FOETUS IN YOUR FACE
Shit all kinda began on January 1st 1981 on the Self Immolation label with the Spite Your Face / OKFM 7” single by “Foetus Under Glass”. Almost 40 years to the day, this project strives to document the first half of the works of J.G. Thirlwell. Twenty years plus 2, since this goes even back further a couple of years to sketch out what it all was to become: A dish of a physical, mental, aural, moral, atheistic, religious, sexual, spiritual, cultural, intellectual onslaught, Sprinkled with a dash of questioning of how fucking dark your humour is meth on top.
James George Thirlwell was born in 1960 in Melbourne, Australia. After quitting art school, he moved to London in 1977 and didn’t return. He worked in a record store and played in a band for ten months, to only decide that wasn’t for him. His next single came three months later, once again individually “written produced performed”. But this time under the name of “You’ve Got Foetus on Your Breath” herewith initiating the concept of multiple characters, personalities, brands even...
And so he went on to create as Jim Thirlwell, Frank Want, Clint Ruin, Bubba Kowalski, Foetus and DJ OTEFSU. Then came the “bands”: Philip and His Foetus Vibrations, Foetus In Your bed, Foetus Über Frisco, Foetus On The Beach, Foetus Art Terrorism, Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel, The Foetus All-Nude Review, Foetus Interruptus, Foetus Corruptus, Foetus inc. And then came the collaborations: Flesh Volcano, Wiseblood, Steroid Maximus, Manorexia, Baby Zizanie, to name just a few. And by dropping the Foetus moniker, all finally comes full circle, back into a Foetus, no pun intended, I guess.
In 1989 came the permanent move to New York, also the scene of the “The Immaculate Consumptive” Halloween spectacle with Lydia Lunch, Marc Almond and Nick Cave. The 90s were busy: the remixes, the majors, guest appearances, the tours, productions.
Finally embracing American redneck machoism and brutality and evil and thank some random god, he came back alive. 2000 onwards, reborn and reloaded, he rose to new heights with soundtracks, installations and art, ultimately landing the fantastically acclaimed “The Venture Brothers” scoring. Jim is a prolific hunter of art and artists, music and musicians, all obscure and brilliant.
In the early 80s Listening to BFM, campus radio in Auckland, I discovered his music, exactly when, I don’t know. All his LP’s carry four-letter titles, and ironically his fourth lp and the 2nd “Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel”, is my default favour record ever ever. “Nail” is a mammoth sonic exploration of violence, oppression, suffering, and an ultimate uprising. I’ve been a fan from the first time I heard his music. It’s visual. It’s super intense. It’s super fucking insane. Big band industrial everything, fucking epic. Then there’s the lyrics: crazy, warping, super fucking funny. I love the artwork—the whole packaging.
I concentrated on my most favourite and the most illustrative I have found. IMHO the most intense times ever. Not just in production and arrangement and execution, but everywhere where he appeared in and all he has helped. This mix aims to make the chaotically appearing yet furiously structured world of Foetus a little more comprehensive.
I’ve whored the internet for all I have found and play only 60 seconds of 60 pieces, its possibly a belated 60th birthday gift even. I have found stuff I’ve never seen and heard things I have never heard and joined a lot of very blurry dots. I understand the hate of copyright infringement, financial loss, and overall disrespecting the wishes of the artist. Still, I hope this is beneficial in presenting what one man, and most solely, has achieved, coming from a true fan, made with the utmost respect and hopefully understood as such.
This chronological mix is a scatter of various sources. The raw is definitely a feature. Essential for research was the J.G. Thirlwell legacy discography on foetus.org — an intensive documentation of works up until 2011. The website was started by (rip) Daniel L. Jones, and I have submitted many a scan. Updates from 2009 onwards can be found online in the news section; there is also an extensive press and timeline section. Then there’s the youtube rabbit hole for all never seen or heard before, Discogs for details and purchases and then the K-hole of the internet as we know it to fill in all the gaps. We are indeed blessed.
I have aimed to be as accurate as possible, so please excuse any errors, which I am very willing to correct. Thank you to all from whom I have sourced from, I am very grateful and thank you to Bonnie for the mastering.
On all floors, multiple levels and always all throttles blazing, Foetus has, over and over again, made one hell of a statement. I have a lot of questions and could go on and on and on, but it’s his turn...
J. G. Thirlwell…Thank you for everything!
I present 20 years of FOETUS IN YOUR FACE.
ENJOY
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I do not own the rights to this music.
No copyright infringement intended.
Educational Purposes Only.
