FOETUS IN YOUR FACE — case study

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 JG Thirlwell…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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FOETUS IN YOUR FACE / MIXCLOUD/

  1. 1
    Spec Records
    Happy Valley
    1979
    No Cowboys LP
  2. 2
    Nurse With Wound + Jim Thirlwell
    Untitled
    1980
    12”
  3. 3
    Foetus
    You Have To Obey
    1980*
    Limb CD
  4. 4
    Foetus
    Piano Piece
    1980*
    Limb CD
  5. 5
    Foetus Under Glass
    Spite Your Face
    1981
    7”
  6. 6
    You’ve Got Foetus On Your Breath
    New York or Bust!
    1981
    Deaf LP
  7. 7
    You’ve Got Foetus On Your Breath
    I Am Surrounded by Incompetence
    1981
    Deaf LP
  8. 8
    Phillip And His Foetus Vibrations
    Mother I’ve Killed The Cat
    1982
    7”
  9. 9
    Foetus Over Frisco
    Custom Built For Capitalism
    1982
    12”
  10. 10
    You’ve Got Foetus On Your Breath
    Mark of the Ostracizor
    1982
    Ache LP
  11. 11
    You’ve Got Foetus On Your Breath
    Get Out Of My House
    1982
    Ache LP
  12. 12
    Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel
    Clothes Hoist
    1983
    Peel Session BBC Radio 1
  13. 13
    Lydia Lunch & Clint Ruin
    What Is It
    1983
    Better an Old Demon Than a New God LP
  14. 14
    Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel
    Anxiety Attack
    1983
    VRPO Session
  15. 15
    Soft Cell & Clint Ruin
    Ghost Rider
    1983
    Live
  16. 16
    The The
    Giant
    1983
    Soul Mining LP
  17. 17
    Marc Almond & Clint Ruin
    Million Manias
    1983
    The Immaculate Consumptive Live in New York
  18. 18
    Coil
    Panic
    1984
    Scatology LP
  19. 19
    Einstürzende Neubauten
    Tanz Debil
    1984
    Strategen Gegen Architekturen LP
  20. 20
    Foetus Over Frisco
    Finely Honed Machine
    1984
    12”
  21. 21
    Nurse With Wound
    Brained By Falling Masonry
    1984
    12”
  22. 22
    Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel
    Lust For Death
    1984
    Hole LP
  23. 23
    Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel
    Halo Flamin’ Lead
    1984
    Hole LP
  24. 24
    Foetus Art Terrorism
    Calamity Crush
    1984
    12”
  25. 25
    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
  26. 26
    Interview
    1985
    TOP of the POPS
  27. 27
    Wiseblood
    Motorslug
    1985
    12”
  28. 28
    Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel
    D-I-19026
    1985
    Nail LP
  29. 29
    Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel
    Anything (viva!)
    1985
    Nail LP
  30. 30
    Interview + Satan Place
    Spin Radio Underground
    1985
  31. 31
    Interview
    More Meat Per Inch
    1986
    VPRO Backlijn Radio Show
  32. 32
    Wiseblood
    0-0 (Where Evil Dwells)
    1986
    Dirtdish LP
  33. 33
    Wiseblood
    0-0 (Where Evil Dwells)
    1986 09 28
    Live Danceteria, New York
  34. 34
    Interview
    1986
    JJJ
  35. 35
    Stinkfist
    Stinkfist
    1987
    12”
  36. 36
    Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel
    Ramrod
    1987
    12”
  37. 37
    The Flesh Volcano
    Slut
    1987
    Slut 12”
  38. 38
    Foetus Interruptus
    Don’t Hide It Provide It
    1988
    Thaw LP
  39. 39
    Foetus Interruptus
    Hauss On Fah
    1988
    Thaw LP
  40. 40
    Interview
    1988
    The Sound of Progress — Pop Music according to
    Foetus, Coil, Current 93, Test Dept
  41. 41
    Pig
    Sick City
    1988
    12”
  42. 42
    Interview
    1988
    Offbeat Tele5
  43. 43
    Foetus Corruptus
    A Prayer For My Death
    1989
    Rife LP
  44. 44
    Garage Monsters
    Powerhouse!
    1990
    7”
  45. 45
    Foetus Inc.
    Free James Brown (so he can run me down)
    1990
    Butterfly Potion 12”
  46. 46
    Of Cabbages And Kings
    Faucet
    1991
    Hunter’s Moon LP
  47. 47
    Steroid Maximus
    Quilombo!
    1992
    Gondwanaland LP
  48. 48
    Foetus
    Vice Squad Dick
    1994
    7”
  49. 49
    Argyle Park
    Refuge
    1995
    Misguided LP
  50. 50
    Pigface feat. Foetus/Jam with Jim Thirlwell
    Hips Tits Lips Power
    1995 05 12
    Live Limelight, New York
  51. 51
    Pop Will Eat Itself
    kick 2 kill [jim foetus seersucker mix]
    1995
    Two Fingers My Friends! LP
  52. 52
    Interview
    Off the Record - Interview with Jim Thirwell of Foetus
    1995
  53. 53
    Foetus
    Verklemmt (Vid Mix)
    1996
    Null / Void LP
  54. 54
    Foetus
    Slung
    1996
    Gash LP
  55. 55
    Foetus
    Mortgage
    1996
    Boil LP
  56. 56
    Foetus Symphony Orchestra feat. Lydia Lunch
    Egomaniacs with Insecurity Problems
    1997
    York (First Exit To Brooklyn) LP
  57. 57
    Melvins
    Mine Is No Disgrace
    2000
    The Crybaby LP
  58. 58
    Foetus
    Heuldoch #7B
    2001
    Flow LP
  59. 59
    Manorexia
    The Hardened Artery
    2001
    Volvox Turbo LP
  60. 60
    Foetus
    The Need Machine (JG Thirlwell mix)
    2001
    Blow LP

* Estimated production date.