SEARCH AND DISCIPLINE: throbbing gristle, coum transmissions, psychic tv et all.

WOLF=FLOW

And yet, I can hardly belive I like it.

TS: 'sinister' vs conventions of guys with bolts through their cocks
(and which is the more frightening?)

(Wait, did I really refer to him as "Gen" in an earlier post on this thread? I hope I was being ironic.)

anyway, yes, i wread wreckers shortly after i posted this actually. well half of it then i had to take it back to the library, and forgot about it for a couple months until i picked it up again and finally finished it. ultimately it was a good read, if a bit colored by the authors obvious bias as a fanboy. i walked away with a lot of sympathy for gen (again, authorial bias, as the rest either came off as ciphers or evil stepmothers who plotted against the little boy lost), who struck me as one of those people who just feel too much, maybe think too much too. even though i still find 90% of their output utterly unlistenable at this point, i respect genesis because (unlike me) he actually managed to cough up some hairball of ART in the public space fueled by this inability to shut up his own brain/heart. of course, like most people who can't shut up (inside or out), he was an atrocious (or non-existant) self-editor and i guess that's why there's so much goddamn TG product out there in the first place.

It is possible that the others might not have been presented as fairly because of Genesis manipulating the situation. He has always had a knack for selling himself and his point of view even when it does not actually jibe with reality(like GPO invented Acid House...). I am not sure if I blame Ford for that, or if that is just par for the course when you deal with GPO.

As for TG's music, I enjoy it but a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am listening to the underlying ideas presented by the music as well as what is actually there(I also feel gigantically alienated/angry from/with the world around me, so that might be part of the attraction too). The packaging and presentation are absolutely fantastic. GPO gets most of the attention, but I think the most interesting parts of TG are Carter's electronics and Sleazy's design. GPO sells himself as a personality, and most people connect with that more easily that the more behind the scenes aspect. Carter and Sleazy were the ones who actually made things happen, and I would have preferred that more inches had been devoted to them.

Wreckers is probably my third favorite music book, behind Eric Tamm's Eno Bio, and England's Dreaming by Jon Savage. I have never been much interested in critical flights of fancy, I would rather read Savage over Eshun any day. I think Ford did a solid job of presenting the brass tacks of how TG happened. I was approaching the book for information and as a textbook rather than a piece of critical analysis, so ymmv.

The thing to bear in mind with that bio is that it is written by a musician for a musician. If you are approaching it as a casual reader it isn't that great. If you are interested in the technical aspects of how his records were made and what the theory of his creative approach is, it is worth it's weight in gold.

It is not a critical analysis, it is the equivalent of high brow guitar magazine journalism. It isn't great writing, but if you are working in a similiar area it is totally news you can use.

According to the credits, this is not true.

Gen has some neat ideas, but he reminds me of Leary, always running his mouth in the hope that a few nuggets of gold will drop out.

and "industrial handbook" was quite enough of the stunt list stuff

a critical assessment of the music on the 24 hours and other newly released stuff, that would be useful too, since ptv and tg recordings always seemed to be classics (something there justifying the owning of the whole record) or absolute duds

carter's 'mondo beat' is good too.

i have no plans to see ptv. every time i sa them back in the day they were nothing short of a total load of old toss.

See all the usual declaimers.

That was just a dumb mistake, but I like it.

So anyway there's a generic PTV beginning at the start of the CD, with one of those JFK samples. Then you get the actual dedication, followed by "Beltane," which is mostly (surprisingly good) "tribal" sounding drumming, with some synthesizer sputterings.

"Beltane/Your Body/Twisted/Only Human" along with "Voodoo Acid" are the main reasons to want this, so far. Weird though even on "Depraved," this guitar solo is very classic rock, and if Genesis would shut up on this one it would be better. But on those first four songs, there are interesting musical things going on, perhaps entirely irrelevant to Genesis, but even he carries his own weight more than he usually does.

(Oh please, Genesis, no. This part didn't need to be added in.)
(Also left off a song I like with some very good cheesy LSD sounds.)

she isn't that hot. nor is her personality all that great, either.

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), April 29th, 2005 12:48 PM.

Search out PTV's 'Roman P.'

Also Search:

PTV - Dreams Less Sweet, Unclean 12", NY Scum Haters live LP (w/Sleazy and John Gosling), Roman P. EP, and I like some of Infinite Beat. Their 7" on Sordide Sentimentale is super excellent as well.

TG - All four studio LPs, Journey Through A Body LP, Very Friendly LP for the studio stuff. Rafters, Thee Psychick Sacrifice (double LP version), and Mission Of Dead Souls for the live fix (haven't heard those Mute CDs).

