Just got sent this press release, thought it might be of interest (I guess it interests me because I've never knowingly heard a single TG track in my life - would this be a good way in?):
THROBBING GRISTLE
The Taste of TG
A Beginner's Guide to the Music of Throbbing Gristle
Release Date - 3rd May 2004
When dubbing Throbbing Gristle as the Wreckers of Civilisation,
the late Tory MP Sir Nicholas Fairbairn couldn’t have provided
the industrial music/art/guerrilla media troupe with a better
manifesto. For Genesis P. Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter
Christopherson and Chris Carter, Throbbing Gristle advocated
total musical and personal freedom and the self-empowerment to
achieve it. Between 1975 and 1981 they troubled eardrums,
shattered preconceptions and changed lives, and the
repercussions of their sonic, ideological and industrial
experiments are still being felt today.
These repercussions were most recently highlighted by some of
today's electronic peers paying homage to TG’s pioneering
experiments. "Mutant TG" (novamute) is the first ever TG remix
collection whereby contemporary producers such as Carl Craig,
Two Lone Swordsmen and Simon Ratcliffe provide stunning reworks
of classic TG.
Now with "The Taste Of TG"you can sample their unadulterated
majesty, a Beginner's guide to the enigmatic and elusive
Throbbing Gristle.
Unlike many of their punk peers Throbbing Gristle deployed their
music as a weapon attacking the apparatus of the music industry.
TG set up their own imprint, Industrial Records, for the
distribution of their noises and even incorporated the art
gallery practice of making special limited edition
hand-assembled LPs, pre-packaged videos and live cassettes. In
addition, they sent out regular pop profile communiqués,
including special postcards, patches and badges, which detailed
the activities of the various members. Nothing was beneath them.
TG have never been afraid to confront, confound and expose.
Whilst 1978's 'United' sounds like an eerie football chant
referencing occultist Aleister Crowley’s "Love Is The Law…",
over a crackled electro groove, its B-side - named for the
chemical used in Nazi death chambers, 'Zyklon B Zombie' was
deliberately recorded so as to sound like it was being broadcast
through a haze of gas. Other equally disturbing TG classics
include the queasy 'Hamburger Lady', where Genesis intones a
letter describing the plight of a woman with horrific fat burns
in a feeble voice echoed by nagging electronics. TG also often
displayed a more harmonious and gentle side that was adeptly
shown on their most accessible album, 1979’s "20 Jazz Funk
Greats" and the disco hypnosis of 'Hot on The Heels of Love’
whilst 'Weeping’ originally from "The Third And Final Report"
reverberates beautifully around four types of acoustic violin
through a space echo. Indeed, if tracks such as 'Dead On
Arrival' further underpin TG’s status as electronic funk
pioneers then the ultra-disturbing and grating 'We Hate You
(Little Girls)’ seems only to further prove that TG were and
still are unique outsiders who consistently buckled the mould
and in doing so laid the foundations for today’s maverick
producers. As Throbbing Gristle were to later state. "We wanted
to re-invest Rock music with content, motivation and risk. Our
records were documents of attitudes and experiences and
observations by us and other determinedly individual outsiders.
Fashion was an enemy, style irrelevant."
Chris Carter, Peter Christopherson, Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey
Fanni Tutti have announced that they will briefly regroup to
present RE~TG, a weekend of music, art, film and performance
culminating in an exclusive set by Throbbing Gristle, live for
the first time in 23 years and never to be repeated. This is the
final ever TG show.
The location will be Pontin's Holiday Resort, Camber Sands,
Sussex, UK.
RE~TG will take place on 14th-16th May 2004.
Also available:
"TG+" released on Mute on 26th January 2004 - contains CD
releases of the final ten live Throbbing Gristle shows, the
companion to the legendary TG24 box set.
"Mutant TG" released on novamute on 29th March 2004 - remixes of
classic TG by Carl Craig, Two Lone Swordsmen, Simon Ratcliffe,
CarterTutti, Hedonastik and Motor.
The Taste of TG - A Beginner's Guide to the Music of Throbbing
Gristle
TRACKLISTING:
Industrial Introduction
Distant Dreams - Part Two
Persuasion U.S.A.
Something Came Over Me
Dead On Arrival
Hot On The Heels Of Love
We Hate You (Little Girls)
United
Cabaret Voltaire (Live at Industrial Training College Wakefield
1st July 1978)
Exotic Functions
Zyklon B Zombie
Walkabout
Hamburger Lady
His Arm Was Her Leg (Live at The Factory Manchester 18th May
1979 - Edit)
― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Thursday, 11 March 2004 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)
none of my favourites are here, but then i like the fuller "live demonstrations", eg the live selections of "slug bait" on 'second annual report'.
The first third of 'heathen earth' would be my favourite, with the band live and un-edited grinding up the pace three notches in three songs, with "the old man smiled" seemingly otm re: 23 years later, the middle east, the hash-assassins, old man from the mountains myth, etc.. (coincidence, i know, even if vaguley convincing, foretelling what others had already claimed in similar shamanistic fashion)
However, in both those cases of 'the live sound of TG' it's the viscious controlled synth buzz and those frequencies my stereo has not had to deal with before that make the whole experience so exhilerating, with v. clever live & sequencing in both cases.
but the "live demonstrations" i've heard are still so inconsistent, so a box of them, while tempting, would be an expensive stab.
― george gosset (gegoss), Thursday, 11 March 2004 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)
If you're more into longform trippy psychedelia,
pick up 'Second Annual Report' or 'Heathen Earth'
If you're more into 'songs' or electro beats,
pick up 'DOA' or '20 Jazz Funk Greats'
TG's like VU in that there's a four classic central LPs surrounded by woods of live/unreleased material.
― SexyDancer, Thursday, 11 March 2004 17:37 (twenty-two years ago)
eighteen years pass...