Coming soon... Amen Stauros.

Current 93: ‘Thunder Perfect Mind’ to be played live simultaneously with David Tibet’s lyric book launch

“Bloody smoke, foggy smoke, beginnings and endings…”

We are delighted to announce that David Tibet, Michael Cashmore and Current 93 will be performing the entirety of their Hallucinatory Playtime Dream Cycle, THUNDER PERFECT MIND, in (almost definitely) London whilst simultaneously launching David Tibet’s long-awaited lyric book, SING OMEGA (previously titled Under the Rain and Teeth of Gods). Due to the nature of their rehearsals, and the availability of our chosen venue, this concert is likely to take place in July 2011—meaning a brief postponement from the previously-mentioned March publication date—but it is very important to Michael and David to bind together these two events and make each of them into as Hallucinatory a Playtime Dream as possible. It is likely C93 will be performing two nights. More details very soon.

Click here to buy Thunder Perfect Mind from Coptic Cat (2CD or download) or here to buy it from Jnana Records (2CD).

Current 93 cloth bags re-ordered

There have been a lot of emails asking about the Thunder Perfect Mind and Dogs Blood Rising/There’s No Hiding from the Blackbird cotton fairtrade bags which sold out very quickly. We have just re-ordered both of these—the Thunder Perfect Mind bag will be in the blue/green/jade we call ByrdColour, and the Dogs Blood Rising/There’s No Hiding from the Blackbird bag in the same red/black as before.

C93 German and (possibly) Danish dates added to March tour

C93 hope to play play their first-ever Scandinavian show in Denmark as part of their forthcoming tour, but this is not yet confirmed. More details as and when we have them. An extra German date has been added, at Cologne/Köln Stadtgarten on 29 March. We hope to see you there, as real as rainbows.

David Tibet ‘Baalstorm, Sing Omega’ original artwork for sale

David has added four pieces of his original artwork for Baalstorm, Sing Omega to the original artwork section of the Coptic Cat website. The first is ‘She is Naked Like the Water’, the painting used for the front cover of the CD and vinyl LP album; this piece is approximately (30 × 30 cm/12" × 12"), crayon and white ink on black paper.

The second and third are, respectively, ‘Anoükiem et Anok in Storm’ and ‘The Assault Against Christ and the Four Apostles by the False Moon and her Legions’ which were two more of the paintings David made whilst working on Baalstorm, Sing Omega for possible use in the album artwork. These pieces are both A4, crayon and white ink on black paper.

‘Anoükiem et Anok in Storm’ is presently in the hands of Devendra Banhart, who is including it along with two more pieces by David in a large group exhibition he is curating in Mexico City in February—more details of this exhibition follow below. The fourth and final piece, ‘ZOSer and Pavo Ascend as Egypt’, is now in the collection of Uwe Henneken and Katja Strunz and is being exhibited at the Berlin show mentioned elsewhere in this update.

All pieces can be found in the original artwork section of the website.

David Tibet ‘I Have Seen the Gnostic Awe and All’ original artwork for sale

David has also added images of the nine paintings in his I Have Seen the Gnostic Awe and All series which he did for the Fabio Quaranta T-shirt collection that will be released in the Autumn of 2011. ‘I Have Seen the Gnostic Glory 2’ is presently in the hands of Devendra Banhart, who is including it along with two more pieces by David in a large group exhibition he is curating in Mexico City in February—more details of this exhibition follow below.

All pieces can be found in the original artwork section of the website.

Test pressing of C93 7" available

There are eight copies available of the black vinyl 7" test pressing of the C93 single, ‘Time of the Last Persecution’/‘Black Flowers, Please’. It comes in the original sleeve, signed by David, and has white labels with the title and the group’s name written in black ink by David. They are £75 each plus postage and packing. Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you want one with 7" TEST PRESSING in the subject line. First come, first served.

Unique C93 test pressing box sets added to eBay

Two box sets have been added to eBay at the links below. There is only one copy of each.

One is the Like Swallowing Eclipses box set of Andrew Liles and C93’s reworking of early album material. This has all six albums as white label test pressings, with the titles handwritten by David. Also included is a piece of original artwork by David which was done for the box set but never used. The box set includes: the proper printed LP covers (into which the test pressings are inserted), the double-sided colour photographic insert and the printed box. So: this item is the same as the standard box set release, but with handwritten white label test pressings and the extra original artwork.

Click here to place a bid

The other is a test pressing of the German Vinyl on Demand Current 93 box set. This contains all eight white label 12" black vinyl test pressings, and the white label 7" black vinyl test pressing that was available to subscribers to VoD only. The records are housed in two black wooden silkscreened boxes which themselves come in a beautiful fine-linen silk-lined box with a Coptic text design by David on it. Each label has the titles handwritten by David. It contains all the original items from the original box set, which sold out on pre-order. So, this is identical to the subscribers’ edition of the box set except that the records are white label test pressings with handwritten labels; there was a small number of black card boxes, containing all the test pressings, with a drawing by David on the front of the box; these were sold privately. This box set is the only one in which the labels are handwritten. A list of what is in the two box-sets follows. Please notice this box set is very heavy, so be aware that the postage cost will reflect that.

