I am a huge fan of The Venture Bros., a hilarious cartoon on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming block. The opening theme and closing credits music are absolutely brilliant, and perfect for capturing the tone of the show – a bit like spy movie music, a bit like clangy industrial, retro and edgy at the same time. The themes are composed by J.G. Thirlwell, who is supposedly an industrial music pioneer with the groups Foetus and Steroid Maximus. I wouldn’t mind hearing more of Thirlwell’s music, if he has done more stuff in the style of the Venture Bros. themes. Does anyone know and like his work? What are some good starting points? What would you compare his other musical projects to?
JGThirlwell is one of the most versatile musicians on the planet. Ever. His stuff pretty much spans the gamut. This means, first, that an exploration of his, uh, oeuvre, will be fascinating and rewarding. It also means that, just cuz you like something he did in one end of the gamut doesn’t mean you’ll like the stuff on the other end.
I, personally, love it all. But I have wildly eclectic tastes in music; my playlists usually include things from Marilyn Manson to Ella Fitzgerald. Thirlwell is just as eclectic in his influences.
Yes, he invented industrial music. He can out-Marilyn-Manson Marilyn Manson. But he can also out-Danny-Elfman Danny Elfman.
If your starting point is the Venture Bros. theme, then you’ll love the Steroid Maximus stuff. Which is almost impossible to find, by the way. My favorite SM album, ¡Quilombo!–well, you’ll have to camp out on eBay for that one. The most recent one, Ectopia, is more readily available. It’s as “Steroid Maximus” that he’s at his most playful. Each track is a giddy exploration of the limits of genre-bending and studio virtuosity.
His Foetus stuff is way harder edged. Some of the tracks on Gash, like “Take It Outside, Godboy!” are as hardcore as anything else I’ve ever heard, by anyone. If you like the rough stuff, *Gash *is a brilliant mix of vein-scraping noise and symphonic bombast. His most recent (as Foetus), Love, is a bit more polished. Never quite settles down to “pop” status, but the emphasis is more on the complex musicality than on the searing rawness, although there’s plenty of both.
His earlier, pioneering stuff–the stuff that made him one of Trent Reznor’s heroes–is less polished, but even more adventurous. His blending of such genres as New Wave, Punk, and the industrial noises of such acts as Einstürzende Neubauten, resulted in the entirely new genre that would come to be called Industrial.
So, I don’t know if that gives you an idea of an actual starting place. I hope it maybe at least gives you an idea of a direction to start from. Have fun; report back.
Course, stead of tossing that off off the top of my head, I coulda Wiki’ed him first, and just sent you there. Pretty comprehensive article. I like the section on his “alter egos,” how Thirlwell has always done almost everything himself, then made up names for album credits. His entire approach is pretty pranksterish. His music, now matter how rough it gets, is always guided by humor. As far as I know, he never includes a picture of himself in any of his album art. The first time I never saw what he looked like is when, for some reason I don’t remember, I took apart my *Gash *jewel box. The disc-bed was opaque, and when I looked behind it, I saw that the hidden side of the rear paper panel was a picture of J.G. Thirlwell. Pretty hilarious.
Listen to his Steroid Maximus stuff and tell me if you don’t think he should be in Hollywood making millions. Probly would be, if he weren’t (last I heard) a practicing heroin addict. The first time I met him, he was wearing a pink tuxedo–with frills of course–and high as high as high. It was my understanding that he was open–if not proud–about his ability to “manage” his heroin addiction. Like Gil Scott Heron was for a while; something of a heroin activist. I have no idea what Thirlwell’s current drug habits are.
Thank you very much! I was hoping some music-savvy Dopers like you might know something. For the record, I don’t like anything too dissonant or noisy or grating, but Steroid Maximus sounds right up my alley as a fan of big band swing, lounge music, surf, spy, and trip-hop. I just added Ectopia to my Amazon.com wish list! Some of his other stuff sounds reminiscent of John Zorn’s experimentation, at least how you describe it. And despite being a sax player and liking the genres I mention above, I find a lot of Zorn’s music hard to get into.
Well, he’s not very Zorny. That’s Einstürzende’s territory. His stuff always has beat and melody, with a few symphonic transitions for the odd exception. It’s loud and raw, but not musique-concrète-y or anything. If you like Industrial, you’ll like most of it. And as I said, it’s always got a sense of humor to it. One of my first experiences of Foetus was “Supercalifragilistic-sadomasochism,” which is still a hoot. Hardcore, but funny.
I love the Scraping Foetus off the Wheel album “Hole”-- he does this hilarious kind of swing-inspired Weimar republic thing-- psychoswing, I guess. Wonderful drums. Sounds like you might like that one.
You know what? I heard a Foetus song many years ago, long before The Venture Bros. ever existed, and it reminded me vaguely of “swing from hell.” Scary and badass. Couldn’t remember a note for you today or tell you a title or album, but that sounds like a possible source. Thank you sooooo much!
BBVL-- I’m going to go out on a limb and make a wild ass guess that, given that description, the song is Water Torture or Street of Shame.
(it would be funny if I were correct)
Forgive me if you’re already aware of this but I think you’d like a lot of the feeds at SomaFM.
I was gonna guess “Slung.”
I liked Wiseblood, but then I am a huge Swans and Young Gods fan. As for the Foetus incarnations, I always liked the Bedrock single (errrm, partly for the “I’m a two-fisted fucker, hard in my pants” line), and the Hole, Thaw and Nail albums have certain highspots. Gotta love lines like:
“I hear you got a 6” guarantee
Of unilateral security" (“I’ll meet you in Poland”, IIRC)
This is probably the right thread to ask if anyone else has ever heard of the Honolulu Mountain Daffodils.
Wow, that is really awesome! I love a lot of the stuff they play, so it stands to reason I’d like the rest. I am woefully ignorant when it comes to Internet radio, streaming audio, and the like, so I appreciate the heads-up!
I remember thinking the song “Ramrod” was really cool, but I haven’t heard it for probably more than a decade.
Well Sir, I took your advice, and got Ectopia by Steroid Maximus, and I LOVE IT. Listened to it for the first time in the car on the long commute to work today, and it was perfect soundtrack music to a movie that doesn’t exist, but really should. I actually brought the CD in to play for one of the secretaries (a nice lady who usually listens to the Indigo Girls or country music on the radio), and even she liked it!
Even cooler, I was watching my season 1 Venture Bros. DVDs last night, and in one of the commentary tracks by the creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, Publick said he was all set to just make the Venture Bros. into a comic book, until he was inspired by listening to Steroid Maximus to create a cartoon instead. They contacted Thirlwell to use some of his music, and the rest is history!
For the record, there is no Foetus band. It’s just him. All him. Which makes him all the more extrodinary…and a bit frightening. I have to go with “Hole” as my favourite. And look under “Scraping Foetus off the Wheel” and "“Foetus over Frisco”. Also Clint Ruin and Wiseblood.
Also for the record he’s really a nice man who takes good care of his cat (when he’s sober).
You guys make it seem like *Hole * would be the best of the Foetus albums, since I’m already into swing and the dark cabaret stuff. However, it’s long since out of print according to Amazon, even though a lot of Foetus albums are still available. Looks like a new foreign version will be coming out in October, though.