Voices from Catland is the personal site of Kenn Wilson, sometimes known as Kenn Christ, of San Francisco, California.
I was first introduced to Current 93 by Dave D. in 1990, when he made me a tape of Swastikas for Noddy and Earth Covers Earth. I don’t really have favorite bands, per se, but C93 would definitely be in my top five or so if I bothered to come up with a list. No other band I’ve listened to this long has stayed consistently at the top of my list the way C93 has.
I didn’t take this first recording out of my car stereo for probably at least a month or so, except to bring it in the house where I continued listening to it almost non-stop. Swastikas for Noddy was like nothing I had ever heard before: the noise, surreal circus music, spoken word, and Tibet’s unique vocals really stuck out among the rest of the music I had on rotation at the time. At a loss as to how to describe them to people, I usually just used the word “surrealist” which seems as good a term as any.
I understand a lot of people don’t like Earth Covers Earth. Maybe it’s because this was one of the first two C93 albums I was introduced to, but I think it’s a great album. It’s hard to say that I prefer one of their styles over the others, but I really like this folksy-type material. The copy I received was the original seven track version, not the later twelve track re-release. Even now, because I listened to the original for so long, the additional tracks sound somewhat out of place to me here. Regardless, this entire recording is excellent, in my opinion, particularly Hourglass (for Diana).
I didn’t start buying anything of theirs for a couple years, but before that I got the opportunity to pick up five early recordings on vinyl from my roommate at the time (long story, that). That kind of kick-started my collection, which is up to 25 CDs at the time of this writing. I don’t have any illusions about completion, but I’ve made an effort to pick up most of their major releases. The original records I had have long since been sold; I decided a couple years ago to liquidate my vinyl collection.
I wasn’t able to make it to NYC for their shows in 1996 and 1999. I really wanted to but my finances didn’t allow for flying to NYC from LA at that time. Their 1996 performance, in particular, I really wish I had seen, as by all reports it was an incredibly intense show (it can be heard on All Dolled up like Christ). That was probably also my last chance to see Tibet perform with that kind of all-star lineup (Rose McDowall, Michael Cashmore, Karl Blake, etc).
San Francisco is much more convenient to LA than NYC, so when I found out about the shows scheduled in 2003 I immedietely bought tickets and started making plans to drive up for it. The show was great, I liked that he did a good number of songs from Soft Black Stars, which is one of my favorite C93 albums (and, incidentally, another one a lot of people seem to not like).
At the time of this writing, Tibet has another San Francisco performance in planning and possibly one in Los Angeles. I live in SF now but expect to be at both the SF and LA appearances when they happen.
Something to say?
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