JG Thirlwell featured on MC5 Tribute album

JG Thirlwell appears on the album Call Me Animal: A Tribute to the MC5 which is released by Saustex Records on Nov 1 2023.
 
The album is credited to by Memphis band Joecephus and the George Jonestown Massacre, who perform the backing tracks. The 22 tracks feature a myriad of guest stars including Alice Cooper, Keith Morris, Zal Cleminson (Sensational Alex Harvey Band), Jello Biafra, Wayne Kramer, Tex Perkins, Cherie Currie, Mike Watt, Lydia Lunch, JD Pinkus and Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers), J Mascis, Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Eugene Robinson, Norman Westberg (Swans), Chris Connelly, Billy Gould (Faith No More) and many more. You can pre-order and listen to the Cherie Currie track at the link.
JG Thirlwell performed vocals on the title track “Call Me Animal” which also features a guitar solo from Norman Westberg.
 
You can order the album here

JG Thirlwell performs at Kitchen Gala honoring Lydia Lunch

Nan_edition-webJG Thirlwell will make an exclusive performance at legendary NY arts performance space The Kitchen on the occasion of their Spring Benefit Gala Honoring Lydia Lunch and Nan Goldin on May 16 2018. Thirlwell will perform a short set with an ensemble consisting of Marilu Donovan on harp, Evan Allen on piano, Leah Asher on viola and Simon Hanes on acoustic guitar. The evening will also see performances by James Chance and Bush Tetras. Tickets for this very expensive benefit start at $1000 and are available here. Photo: Lydia Lunch at the Russian baths, New York, 1985 by Nan Goldin.

JGT reads WSB

William-S-Burroughs-william-s-burroughs-24368992-1329-1389JG Thirlwell  will take part in William S.Burroughs reading marathon presented by The Poetry Project as part of WSB100, New York’s month-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Burroughs, the iconic writer of Naked Lunch, Queer, Junky, and many other experimental works of great American literature. The event will take place at the sanctuary of St Marks Church in New York City, on April 23 2014, beginning at 8.30pm. JG will read with interpretive guitar accompaniment from Sam Mickens. Also on the bill are Anne Waldman, Bob HolmanGenesis Breyer P-Orridge, Matt Mottel & Kevin Shea, James Ilgenfritz, Jack Womack & Elliot Sharp, Iron Dog, Nick Zedd,  Penny Arcade, Simon Pettet, Steve Dalachinsky and many others.

The Cinema of Transgression exhibition in Berlin

YOU KILLED ME FIRST at KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin is the first exhibition on the Cinema of Transgression. The films are being displayed as an installation, and many of the key players from the movement will be making appearances, leading talks and discussions.

The “Cinema of Transgression” a term coined by Nick Zedd, describes a loose congregation of filmmakers in New York’s Lower East Side in the 1980’s, including Zedd, Richard Kern, Cassandra Stark and Tommy Turner. JG Thirlwell scored many of Kern’s films, as well as contributing to the films of Turner and Stark.

To quote the exhibition catalog : “Nightmarish scenarios of violence, dramatic states of mind, and perverse sexual abysses – the films of the Cinema of Transgression that were consciously aimed at shock, provocation, and confrontation, bear witness to an extraordinary radicality. In the 1980s a group of filmmakers from the Lower East Side in New York went on a collision course with the conventions of American society. Transcending all moral or aesthetic boundaries, the low budget films reveal social hardship met with sociopolitical indifference. Sometimes shot with stolen camera equipment, the films contain strident analyses of life in the Lower East Side defined by criminality, brutality, drugs, AIDS, sex, and excess. Even though the movement has remained largely unknown, the Cinema of Transgression has been a significant influence for later generations of artists.”

February 19, 2012 – April 9, 2012

KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststr. 69
D-10117 Berlin

Blank City at the IFC Center NYC

The documentary Blank City is currently enjoying a successful theatrical run at the IFC center in New York. Directed by French newcomer Céline Danhier, Blank City weaves together an oral history of the “No Wave Cinema” and “Cinema of Transgression” movements. JG Thirlwell is interviewed in the film regarding his involvement with R.Kern’s Deathtrip Films and the Cinema of Transgression. It also features interviews with Jim Jarmusch, John Waters, Steve Buscemi, Debbie Harry, Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, Amos Poe, James Nares, Lydia Lunch, James Chance, Eric Mitchell, Susan Seidelman, Beth B, Scott B, Charlie Ahearn and many more. Clips featuring Thirlwell’s scores for Kern’s Deathtrip films appear in the documentary, along with many other illuminating extracts from the films of that era. Click here for the New York Times review of the film.

Ripped T-Shirts: JG Thirlwell appears in a new book by Cesar Padilla entitled Ripped : T-shirts from the Underground.

JG Thirlwell appears in a new book by Cesar Padilla entitled Ripped : T-shirts from the Underground. Described as a “A visual history of counterculture music T-shirts, spanning the defining era of indie music.”, the book features several Foetus and Wiseblood shirt designs, as well as writings by JG Thirlwell about Swans and Lydia Lunch. Lydia also penned the introduction to the book, which also contains contributions from Thurston Moore, Betsey Johnson and more. You can purchase your very own copy here!

JG Thirlwell at Carnegie Hall with U2 and more for Gavin Friday

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JG Thirlwell appeared at the Gavin Friday and friends concert at Carnegie Hall on October 4th 2009. Curated by Hal Wilner to celebrate Gavin’s 50th birthday, this stellar concert  featured Laurie Anderson, Antony, Elizabeth Ashley, Bono, Adam Clayton, Andrea Corr, The Edge, Flo & Eddie, Joel Grey, Bill Frisell, Guggi, Scarlett Johannson, Courtney Love, Lydia Lunch, Patrick McCabe, Maria McKee, Eric Mingus, Larry Mullen Jr, Martha Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright, Chloe Webb, plus special guest Lady Gaga and more. It was a benefit for the RED charity and a portion of the proceeds went to help eliminate AIDS in Africa . Here’s what they say in Pitchfork and Rolling Stone.

LIMB CD + DVD + 48-Page Booklet Released!

limbpackThe long awaited LIMB is now available exclusively at the online shop on this website. LIMB is an archival release of experimental and minimalist compositions recorded from 1980-1983, from the early days of Foetus and pre-Foetus. Though the material is largely unreleased, some of the pieces have been previously released on the compilation albums by Coil and United Dairies. Released as a deluxe double disc package, the music disc contains 12 tracks at 50+ minutes with an additional 20 minute bonus mp3 track. On the second disc, director Clement Tuffreau kindly allowed us to include his 2005 documentary about JG Thirlwell, NYC FOETUS, with this package. The eighty minute film features interviews with JG Thirlwell, Matt Johnson, Alex Hacke (Einsturzende Neubauten), Michael Gira, Richard Kern, Lydia Lunch, Martin Bisi and Elysian Fields along with a lot of never before seen footage of Foetus, Steroid Maximus, Manorexia and more. There is also 45 minutes of bonus extras, comprised of Steroid Maximus 18 piece ensemble live in France, Foetus live in Hannover, Manorexia live at The Stone NYC and a snippet of JG’s LEMUR commission at 3 Legged Dog in NYC. This deluxe package also contains a 48 page perfect bound book with minimal designs by JGT (all in his signature red, white, gray and black palette). This is all held in an attractive sturdy plastic slipcase printed with another of JG’s designs. Click the shop link for more details and audio previews.