Many of you have no doubt already heard that Throbbing Gristle's Sleazy passed away Nov 24th in his sleep in Bangkok.

His fellow Throbbing Gristle members posted the news: "Our dearest beautiful Sleazy left this mortal coil as he slept in peace last night. Words cannot express our grief."

He was also a member of the bands Coil and Psychic TV.

Legendary cult band Throbbing Gristle lost a key member when Genesis P-Orridge sent out a round of emails recently, quitting the band.


As a result, according to the band's website, "Cosey, Sleazy & Chris have concluded that once more, and for the time being, Throbbing Gristle has Ceased to Exist, at least as a live entity."

This is the second time the band has folded. It first formed in 1975 in England, and gained a reputation for challenging and disturbing audience members at their live shows. Thobbing Gristle broke up the first time in 1981, after a final show at Kezar Pavillion (right next to Amoeba SF's future site!). They came back together to successful reunion shows and recording in 2004, which they continued until last week.

The remaining members have regrouped as X-TG and will be performing live in Europe this week. It appears they intend to continue in this fashion from now on.

Bicoastal boutique label Dais Records --founded in 2007 by Gibby Miller in L.A. and Ryan Martin in Brooklyn -- has, in its brief history, quickly amassed (with no signs of stopping) an impressive back-catalog of instantly classic releases by artists on the obscure and dark end of the spectrum. The label’s roster of quality limited vinyl pressings includes albums by Cult of Youth and Tor Lundvall as well as the sought-after Cold Cave 12”, The Trees Grew Emotions and Died.  The label has also developed a trusted working relationship with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge which has resulted in the vinyl release of Psychic TV’s recent full-length, Mr. Alien Brain vs. The Skinwalkers, and a haunting, previously unreleased 1968(!) archival recording from P-Orridge entitled Early Worm (now out of print).  

A third upcoming team-up between P-Orridge and Dais is another archival release, entitled The Sound of Porridge Bubbling by the infamous COUM Transmissions. Its release will mark the first time most will hear COUM Transmissions, a transgressive performance art collective and band founded, in part, by P-Orridge in 1967 (whose detailed story can be read in a 1999 illustrated biiography entitled Wreckers of Civilisation by Simon Ford). By the time Sound was recorded in 1971 its members also included Cosey Fanni-Tutti and, by 1976, eventually evolved into the seminal and forever holy/unholy Throbbing Gristle.
 
The recordings went unreleased until now due to the rapid activity of the collective pushing them off as a priority.  However, now that the seal on the vault has been cracked, further COUM archive releases via Dais are also in the works .

Here's a 3rd Obi gallery; you can check out the first two here and here...



The Godfather Obi above is very cool-- unfortunately the cover had water damage. The Kate Bush LP above is a cool take on a more common design where the Obi blends in with cover. This Bad Company LP was just featured in my gambling post, but I though that the Obi was cool enough to include it anyhow...



The Throbbing Gristle LP above doesn't have the most exciting Obi, but it sure is a rare one. BTW, TG were quite stunning on the 21st @ the Ricardo Montalban theatre in Hollywood. I must say that the marquee was one of the most amazing absurdities I've seen since Paul Reisner discussed Black Flag @ the Grammys in 1995. Nike Sportswear presents Throbbing Gristle indeed...

127 Bands, 5 Stages, 3 Days and 1 Mean Sunburn.

"Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival - April 17-19th, 2009 or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Find 30 Reasons To Love a Weekend in the Desert."

- By Scott Butterworth

Artists 26-30: No Age, TRAV$DJ-AM, Throbbing Gristle, Mastodon and Shepard Fairey

Ladies and gentleman, we are on the eve of my favorite weekend of the year, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. If the past twenty five days of my Coachella blog and the following video hasn't convinced you to go to Coachella...then I'm not sure what will. But I hope you've at least found something you liked along the way. If you haven't read the last 25 band features, then you've got some homework to do, but for the last five band profiles of this 30 Coachella Bands in 30 Days blog, I'm going to throwback to an old college tradition...the "cram session." So grab a Redbull...and let's do this!


Artist #26 -  No Age:

No Age, another band from the Sup Pop mafia, the Seattle label that's throwing its weight (and talent) around this year's Coachella festival, is one my most anticipated performances of the weekend. Their debut album Nouns was, without a doubt, in my top three albums of 2008. No Age is a lo-fi fuzz/art rock duo, with one member on guitar, one on drums. But don't expect the White Stripes...They sound more like Sonic Youth. If you want to be able to say to the kids, "...I was there when (insert legendary band and time/place) happened....", buy this album now and go see them play live...anywhere!