Tadd Mullinix, the Michigan-born artist known also as Dabrye and James T. Cotton, launched the Charles Manier project in February 2002 when "Change You" surfaced on Ghostly International's Tangent 2002: Disco Nouveau compilation. The track evoked a forgotten relic from the peak years of early-'80s New York City nightlife, merging the aesthetics of Factory and ZE Records in a single collision. Four months afterward "Out Like a Tooth" turned up on Ersatz Audio's Misery Loves Company, while Ghostly released the three-track 12" Bang Bang Lover, which skewered the terrain of electronic body music by drawing on Throbbing Gristle, Liaisons Dangereuses, and D.A.F. Beyond a pair of contributions to tracks by the Dirty Criminals, the project stayed silent for nearly a decade until a self-titled, vinyl-only double album surfaced on Melvin "Traxx" Oliphant's Nation label in September 2013. Its contents, stylistically consistent with the earlier Ghostly 12", had been recorded between 2002 and 2012. Mullinix then issued the follow-up album American Manier on his Bopside imprint in 2015.