1: CURRENT 93 4LP Unreleased Rarities, Out-takes, Rehearsals and Live 82–95 (VOD74)

Wooden box set, with embossed cover of blood-red C93 symbol, of David Tibet’s Current 93 project includes two LPs with unreleased rarities, out-takes, rehearsals and demos dating from 1983–1995 as well as another 2 LPs with four performances from Amsterdam (1984), Hamburg (1985) and Tokyo (1988) and an additional bonus 7“ with two songs from the 1988 Reykjavík performance and the complete London concert at the 100 Club from 1985. Also contained is a beautiful silkscreened poster made out of hand-made paper produced in Nepal. The box also contains a metal C93 badge and a 28-page booklet, with embossed cover, full of very personal photos personally selected by David Tibet from his archives. The booklet itself manifests a journey back in time to the first 15 years of Current 93’s existence.

2: CURRENT 93 4LP set including Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow, The Red Face of God, Emblems and As the World Disappears (VOD75)

Wooden box set, with embossed cover of blood-red C93 symbol different to that on Volume 1, of David Tibet's Current 93 project contains Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow plus The Red Face of God as a double LP; As the World Disappears, released for the first time ever on vinyl, and finally an official release of the legendary Emblems LP, which has until now only existed as a test pressing. Emblems was originally going to be a single LP of material that was initiially only released on the now-deleted 2CD Emblems, but it never progressed beyond a very limited run of white vinyl test pressings, which are now ferociously rare and expensive. The box also includes a metal C93 badge (a different badge to that in VOD74) and is accompanied by a beautiful booklet, with embossed cover, with very personal photos selected by David Tibet from his archives; this booklet is totally different to the one in VOD74. Members will also receive in addition a long-sleeve Current 93 T-shirt.

At David Tibet’s express request, the covers for all the LPs were supplied by the wonderful German, Berlin-based, artist Uwe Henneken, who has used C93 album, and song, titles for many of his extraordinary creations.

Click here to place a bid

Stapleton-Tibet album CD reissues

We are now working on the reissue of the two albums that David Tibet and Steven Stapleton recorded together. Both will be 2CD digipaks. The Sadness of Things will contain the two tracks from the original album, as well as ‘The Fire of the Mind’ from the Simply Being book by James Low and an alternate mix of ‘The Grave and Beautiful Name of Sadness’, whilst Musical Pumpkin Cottage will feature the two tracks from the CD album of the same name, the alternate mixes of those tracks that were released first on the vinyl album Musicalische Kürbs-Hütte and then later on the Octopus CD and the track ‘I Left Her for a Cartoon Octopus’, also released on the Octopus CD. More details as soon as they ready.

Don Bradshaw-Leather CD reissue

David is meeting Don Bradshaw-Leather’s sister once again when she returns to England in March/April to discuss the Coptic Cat reissue of her brother’s masterpiece Distance Between Us. This project is taking longer than we had both envisioned due to her recent relocation outside of the UK. She is very keen (as I am) to find extra material for the issue—photos, texts and perhaps even music. The release is still absolutely on and we are planning for it to be out later this year.

David Tibet painting in Berlin group exhibition

David has his painting ‘ZOSeR and Pavo ascend as Egypt’, which was used on the insert of the vinyl edition of Baalstorm, Sing Omega, on display at a group show called ‘La Vallée Patibulaire’ between 25–27 February at Caro Bittermann, Gustav Müller Str. 18, 10829 Berlin. Opening times: Friday 25 February: 6–10pm; Sat 26–Sun 27 February: 12–6pm. www.vallee-patibulaire.eu.

David Tibet paintings chosen by Devendra Banhart for Mexico exhibition

David is Over the Æon to have had three of his paintings chosen by the loveliest Devendra Banhart for a group exhibition entitled ‘La Migra!’ that Devendra is curating in Mexico City. The paintings are ‘Anoükiem et Anok in Storm’, ‘This Day You Will Be With Me in Paradise’ and ‘I Have Seen the Gnostic Glory 2’. The exhibition opens on 23 February. The exhibitors are as follows:

Zach Hill • Marc Bell • Eric Wareheim • Jerry Hsu • Beck • Melissa Shimkovitz • Kevin Long • Adam Green • David Tibet • Marilyn Manson • Fabrizio Moretti • Alia Shawkat • Nat Russell • Thomas Campbell • Travis Keller • Angeline Rivas • Keegan McHargue and Adam Tullie with one more person tba…

The show will be held at VICE GALLERY, Mérida 109, esq. Alvaro Obregón Col. Roma, Mexico City. www.viceland.com/mx

This update has been written by me, Anok Pe David Tibet, in