The inscrutable J.G. Thirlwell was dropped on this planet some time ago to bestow sonic majesty, chaos, violence & beauty and cunning linguistics on an unsuspecting earth. A Brooklyn-based Australian ex-pat, Thirlwell has used many names for his many visions: Foetus (and its many name variations), Steroid Maximus, Clint Ruin, Wiseblood, DJ Otefsu, Manorexia and Baby Zizanie. Over the course of more than a dozen albums he has stretched from yearning orchestral soundscapes, meticulously organized chaos, electronic swathes, blistering big band pastiche, crunching hard rock and even inventing stupefying collisions of genres and forms with a raw emotion and irresistible musicality.
Ratatat / Shiller
I dig this cinematic searching sound and melody, and the Brian May-like guitars.
Elysian Fields / Ashes In Winter Light
This incredibly beautiful, haunting duet from their forthcoming album seldom fails to elicit a tear. This group is criminally underrated!
Hanne Hukkelberg / The Pirate
The chorus and arrangement seduces me.
Brigitte Fontaine / Il Pleut
Co-written with Jean Claude Vannier — who made many great arrangements for Gainsbourg, as well as his own great album, L’Enfant Assassin des Mouches — this is a dark and wistful song.
Boys Noize / My Head (Para One Remix)
A dirty pleasure in the Justice/Mstrkrft vein, it’s full of squelchy goodness, especially the intro. It’s from the Oi Oi Oi remixed album.
David Lang / The Passing Measures
Along with Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe, Lang is one of the founders of Bang On A Can. He is an eclectic composer and this compelling piece creeps and hypnotizes. I wouldn’t call it ambient but it moves like mists, with a dream-like emotional core.
Magma / Troller Tanz
I’ve been on a Magma binge lately. They are complex, bombastic, urgent and intense. They are a French band who truly are progressive and sing in a language created by drummer and mastermind Christian Vander. Their show in Greenpoint a couple of years ago was mind-blowing.
Portishead / The Rip
A beautiful song from a great album.
Mirror Mirror / Love is The Law
It could be any number of tracks from their album, The Society for the Advancement of Inflammatory Consciousness. I saw them play recently and I found them enjoyably Dadaist. The album is quite different, evoking both early and later Pink Floyd, with a smattering of song-era Eno.
Soundtrack of The Wicker Man / Willow’s Song
Last year I drove through the West of Scotland with my mom, playing this CD. On New Years Day, I re-watched The Wicker Man with some friends (the extended cut that I hadn’t seen) and this song is entrancing, especially with Britt Ekland’s naked gyrations.
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So I landed here, from Feotus website. Then I clicked and clicked and listened to the “Wicker Man” music. Then YouTubed the last scene from the film, sound on bust. what a wonderful moment. Jim Thirwell has been an influence on my work since I first heard “Hole”, and now I see the relevance of his work in mine.
Thank you.