Chris & Cosey
Heartbeat

Arm→Needle→Groove→Crackle→Sound.
A leap straight into a claustrophobic tunnel, a junction of labyrinths branching into the recesses of the mind. Flash→Visions. Lightning flashes from distant psychic territories leave just enough time to metabolize the echoes of an ancestral, aseptic, ethereal dimension, like dreams upon waking, alive only for a brief span like the evanescence of a chimera. Time Machine in operation, seatbelts fastened, eyes fixed on the rearview mirror (the only direction to go) and off, like in Doctor Who's TARDIS, back through the annals of the second art to 137 Blenheim Crescent in London back in 1981.

Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti have just left behind that fantastic creature known as Throbbing Gristle after a short tour in the States (the rest of the band founded Psychic TV). The two, armed with a considerable wealth of experience gained during the TG years, embark on a musical and life journey which lays the foundation for the album Heartbeat, produced by the legendary Rough Trade in November 1981.

The era of a new musical avant-garde takes shape in the early '80s, a territory to be invented, discovered, colonized thanks to the new technological frontiers applied to sound and the magic that, in the past decade, has bestowed upon the world the Krautrock of Can, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, and Neu! among others. England will soon offer masterpieces of the emerging synth-pop and, among the pioneers of the genre, in the central showcase stand our Chris And Cosey. Their industrial sound, saturated in every nook by a minimal and obsessive electro-synth, creates a perfect and original formula that places "Heartbeat" among the milestones of the late millennium.

The drum machine together with two sampled voices constitute the first brushstroke on the still-empty canvas, in a crescendo with apocalyptic connotations ("Put Yourself In Los Angeles") which supports the follow-up "This Is Me" where synth loops, reverse-played voice samples, and the mantra "Here I come, I'm gonna get you" seem to predict the significant influence exercised by the record on the unsuspecting yet predisposed listener. "Voodoo" is a ritual consumed on electronic territories, worthy of its mystical name. The fourth track "Moorby" broadly alludes to the electro-pop of Depeche Mode's "See You", although substantially different and darker. We cross into darkness with the gloomy "Radio Void", a slow and tormented march in a cyber-parade of a cyber-funeral, a dark ambient in full rule with all the hallmarks. "Just Like You" wanders the same paths, a stroll among lunar landscapes, perfect for the soundtrack of a sci-fi film. A synthetic pattern, reverberant sounds on a solid base of electronic beats constitute "Bus Stop", the natural precursor of techno music. The robotic, compulsive "Useless Information", characterized by a layering of anachronistic guitars, enriches the work with flair and originality, common in the strings of the London duo. "Moving Still" is a boundless expanse in the lands of the most contemporary ambient (over thirty-five years ago!) and in the primordial recesses of new age music. Sustained rhythms, accelerated BPM, and sharp areas adorned by indefinite, incomprehensible words in the hypnotic trance of "Manic Melody (Hairy Beary)", release the final, eponymous "Heartbeat", a melancholic, romantic synth hovering, with spectral movements, in six minutes of pure enjoyment, an extraordinary epilogue of a precious, seminal work that will leave indelible traces in the years to come.

In the dark belly of the underground musical archives, a flourishing (sub)culture with offshoots in every musical sub-genre has found its dead-end line also in the grooves of Heartbeat, a reference master, a prototype of a sound that has given birth to many bands and many works, fully embodying the innovative, avant-garde spirit of the 80s.

Arm→Needle→Groove→Crackle→Sound (of lacerating totality)→Chris and Cosey (there's nothing more to add).