f(x) [LP]

Featuring Throbbing Gristle's Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti (aka Chris & Cosey) plus Nik Void of Factory Floor, Carter Tutti Void first united for Mute's 2011 Short Circuit Festival in London, offering an improvisational set that was captured on the 2012 release Transverse. As that wonderful LP displayed, this May-December band were simpatico when it came to hypnotic and austere industrial music that seemed to guide itself, and now with this first proper studio album, they continue to be the great ghost in the machine. Six tracks are offered, all of them designed like sound sculptures or tape loops that slowly develop, dissolve, and then return to a robotic heart-throbbing beat. Drop the needle in a random spot and it makes much less sense than taking the full ride, and while this is a more controlled and more composed effort -- compared to their debut -- it sounds like the sum of its parts. It also brings to mind Chris & Cosey's old cohorts Coil, especially the hallucinatory landscapes of their Time Machines release. Otherwise, there is no comparison, as Carter Tutti Void create drone albums of great worth and value, leaving the other electro shaman stuck in a loop. ~ David Jeffries