Coil - Well, I love it all, but the two Musick To Play In The Dark CDs are ace. Also Moon's Milk and the live discs. After that I'd go early (Scatology, Horse Rotorvator, Gold Is The Metal) and then pick up the Unnatural History CDs. After THAT I might get L.S.D. or the more out there stuff (Glitch, Time Machines, Stolen And Contaminated). The Black Light District album is great too.

Chris/Cosey/CTI/Carter/Tutti - My very favorite is the CTI live LP European Rendezvous, the live record Elemental 7 is also superb. For straight Chris & Cosey I'd do Trance, Techno Primitiv, and the recent live CD Union. The Collectiv One CD has a good Carter solo and two killer 12" records - unfortunately not the one with Annie Lennox though! Heartbeat is good too.

DESTROY:

PTV - That godawful live disc that Sordide Sentimentale put out. All these lame new greatest hits and remixes things. Maybe half of the live series. I don't really like Allegory And Self much either. Love War Riot? Ick.

TG - I feel like even the less interesting live TG is still interesting, so the only destroy I'd mention are the dubious posthumous releases: Grief, Kreeme Horn, and a couple of others on the Dossier label I think. Avoid.

Coil - I refuse to relate the concept of "destroy" to "Coil". However, I can see how The Snow EP would fail to move some of the more stonehearted, and the ANS series is a bit, uh, static. Astral Disaster is a hard sell too.

Chris & Cosey - God I hate that Exotika/Take Five crap. There are numerous bad records that followed it, I'd destroy all the Nettwerk stuff. The music they have been making lately is quite worth checking out though.

That was fun.

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Psychic TV on tour. Anyone seen them in recent years?

There are eight million Throbbing Gristle threads. Might as well revive this one because:

1) There are full reissues of the original TG albums due with bonus tracks etc. in the next few weeks.

2) I'm lucky enough to have advance copies. And they look GOOOOOD.

already noted here:

Throbbing Gristle: RFI

Never seen this before: Recording Heathen Earth

I guess I was never a very good fan.

Interesting interview with Coum Transmissions member, Foxtrot Echo

i was very very tempted to buy the "wreckers of civilisation" book last night, but the 32 dollar price tag scared me off.
― jess, Tuesday, 2 April 2002 00:00 (12 years ago)

starting at $123 on amazon

Just spent an excellent 2 hours talking to an OG Coum Transmissions guy. Details to follow, maybe.

I'm all ears... or eyes whatever.

yes please

That's a coincidence. Just came home from seeing Psychic TV tonight, in Oslo.

They ripped.

in brief: terrifying The Man was pretty easy in 1970s England, all related parties were sweet cuddly people who continued to be so throughout their careers, Hawkwind fans used to be less tolerant than you'd think they ought to be, Wreckers of Civilization is well worth the read

Just seen a new edition of Wreckers of Civilisation listed on Amazon for August. Anybody know anything about that?
Have been hoping that Cosey's memoir might prompt a new edition.

there was supposed to be a repress in nov 2015 that amazon took my money for and eventually refunded. so i am skeptical. but would be awesome if it happened.

Appears to be legit, probably a straight reprint with no new material:

https://black-dog-publishing.myshopify.com/products/wreckers-of-civilisation

Shame about the no new material if that's true. I thought there had been so9me significant events since it was originally published, band reforming shortly, sleazy dying, back catalogue being remastered etc.
But have regretted not having got it before.

Having read Cosey's book, the criticism that Wreckers was overly Gencentric seems valid.

possibly, but I am still gonna snap this up if it finally becomes available again, thanks for the update.

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1545/2923/products/throbbing-gristle-20-jazz-funk-greats-cd-back-161222_grande.jpg

Doesn't seem to have appeared does it, Amazon is now saying 26th of october.

sigh

i like that when i google this one of the first hits is a listing for it on walmart.com

so Amazon US (for me) says August 31st, Black Dog Publishing website says October

yes me too but they haven't charged my card yet

WE WILL SEE

"arriving monday" ← believe it when i see it

fuck, I might as well try to preorder this again

huh

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wreckers-of-civilisation-simon-ford/1125792481?ean=9781911164739

"Temporarily Out of Stock Online"

Sux2bu

Amazon is preparing mine for shipment

Or so they would have me believe

that was from the b&n listing. i just ordered on amazon so 🖕!

and i got coseys book from my library

🖕🖕🖕

odds of me getting my book - at least 10 to 1 against

at least by monday anyway

Arriving tomorrow by 8 PM
Not yet shipped

uh huh

Your order contained an item that is no longer scheduled for release. This may be because the item was discontinued or replaced by a newer version.

We canceled this portion of your order and you will not be billed for it.

We Guarantee Disappointment

late great, how's that book so far 😆