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Artist - Title - Year of Release - Title - Format
Spec Records - Happy Valley - 1979 - No Cowboys - LP
Nurse With Wound + Jim Thirlwell - Untitled - 1980 - 12”
Foetus - You Have To Obey - 1980* - Limb - CD
Foetus - Piano Piece - 1980* - Limb - CD
Foetus Under Glass - Spite Your Face - 1981 - 7”
You’ve Got Foetus On Your Breath - New York or Bust! - 1981 - Deaf - LP
You’ve Got Foetus On Your Breath - I Am Surrounded by Incompetence - 1981 - Deaf - LP
Phillip And His Foetus Vibrations - Mother I’ve Killed The Cat - 1982 - 7”
Foetus Over Frisco - Custom Built For Capitalism - 1982 - 12”
You’ve Got Foetus On Your Breath - Mark of the Ostracizor - 1982 - Ache - LP
You’ve Got Foetus On Your Breath - Get Out Of My House - 1982 - Ache - LP
Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel - Clothes Hoist - 1983 - Peel Session BBC Radio 1
Lydia Lunch & Clint Ruin - What Is It - 1983 - Better an Old Demon Than a New God - LP
Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel - Anxiety Attack - 1983 - VRPO Session
Soft Cell & Clint Ruin - Ghost Rider - 1983 - Live
The The - Giant - 1983 - Soul Mining - LP
Marc Almond & Clint Ruin - Million Manias - 1983 - The Immaculate Consumptive Live in New York
Coil - Panic - 1984 - Scatology - LP
Einstürzende Neubauten - Tanz Debil - 1984 - Strategen Gegen Architekturen - LP
Foetus Over Frisco - Finely Honed Machine - 1984 - 12”
Nurse With Wound - Brained By Falling Masonry - 1984 - 12”
Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel - Lust For Death - 1984 - Hole - LP
Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel - Halo Flamin’ Lead - 1984 - Hole - LP
Foetus Art Terrorism - Calamity Crush - 1984 - 12”
Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel - (The Only Good Christian Is a) Dead Christian - 1985 - If You Can’t Please Yourself, You Can’t Please Your Soul - LP
Interview - 1985 - TOP of the POPS
Wiseblood - Motorslug - 1985 - 12”
Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel - D-I-19026 - 1985 - Nail - LP
Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel - Anything (viva!) - 1985 - Nail - LP
Interview 1985 Spin Radio Underground + Satan Place
Interview + More Meat Per Inch 1986 VPRO Backlijn Radio Show
Wiseblood - 0-0 (Where Evil Dwells) - 1986 - Dirtdish - LP
Wiseblood - 0-0 (Where Evil Dwells) - 1986 - Live 28 09 1986 Danceteria, New York
Interview - 1986 - JJJ Interview
Stinkfist - Stinkfist - 1987 - 12”
Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel - Ramrod - 1987 - 12”
The Flesh Volcano - Slut - 1987 - Slut - 12”
Foetus Interruptus - Don’t Hide It Provide It - 1988 - Thaw - LP
Foetus Interruptus - Hauss On Fah - 1988 - Thaw - LP
Interview - 1988 - The Sound of Progress - Pop Music according to Foetus, Coil, Current 93 & Test Dept
Pig - Sick City - 1988 - 12”
Interview - 1988 - Offbeat Tele5
Foetus Corruptus - A Prayer For My Death - 1989 - Rife - LP
Garage Monsters - Powerhouse! - 1990 - 7”
Foetus Inc. - Free James Brown (so he can run me down) - 1990 - Butterfly Potion - 12”
Of Cabbages And Kings - Faucet - 1991 - Hunter’s Moon - LP
Steroid Maximus - Quilombo! - 1992 - Gondwanaland - LP
Foetus - Vice Squad Dick - 1994 - 7”
Argyle Park - Refuge - 1995 - Misguided - LP
Pigface - Hips Tits Lips Power - 1995 - Pigface feat. Foetus/Jam with Jim Thirlwell - Live 1995 05 12 Limelight New York
Pop Will Eat Itself - kick 2 kill [jim foetus seersucker mix] - 1995 - Two Fingers My Friends! - LP
Interview - 1995 - Off the Record - Interview with Jim Thirwell of Foetus
Foetus - Verklemmt (Vid Mix) - 1996 - Null / Void - LP
Foetus - Slung - 1996 - Gash - LP
Foetus - Mortgage - 1996 - Boil - LP
Foetus Symphony Orchestra feat. Lydia Lunch - Egomaniacs with Insecurity Problems - 1997 - York (First Exit To Brooklyn) - LP
Melvins - Mine Is No Disgrace - 2000 - The Crybaby - LP
Foetus - Heuldoch #7B - 2001 - Flow - LP
Manorexia - The Hardened Artery - 2001 - Volvox Turbo - LP
Foetus - The Need Machine (JG Thirlwell mix) - 2001 - Blow - LP
* Estimated Production Date
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LINKS
foetus.org
foetus.org/content/discography/
foetus.org/content/press/timeline-1980-1989/
foetus.org/content/press/timeline-1990-1999/
foetus.org/content/press/timeline-2000-2009/
foetus.org/content/wp-content/uploads/discog/discog4.txt
instagram.com/jgthirlwell/
jgthirlwell.bandcamp.com/
ectopic ent. on youtube
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foetus videos on youtube