J. G. Thirlwell

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J.G. Thirlwell

James George Thirlwell (born January 29, 1960), aka Clint Ruin, aka Frank Want, aka Jim Foetus, is a vocalist, composer and producer whose work can be broadly categorised in the No Wave and Electronic music genres.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Thirlwell was born in Melbourne, Australia. He briefly studied Fine Art at Melbourne State College (now part of the University of Melbourne) before moving to London, England in 1978, where he played with the post-punk band prag VEC and formed the first of his numerous musical projects, Foetus. He released his first 7" single, OKFM/Spite Your Face, in 1981, on his own Self-Immolation record label. Over the next three years, he would release two more singles, a 12" EP, and three full-length albums, Deaf, Ache, and Hole, the latter his first release on Some Bizzare Records.

In 1983 Thirlwell moved to New York, where he is still based between his frequent tours. Since his move he has released six singles, fourteen EPs, including Stinkfist, with fellow New York artist Lydia Lunch, and seventeen full length albums, as well as remixing numerous pieces for such diverse artists as PIG, Nine Inch Nails, Front 242, The The, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Marilyn Manson, and Voivod. In the 1980s, under the pseudonym Clint Ruin, Thirlwell contributed to some releases by Nurse With Wound.

Since 2000 Thirlwell has become more active as a composer, having written commissions for Bang on a Can and Kronos Quartet and scored the Adult Swim cartoon The Venture Bros. He also began two cinematic instrumental projects, Steroid Maximus and Manorexia.

[edit] Alter egos and split personalities

Throughout the span of his career, Thirlwell has toyed with his own identity by releasing music in the guise of numerous alter egos. During the earliest phases of his recording, Thirlwell's "groups" were comprised of a plethora of fictional characters: Foetus Under Glass supposedly consisted of Frank Want, Phillip Toss and two Brazilian statistics collectors; Scraping Foetus off the Wheel was claimed to be the work of Want and Clint Ruin. Furthering the confusion, Thirlwell adopted these personas outside of his own recordings; for example, Frank Want can be found on The The's Soul Mining.

Thirlwell's persona of Clint Ruin was particularly notable. During the mid-1980s and early-1990's Thirlwell exclusively went by this pseudonym, even conducting interviews as Ruin. As Ruin, Thirlwell was a member of Wiseblood and Flesh Volcano, recorded two collaborative EPs with Lydia Lunch, and starred in and scored films of Richard Kern. Ruin is also credited on numerous releases for a variety of roles with Boss Hog, Coil, Fur Bible, Annie Hogan, Nurse With Wound, Pigface, Sonic Youth, Workdogs and others.

This practice seems to have been discontinued prior to 1995, and "J. G. Thirlwell" is credited on all subsequent musical recordings. However, Thirlwell currently makes DJ appearances under the pseudonym DJ OTESFU (an anagram of Foetus).

[edit] Music

J. G. Thirlwell's music - under his various project names: Foetus, Wiseblood, Steroid Maximus, Baby Zizanie, Manorexia and others - includes elements of punk rock, 20th century classical music, big band, Americana, African and Cuban percussion, and epic/horror film soundtracks. Much of Thirlwell's aural output is built on a percussive, rock music-type structure, though to call it rock music would be inaccurate and a gross understatement. Thirlwell prefers not to categorize music in general, and this is evidenced in the way his music renders genres meaningless: by means of accomplished studio-as-instrument craftsmanship, Thirlwell combines percussion, strings, distortion, brass, electric guitars, electronic sounds and voice into a single, frenzied, epic symphony of hate, pain, violence, grief, beauty and fury - at once powerful, complex and primal. Recurring lyrical themes include destruction, persecution, anxiety, abuse, incest, masochism, angst, self-destruction, self-abuse, lust, prejudice, murder, failure and machismo, often expressed using American colloquialism and black humour. J. G. Thirlwell is also a member of freq_out and THE FREQ_OUT ORCHESTRA.

[edit] Musical projects

[edit] Partial discography

Other projects' discographies are available on their respective main articles: Foetus, Steroid Maximus, Manorexia, Wiseblood, Flesh Volcano, Baby Zizanie

[edit] Reference

  • Charles Neal (1987). Tape Delay: Confessions from the Eighties Underground. SAF Publishing, pp. 127–136. ISBN 0946719020.

[edit] External links

The Venture Bros.
PRESENTED IN GLORIOUS EXTRA COLOR
Characters
Main | Secondary		 Hank Venture | Dean Venture | Dr. Thaddeus Venture | Brock Samson | H.E.L.P.eR. | Jonas Venture Junior
Dr. Orpheus | Triana Orpheus | Pete White | Master Billy Quizboy | Molotov Cocktease | Myra Brandish
The Monarch | Doctor Girlfriend | #21 | #24 | Baron Werner Ünderbheit | Phantom Limb
Organizations
Prominent | Minor		 Team Venture/Venture Industries | Order of the Triad | Monarch Henchmen | Guild of Calamitous Intent
Cast and crew Lisa Hammer | James Urbaniak | Patrick Warburton | Michael Sinterniklaas | Steven Rattazzi | Paul Boocock
Jackson Publick | Doc Hammer | J. G. Thirlwell | World Leaders Entertainment
Episodes Pilot | Season 1 | Season 2 | Specials | Phone Calls
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